Dance school closed following blocked drains

12:00pm Thursday 28th August 2008

AN Urmston dance school has had to close down after its drains failed.

Owner and dance teacher Heather Grundy sank her all into Redz Dance on Old Barton Road after selling her house in July 2005 to invest the £25,000 proft into renovating an old school house into the new dance facility.

The dance school, which had 400 students, also hosted childrens’ parties, regular functions and toddler groups.

Within a few weeks of moving in Heather discovered problems with the drains. The toilets would constantly back up and staff frequently had to call out drainage specialists to scoop away the sewage.

In March 2006 United Utilites (UU) asked Heather for a fee in excess of £1,000 for a CCTV survey of the drains.

Heather said: “This was a survey of their drains, not ours. The section of drains from our property to the main sewer was clear. The problem was actually 150 metres away from our property.

“Eventually the problem became so severe that we had to temporarily close the venue in October 2007.

“In early 2008 UU came out to investigate. They started a test dig on the main sewer to discover that it had been filled with thousands of tonnes of concrete.

“The probable cause of the backfilling was from the demolition of Barton power station some time ago.”

Heather added: “This left us with a business we could no longer use. A stunning dance club and party venue completely useless. I’s a hidden irony that we were still being charged business rates from Trafford Council, even though it was more than likely them who authorised the massive concrete pouring down the drains in the first place.

“The landlord, who had no idea of any of these problems when we moved in, has now put the property on the market.”

Heather then sought advice for starting legal action against UU.

Heather said: “We have had to cancel a large amount of kids parties and have lost almost everything financially.”

Shaun Robinson UU said: “Engineers conducted detailed investigations along Old Barton Road in the past six-months, the result of which show a public sewer running under the road has been blocked by concrete.

“UU took over operation of Trafford’s sewer system in April 2004, more detailed enquiries will now need to be made to establish who did this and why.

“In the meantime, we will make contact with the owners of the dance school to discuss what next steps they need to take.”

Trafford Council declined to comment.