COUNCIL TO TAKE ACTION OVER UNFINISHED ROAD

Western Morning News

11:00 - 13 September 2004

For three years, the residents of a housing development in Tintagel have been waiting for their road to be properly laid. Now the council is taking legal action. Lucy Cockcroft reports

When the residents of a housing development in North Cornwall moved into their homes they had no idea of the long battle that lay ahead of them.

More than three years since the first deeds to the new properties in Castle Heights, Tintagel, were given to owners John and Hazel Moore, the road which runs past them has yet to be finished.

Every day, people living in the nine houses, built by Saltash-based company Acorn Land and New Homes, have to walk over the unsightly and uneven street surface

Every night they are left stumbling around in the darkness while they wait for the promised street lights to be installed.

Neighbour Monica Murray, who lives opposite the new development, said: "We live across from all the Acorn Homes, they are down one side of the street, but we have to use this road. Somebody has to stand up and be counted.

"From the time the first house was occupied Acorn Homes were in breach of the planning consent because the road surfaces, street lights and storm water draining were meant to be in place and they weren't - and still aren't.

"This has been left unfinished for years. At the top of the road there is not a pavement you can use. There is some gravel that has been put down but it's very difficult to walk on."

Mrs Murray feels it is only a matter of time before somebody has an accident because of the unfinished road.

"There is a 75-year-old lady who lives at my house and she has to cross over a main road that is by no means finished and has an uneven surface - it's dangerous. If she hurt herself because of this we could sue Acorn Homes," she said.

"Absolutely everyone on this street is furious about the situation. We have got to the point where we are exasperated and we are thinking what else can we possibly do? We have all written so many letters."

Mrs Murray says she has spoken to the directors of Acorn several times.

She said: "I was so disgusted because I got a comment saying they couldn't see what the fuss was about because the houses could be sold for a tidy profit.

"It is shameful that we have been left in this state by people who are still doing business. How dare they carry on selling homes elsewhere when they haven't finished this site?"

Mrs Murray believes the state of Castle Heights is letting down the rest of Tintagel which is in the midst of a £2.4 million Objective One-backed facelift.

"Tintagel is in the middle of a regeneration, and this is letting it down. It is a mess."

John and Hazel Moore were the first two occupants to move into one of the nine Acorn Homes properties.

Mr Moore said: "In our deeds it quite clearly states that the roads, pavements and street lights should be up before we moved in. More than three years on we are still here waiting for these things to be done.

"We have got the base coat on the road, but the pavements are awful. They just have a rough shale over them which gets thrown all over the road. Nobody ever walks on it because it is an accident waiting to happen."

He added: "We are fed up now. So much traffic uses the road because at the bottom there is a bed and breakfast so there can be up to 20 or 30 cars going up and down the road in a day making the shale go everywhere. And, at night the only light we have on the street is from the security lights on our houses."

Now North Cornwall District Council are taking steps towards prosecuting Acorn Homes and have served the company with breach of condition notices.

Mrs Murray said: "I just hope this mess doesn't take too much longer to resolve."

lcockcroft@ westernmorningnews.co.uk

RESIDENTS FED UP - CORNISH GUARDIAN

09:30 - 09 September 2004

Residents in Tintagel say they are fed up waiting for the road and pavements in Castle Heights to be improved.

Residents contacted the Cornish Guardian saying they were exasperated by what they claimed were delaying tactics by the directors of the development and insisting the road and pavements should have been constructed in accordance with planning conditions by now.

John and Hazel Moore say they were the first to move into the development almost four years ago and have it in writing that road, pavements and street lighting should be installed.

Terry and Vera Warton say they moved into their property in October 2002 and understood the road was to have been completed by 2003, as written in their contract.

In an effort to try to resolve the situation Mrs Monica Murray, who lives nearby, contacted North Cornwall District Council's legal services department and was told they are looking into the situation.

Mrs Murray claims the directors of Saltash-based firm Acorn Homes "come up with delaying tactics as to why they have not made up roads and pavements. All this was supposed to be done before the houses were occupied."

"Walking in the road is hazardous.

"We are trying to be fair and reasonable but we are getting exasperated, but what else can we do to get this road up to adoptable standard?

"There is a minimum of 20 cars that use this road every day. It is a busy road. It is not fair we have been left after all this time in all this mess, with no end in sight." Chris Speed, a director of Acorn Homes, said the company that developed the site had been known as Orcan Development.

He was in touch with North Cornwall District Council and Cornwall County Council highways officials to try to resolve the matter.

He said: "I am hoping it will be resolved by the end of this year. We have been in touch with one or two residents who have been very good, in fairness.

"We are endeavouring to resolve the problem and acknowledge there is a problem."

North Cornwall District Council's head of legal services Sally Lloyd-Jones said in a statement: "The position is that breach of condition notices have been served and not complied with relating to the roads. The file has been referred to the legal section."

UNFORTUNATELY,  CORNWALL COUNTY COUNCIL HAS ESCAPED ALL BLAME IN BOTH OF THE NEWSPAPER ARTICLES.

THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS STILL REQUIRE ANSWERING BY CORNWALL COUNTY COUNCIL.

1)  HAVE CORNWALL COUNTY COUNCIL ISSUED ADVANCED PAYMENT CODE (A.P.C)  NOTICES WITHIN THE STATUTORY TIME SCALE TO THE LAND OWNER AND  DEVELOPER?

2) WERE THE A.P.C NOTICES SECURED WITH A BOND OR CASH DEPOSIT WHICH IS A REQUIREMENT OF THE 1980 HIGHWAY ACT.  THIS IS A LEGAL DUTY SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED TO PROTECT FUTURE HOMEOWNERS AGAINST PRIVATE STREET WORK CHARGES?

3)  IF A BOND/CASH DEPOSIT HASN'T BEEN SECURED EITHER THROUGH THE A.P.C PROCEDURE  OR A SECTION 38 ROAD ADOPTION AGREEMENT, WHAT IS THE NAME OF THE OFFICER WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS ACT OF NEGLIGENCE?

 Click on the arrow for photographs of Castle Heights, Tintagel.

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