Inside the ‘ghost’ newbuild estate left abandoned for seven years in bitter row over £750k wall
A NEWBUILD estate has been left abandoned for seven years – all because of a row over a very expensive wall.
A planning stalemate led to the fully completed, brand new homes in a Cornish village being boarded up and left empty.
The 33 new homes in Bridge View, Calstock, had planning permission granted in 2018.
But council delays and soaring costs have led to it becoming a ghost town.
Parish councillor Dorothy Kirk called it a ” tragic situation where everybody loses”.
One of the directors behind the development claimed his firm had put aside £2.8m for 15 affordable homes but council delays cost them £1.2m.
He accused the council of “weaponizing” planning agreements and blocking the sale of finished houses.
The additional costs included the requirement of building a more complicated drainage system, a second road, and a large retaining wall priced at around £750,000.
In turn the council said it has “done all in its power to work with the company”.
As of January 2024, there were 160 households on the waiting list for homes in the parish.
Cllr Kirk told the BBC: “We have to find a solution. I don’t want Calstock to be deprived of homes, I don’t want to see the developer lose everything. We have to have houses for local people.”
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”.
It is understood to be reviewing a revised planning application for the site.
Another abandoned newbuild estate in Dover has been dubbed a “horrendous chalk scar”.
Disgruntled locals have slammed the developers who went bust and expressed fears the area of “scenic beauty”, in Dover, could become a “ghost town”.
There deserted site, on Folkestone Road, has 29 empty new builds.
And ill-fated construction work has left a huge band of chalk exposed on the landscape.