FEARS that piling work on the site of former Bingley Hospital has caused vibrations which brought down a nearby garden wall are ill-founded say developers.

A wall to the rear of Roy and Gael Housley's home in Moorbottom Lane fell forward into their garden two days after deep work began on the new specialised dementia unit.

But Adrian Rooney, regional director of Bardsley Construction Yorkshire, said any complaints were taken seriously and vibrations were being closely monitored.

"The wall that has failed is a garden wall and not a retaining wall and also appears to be in a poor state of maintenance," he said, adding recent considerable rainfall would have added hydrostatic pressure to the garden walls.

"There is no evidence of damage to the external render to the houses or indeed any signs of damage to any other property or the surrounding area," Mr Rooney said.

"As soon as we were contacted by Mr and Mrs Housley, we moved to address their concerns by liaising further with our specialist contractors and piling works to construct a new wall at the Bingley site were temporarily halted while an expert assessment was carried out.

"From this expert assessment there was nothing to indicate that the vibrations were above the safe working limit."

Work has now restarted and the company has introduced extra vibration monitors. Engineers are also making hourly checks during the working day.

"The monitors are put in place to ensure we do not exceed our the safe working limit, which is set to provide reassurance that no structural damage to any properties will occur as a result of the vibrations," Mr Rooney added.

"Residents close to the works may experience minor noise and vibration within the property this is normal given the type of works being undertaken, but would state that this work is of short duration and will be complete by this Friday."

However yesterday Mr Housley contested the wall had fallen down by itself.

"It was a landslip from the wall caused by vibrations from the piling works," he said.

"That was a strong, mortared wall and to suggest it's just co-incidence is ridiculous."

Neighbour Arthur Keown said his home had also been affected by the piling.

Moorbottom Lane resident Brenda Wilkinson said the piling operations were shaking inner walls in her house, but there had been no damage to her property.

"The developers say it's all within normal levels, so I take what they say as I'm not an expert and simply don't know," Mrs Wilkinson said.

A letter sent to residents apologises for any temporary disruption.

MORE AIRE VALLEY HEADLINES