People living on an Exeter housing development where sewer works have been left unfinished are facing a bill of around half a million pounds.
Residents on the Home Farm development in Pinhoe were left with a catalogue of problems after the firm behind the scheme, Burrington Estates Group, went into administration last August.
Green spaces and a children’s playground remain unfinished, and sewer works do not meet the standards required for South West Water to adopt them.
A meeting of Devon County Council heard that the bill to get the sewer works completed to the required standard could stretch to half a million pounds – a cost to be borne by the residents in the absence of the developers.
In a motion to the full council Cllr Edward Hill (Ind, Pinhoe and Mincinglake) said: “Home Farm represents a clear and ongoing failure of the system to protect residents when housing developers liquidate before essential infrastructure is completed.
“For years, families have lived on an estate with unadopted sewers, unfinished drainage, unsafe roads and pavements, and no clear route to resolution. These are not minor defects. They affect health and safety, mortgageability, insurability, and the basic ability to sell or move home.”
He said some people were effectively trapped in properties they bought in good faith, without the infrastructure they thought they had paid for.
He said Home Farm exposed a serious weakness in local authority planning and adoption procedures.
“Residents could be facing a bill of about half a million pounds to complete the sewers and drains,” he added.
Cllr Angela Nash (Ind, Wonford and St Loyes) said: “We don’t want our residents literally swimming in their own sewage! If you’re buying a house in Exeter you’ve got a right to be safe.
“We all have a right to a safe home, and these people do not have a safe home.”
Cllr Dan Thomas (Lib Dem, South Brent and Yealmpton) said he was aware of four other housing projects in Devon experiencing similar issues, and Cllr Graham Bell (Lib Dem, Braunton Rural) said the county’s MPs should be putting pressure on councils to be firmer with developers. “Developments should be ready for habitation before they are inhabited,” he said.
Cllr Michael Mitchell (Lib Dem, Duryard and Pennsylvania) added: “We need to be tougher with some of these developers. They are in the market to make money, but at the same time they have a duty to the public to deliver the goods they promise.”
He said there should be bonds and guarantees to ensure that crucial works on housing developments were finished even if developers ran into financial difficulties.
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