Bittern View in Willington, south of Derby could prove an infamous case study for change, residents and politicians suspect
The Bittern View housing estate off Repton Road, Willington, in Derbyshire was completed more than five years ago but still has unfinished roads and pavements, with no drains and potholes forming(Image: Derby Telegraph)
Villagers fear unfinished roads, incomplete pavements and years of limbo could be replicated across the country as efforts to build thousands of new homes ramp up.
Potholes, bankrupt developers, a failed injunction and quarrelling councils have also been the bane of Willington residents’ lives for years and there are concerns that the Bittern View estate could be one of many left in a similar state after a series of issues.
It has been more than five years since the last house was occupied on the new-build estate, off Repton Road, but the roads and pavements have not been finished and there is no current prospect of that changing any time soon.
This is the same estate that the Local Democracy Reporting Service revealed in 2019 had five affordable homes built too small by Monument Two Ltd.
They were so small that 11 housing associations had declined to take them on, with a house eventually sold to South Derbyshire District Council (SDDC) for £1.
Work started on the estate in 2016 and the last home was occupied in February 2021. Many residents have lived on the estate since 2018, all with the reasonable assumption that their roads and pavements would imminently be completed and adopted by the county council, as planned.
However, time passed and while streetlights were installed no work on the roads or pavements took place, with no drains installed and potholes already emerging.
Weeds are growing out of the kerbstones on the unfinished roads(Image: Derby Telegraph)
Councillor Charlotte Hill, Derbyshire County Council’s (DCC) cabinet member for highways, said the authority was raising this issue nationally and understood residents’ frustrations, but said that when the homeowners bought their homes, the roads were not adopted, so it is not responsible for them.
The district council had sought an injunction against a developer but it ceased after the firm entered administration, the authority says.
A walk around the estate shows dilapidation setting in, with chipped and cracked kerbstones, crumbling tarmac and widespread weeds growing out of what is supposed to be a road.
While the route remains unadopted, these issues rest with an absentee estate owner and the displeased residents themselves.
SDDC granted permission to Willington Developments LLP, registered in London, for the 39-home development in 2007 and reserved matters approval in 2010 on what was the former Calder Aluminium industrial site.
Willington Developments LLP was owned by two London firms Finerain Developments Limited and Roman Investments Limited.
Finerain Developments is owned by Alexander Cosgrove (Buckinghamshire), Inder Singh Kathuria (London) and Stephen Makepeace-Taylor (Surrey), while Roman Investments is owned by David Rosenerg (London).
Residents say the scheme was passed over to Monument Two Ltd, also registered to offices in London, run by Jaspal Singh Sahota, who has a registered family address in a holiday home on a large private farm estate on the outskirts of Willington and runs a number of businesses registered in Friar Gate, Derby.
He has been approached for comment but has not responded at the time of publication.
A SDDC meeting on Wednesday, April 8, heard a campaigning resident and local ward member Cllr Ian Hudson raise issues over the Bittern View estate.
The meeting heard the district council may have been delayed in issuing a vital notice to Derbyshire County Council which would have triggered the start of the legal process which is meant to ensure a developer sets money aside well in advance to finish the roads and pavements.
A significant gap in the unfinished road on the Bittern View estate(Image: Derby Telegraph)
Work started on the estate in 2016 and legislation dictates SDDC council should have notified the county council six days after this, but instead this notification took place two years later.
The meeting was told via a county council statement read out by committee chairman, Cllr Sean Bambrick, that the authority had received word from the district in March 2018 and promptly served the relevant notice under s220 of the Advanced Payment Code (APC).
The APC ensures that roads are built to adoptable standards and that funds are secured for their completion before development starts, to avoid the county council itself having to pay to complete them or the roads going unfinished.
Failure to comply, via paying or providing a bond before construction work on homes is started, is a criminal offence, with a £1,000 fine per plot.
This action can be taken against the landowner and/or the company carrying out the works.
The meeting also heard that SDDC started injunction proceedings against the developer to compel them to complete what they started, but officials were told the firm went into administration the day before the court hearing, bringing an end to proceedings.
The authority was asked which developer – either the original one which obtained permission or the one which carried out the works – were taken to court over the issue, but it has not responded as of this article’s publication.
Willington Developments LLP was dissolved in April 2018, while Monument Two Ltd started and aborted liquidation in January 2021, November 2021, November 2022, February 2023, and September 2023, and started final winding up procedures in October 2024 which are now in the final stages.
The meeting was also told, via the DCC statement, that it had powers to pursue money for the roads and that: “Decisions around enforcement are made based on the specific circumstances and DCC acted in accordance with the legal advice received at that time.”
When asked repeatedly, the county council chose not to explain what steps it has taken or plans to take to effect change on the Bittern View estate, including any legal powers it has considered, merely confirming that no court proceedings have been started.
Cllr Hill said: “We are working to raise this issue at a national level as we see developers leaving roads unadopted across Derbyshire.
“I can understand residents’ frustrations but unfortunately when they purchased these homes none of the roads were adopted, meaning that legally the county council is not responsible for their maintenance.”
The Bittern View housing estate off Repton Road, Willington, in Derbyshire(Image: Derby Telegraph)
A district council spokesperson said: “SDDC have pursued appropriate remedies including an injunction to compel the developer to comply with the planning conditions, but unfortunately, the developer went into administration the day before the court hearing and the injunction proceedings could not proceed on that basis.”
In last week’s meeting, Cllr Hudson said: “Funnily enough the developer did manage to sell all the houses but never managed to finish the development. They took the money and ran.
“But don’t feel sorry for the developer, I believe he is back under a different name.
“So through no fault of their own, Bittern View residents have lost value from their homes and are struggling to sell their homes.
“We need to see what this council can do in the future to stop this ever happening to anybody else, to any residents in south Derbyshire in the future.”
Cllr Amy Wheelton said the council needed to adopt a policy to ensure roads would be paid for via bonds in advance of works starting, or consider accepting less money via Section 106 payments for open spaces and affordable homes, in order to get money for the roads.
Seth Meakin, who works in ICT, moved onto the estate in its early stages in December 2018, having received promises that the roads would be completed, dubbed the developers, Monument Two Ltd, “absolutely awful”.
Mr Meakin said residents had been lobbying the relevant councils and MPs for years to no avail.
He said: “It is so frustrating. Surely the council can find a way to work it out. The developer has been allowed to get away with this scot-free, they haven’t been held to account. How can that be allowed to happen? This should have been settled before they were allowed to sell the last house. It should have been held as collateral.
“We had every expectation they would complete the road. Eight years down the road, how can they not figure it out? They’ve had eight years of our council tax and we feel let down. They haven’t looked after us.”
Alan Leader, a former Drakelow Power Station employee, said: “We want the council to admit that they got it wrong, they didn’t follow the correct steps or take the precautions, whether it is district or county, they have left us in the lurch.”
