Estate residents’ cars ‘damaged by unfinished roads’

PAVEMENTS are falling apart and vehicles have been damaged by unfinished roads littered with potholes on a plush upmarket housing estate, residents say.

The Barry Waterfront estate is only two years old but images show its streets resembling an abandoned building site.

Vale of Glamorgan council refuses to officially “adopt” the road as its responsibility until they are of a sufficient quality. The local authority said the “current level of workmanship is unacceptable”.

Developers say they are committed to completing the works “as soon as is practically possible”.

Chris Beddoe, who has lived on the development for 14 months, is waiting for compensation after a spring snapped off his suspension because of the uneven roads. The 30-year-old said: “The roads are a nightmare. It’s almost as if we have been forgotten about.”

Another resident said she had won hundreds of pounds in compensation for damage done to her vehicle, while other cars were even marooned on raised manhole covers. The resident, who didn’t want to be named, added: “There are also streets with no lights, so people were not letting their children go out after dark, especially because there are potholes everywhere. The standard of the work has been appalling.”

Nic Hodges, councillor for the Baruc ward, said developers had moved on from their work in large areas of the housing estate – leaving behind infrastructure which was of poor quality.

“It seems to be that the developers are hell-bent on developing the area as quickly as possible – but they are leaving unsatisfactory roads as they go.”

He added: “I am positive things will improve and change – it’s just that they should have been done in the first place.”

Peter King, the Vale council’s cabinet member for building services, highways and transportation, said: “We are aware of the situation regarding some of the development works at Barry Waterfront and have previously raised significant concerns with developers about the quality of the constructed road network.

“We are unable to progress the adoption of these roads until all issues surrounding quality have been resolved.

“The last meeting with the developers was at beginning of the month. They have been fully aware of where the council stands on this matter for the last six months and are equally clear that the current level of workmanship is unacceptable.”

A Taylor Wimpey spokesman said: “We are currently liaising with the highways department at the Vale of Glamorgan council over some of the finishing details before completing the works to the roads and footpaths.

“Remedial works to these areas have recently been carried out, but prior to completing the roads and footpaths – which are being carried out by one contractor on behalf of all three developers – we require Dwr Cymru Welsh Water’s approval that the drainage within the highways is acceptable to them. Once we have this approval, we are committed to completing the roads and footpaths as soon as is practically possible.”

David Kelland, Barratt Homes commercial director, added: “We would like to reassure residents that the consortium of Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey and Barratt Homes are endeavouring to ensure the ground workers, Cuddy, complete the remedial works as required by the local authority to progress adoptions, as soon as possible. Completion of the works is something we take very seriously.”

The other firm in the consortium, Persimmon, was approached for a comment but had not responded at time of going to press.