A NEW housing development in Malpas has been dramatically halted after two huge office containers were stolen from the site.
Just days before property developers Appletree Estates were due to break ground on the long-awaited St Joseph’s College refurbishment on Tilston Road, the staff welfare units – which were also being used as offices for the site managers – were seen being lifted away by a haulage vehicle on the afternoon of Friday, October 6.
Nearby residents noticed the thieves, who were operating a red and green wagon with a lifting crane attached to it, making two journeys to the site in the space of a few hours and assumed they were part of the construction team.
But they did notice the vehicle read ‘Winsford, Cheshire’ on the side.
The theft means that extensive building work on the former manor house, which is to include six new large detached houses and conversion of the main house and stables, has not been able to progress as quickly as planned.
Richard Carmichael, company director of Appletree Estates, who has had to purchase extra offices and welfare facilities, as well as additional haulage, said life has been made ‘extremely difficult’ for his team.
"This is something we could really do without right now. It’s extremely important for us to start on site as soon as possible and it’s difficult for us to build without welfare facilities, which are a vital health and safety requirement.
"The stolen containers are worth £35,000 altogether and inside was valuable office equipment, tools, a canteen and toilets. It is a complete mystery and we just hope that someone might have any kind of information about where they could be."
He added: "We’re looking forward to delivering high quality family homes and bringing this important period property back in to use."
Charles Higgie, chairman of Action for Greenfields, an action group opposing large- scale greenfield developments in Malpas, said he was very sorry to hear about the thefts.
"The site is currently boarded up, looks an eyesore and needs tidying up.
"One of the reasons we’re against greenfield development is that we feel allowing planning permission elsewhere in Malpas will reduce the chances of work at other sites being done so we’re very much in favour of this development," he explained.
"I hope the culprits are found and that work can resume again soon."
PC Adam Norton from Cheshire Police said: "We encourage anyone with any information about this incident to contact us on 101 and in the meantime we will be increasing patrols in the Malpas area."
