“These builders keep getting away with it, they say they’ll build a certain amount of affordable homes, which they’re never really going to.” Mikaela Tibbins

“It’s almost as if they prefer to promise these things then take them away once you’ve got all of the stuff you wanted.” Bernie Hawes

[The company and its directors are registered at an address in Exmouth] See earlier post.

Zero-carbon estate in limbo after plans row

The Times print edition 22 March

 A brand new housing estate in a Cornish village has been boarded up after a stalemate between developers and council planners (Lara Wildenberg writes).

Bridge View was envisioned as 33 zero-carbon homes in Calstock, a village overlooked by the Tamar Valley railway viaduct. Yet today some houses are boarded up and 15 affordable homes have not progressed beyond the foundations.

The directors of Construction Partners, Michael Wight, 59, and Adele Fulner, 53, claimed that delays and unexpected additions from Cornwall county council had cost the company £1.2 million in interest. The sum had “eroded” their budget to finish the 15 affordable homes without selling any of the completed properties to fund them, and their application to reduce the number of affordable homes to ten was rejected.

The company also had to amend the plans due to the steepness of the site, with a complex surface drainage system and a 9m high and 300m long retaining

wall costing £750,000. As a result, the developers have refunded deposits.

“The planning system is broken and it shouldn’t be allowed,” Fulner told The Times.

Wight added: “It isn’t the case that’s been painted that we’ve tried to get out of it, we’ve just been eroded and eroded down to zero.”

Locals had little sympathy. Mikaela Tibbins, 57, who owns Over the Top Cornish Pasties with her daughter, said: “These builders keep getting away with it, they say they’ll build a certain amount of affordable homes, which they’re never really going to.”

Bernie Hawes, 55, owner of the Limekiln Gallery, said: “It’s almost as if they prefer to promise these things then take them away once you’ve got all of the stuff you wanted.”

In January the council said 160 households were on the waiting list for homes in the parish.

Cornwall council said it was committed to working with developers to ensure “the agreed number of affordable housing homes” are delivered in line with the planning permission.