Developer under fire for leaving roads in poor state
COUNCIL REFUSES TO ADOPT NEW STREETS UNTIL THEY ARE FIXED
UNFINISHED roads on new housing estates in Kirklees will not be adopted by the local authority until they are finished to the proper standard, council bosses have confirmed.
It means people who have often paid out hundreds of thousands for brand new houses will continue to face roads that one resident likened to having been “barrel-bombed”.
Leeds-based Harron Homes has come under fire for the state of its estates in West Yorkshire.
The Amberwood Chase estate in Dewsbury has been highlighted several times by local campaigners as well as Dewsbury MP Mark Eastwood, who raised the issue in Westminster. Now Farriers Croft in Lindley, near Huddersfield, has been raised by Lib Dem councillor Cahal Burke.
In a question to Kirklees Council he said Harron Homes had not built local roads to an acceptable standard, “which would allow the council to adopt them.”
He added: “There are other new housing developments in Lindley, which are also experiencing the same problem.”
He pushed the council to ensure the roads were completed.
Senior councillor Naheed Mather (Lab, Dalton) said a proposed solution to “unlock” the impasse at the Lindley site had been offered to Harron Homes by the council and that the company had appeared to respond “positively”.
But she added: “The main issue on this site is that Harron Homes have not built the roads to an acceptable, adoptable standard.
“The council will only adopt roads when they are satisfied that they are built to the required specification.”
Clr Mather said the council was “very sympathetic” to the needs of residents who bought properties from Harron Homes “in good faith”, expecting the developer to construct the estate roads to an adoptable standard.
The council has pledged to continue to “engage constructively” with Harron Homes and to “pursue all reasonable measures” to achieve the desired outcome for house-buyers and to ensure the developer meets its obligations.
Two weeks ago, Housing Minister Eddie Hughes lambasted Harron Homes after four West Yorkshire MPs passed on complaints from people who bought homes only to find roads were not completed – sometimes for years.
In a stinging letter to Harron Homes managing director Tony Lee Mr Hughes said he expected all housing developers “to deliver good quality housing, to deliver it on time, and to treat house buyers fairly.”
A Harron Homes spokesperson said the company has been working closely with the relevant authorities to resolve matters as soon as it can.
They said progress has been made in rectifying the issues at Amberwood Chase, and work there is expected to be complete “by the summer”.