Newbuild housing estate with luxury homes is like a 'building site' with potholes and poor drainage

Residents have blasted developers after paying £550,000 to live on a "desolate" newbuild estate which remains unfinished and has been plagued with problems - including poor drainage and unfinished road surfaces.

Giant potholes

In a video report, Lin Glover, who bought her home in 2021, complains of uneven pavements, giant potholes and electrical faults - but says that despite numerous calls and letters to the authorities, nothing gets done.

Crumbling pavements on the estate mean mums have to walk in the road with pushchairs and have led to children getting injured by falling off bikes. Lin, 69, who bought her property for £360,000, shows some of the shoddy unfinished building work in the video (click to play above). She says: “The roads and paths should have been completed 18 months ago. They have marked them up five times but have to be remarked because nobody comes along and does anything. I'm ashamed when people come to visit me here and have to drive onto the estate. It is just dreadful.”

‘Everybody is very, very unhappy’

Homeowners began moving into brand new modern homes on the multimillion pound Lilly Hay estate in Emstrey, Shrops., back in 2019. Lin adds: "People are complaining about their cars because of the roads, and as you come into the estate, there are four inches of difference between the road surfaces as well as holes everywhere - everybody is very, very unhappy.”

Complaints get ignored

Another resident, who doesn't want to be named, said he and his wife moved in with their two children three years ago. He said: “Cars are breaking, there's a huge dip on one of the roads that is dangerous, and using pushchairs is a big issue for a lot of people – one of the kids fell off their bike not long ago. We have made numerous complaints but hear nothing back.”

Developers Taylor Wimpey has apologised to residents and has said remedial works to complete the roads and pavements are now due to start on August 5.

The firm said that the estate was a consortium site with Persimmon Homes and that their previous procedure of completing the roads and pavements at the end of the development has now changed to ensure roads and footpaths were completed as they go along, which is why phase two of the estate has been completed ahead of phase 1.

A spokesperson said: “We are sorry that the roads and footpaths in some areas of our Lily Hay development have not yet been completed to an acceptable standard. We would like to reassure residents that we are working hard to complete the highway remedial works that need to take place."