Mum terrified home could 'collapse at any moment'

A mother has said she is "living in terror" as a vast pit abandoned by developers slowly crumbles towards her home where she lives with her young baby.

Bethanie Bailey, 35, lives on Carr Street in Ramsbottom, Bury, where she said work to excavate a steep bank was halted before the digging even started. Blakeman Design and Build - the firm behind the work - was liquidated in 2024.

She said the pit, which she believed was unstable, had been getting wider each day across the road from her house and feared being "buried" in any landslip.

A Bury Council spokesperson said the "complex" issue involved multiple parties and the authority was doing "all it can" to help them reach a resolution.

The family said they saw trucks arriving to remove large mounds of dirt when the project began to excavate the area last year, at the site between Carr Street and Tanners Street.

Plans had been approved to put up a "single dwelling" home in the area with a garage.

But a health and safety executive inspector ordered the work be stopped in October until it had been demonstrated that the slopes around the site were stable enough to protect those working there.

"I didn't have any idea what was going on, it just sort of sat there," Bethanie told BBC Radio Manchester.

"The steepness of the hill means there is just so much land that could slip.

"I don't want to sound alarmist but what goes through my head is 'I don't want to be buried in my house' or I don't want to be lying in bed for a tree to fall across the roof. It's really scary."

Bethanie said she felt in a "perfect world" the developers would be responsible for making the site safe but given work stopped months ago, she wanted the council to step in.

"At the end of the day, all that I want is it to be made safe. I don't care what it looks like."

She has started a petition along with other residents that now has more than 785 signatures and calls for local authorities to stabilise the bank and recover the costs from the developer.

But council building control officers say the excavation works do not pose an immediate risk to the public and there was "no evidence" nearby buildings were at any immediate risk of being damaged.

The council "sympathises with residents who have had concerns about this site for some time", the spokesperson added.

The BBC understands there is a legal dispute under way over a combined drain that appears to have been severed during the works and caused water to spill out of the site.

United Utilities has been to the site to carry tests of the water and found it was "clean, untreated water that isn't coming from either our clean or wastewater network", a spokesperson said.

"We will continue to support the ongoing investigations being carried out by other agencies."

Bury Council said it was "continuing to investigate and monitor the situation at the site at Tanners Street".

"It is understood that the civil issues are being disputed between several parties which require mutual resolution."

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