Families were expecting to move into newly built social housing homes in St Ann’s Chapel, near Kingsbridge in Devon, around Christmas 2023, but have been left waiting with no certain date on which to move into the properties.
The eight social housing homes have been left empty for months, despite being officially opened in November 2023. South Hams District Council say that there have been “issues” with the contractor and getting this resolved is a “top priority”. Kathy Hutchings described waiting to move into her new property as “living in limbo, just stuck”.
Parish councillor Val Scott said: “It has kept getting delayed. We just want it sorted quickly so that people like Kathy and the other affected families can move in as soon as possible.”
Meanwhile, in the Cornish village of Calstock, a development of 33 new homes has been left boarded up following council delays and abnormal costs, according to the developers, Bridge View.
The development, including 15 affordable properties, ground to a halt after what one of the developers, Michael Wight, describes as the “weaponizing” of legal planning agreements. He claimed that his firm had allocated £2.8m for the 15 affordable homes but blamed council delays for running up additional costs to the company of £1.2m in interest. The abnormal costs included a retaining wall that is understood to have cost in the region of £750,000, as well as a complex drainage system and a second road.
Affordable housing operators backed out in November 2023, following concerns over the potential maintenance costs of the retaining wall. The developer claims that no new operator was interested in the homes and, as a result, they were unable to fulfil the planning conditions.
The developers said that they submitted an amendment to the council in April 2023, but did not receive a response from the planning department until January 2024, a delay that had cost them £880,000.
Cornwall Council said it was “committed to working with developers that have been granted planning permission to ensure that a housing development, and the agreed number of affordable housing homes, are delivered in line with the planning permission.”