What would you like to do next?

To gauge your views on what you’d like us to do next we’ve added a new poll to the site. Please take part and let us know what you’d like the forum to do next to help resolve the issues we face.

Our second poll, was about the reputation of the developers themselves! Over 77%, yes over three quarters of you, would now discourage friends from buying on a new development!

How to complain about the sewers

Following the failure of the pumping station, the advice remains that you should contact Anglian Water every time on 08457 145 145 so that your complaint is logged. 

You should also contact the Consumer Council for Water on 01223 323889 because they can pursue claims against Anglian Water. 

We understand that if your garden is flooded by sewage you are entitled to a 50% refund on your annual sewage rates.  If your home is flooded, you are entitled to a 100% refund.

Residents upset as sewage spills into their homes!!!

A birthday party was cancelled as raw sewage pumped into homes and gardens – for the third time in a week.

The effluent from a nearby pumping station, mixed with soaring temperatures, left desperate families fuming in Longstanton.

They have described their plight as like living in a shanty town.

One resident is so furious about the persistent problem that he is threatening to dump a bucket of sewage into the offices at the headquarters of Anglian Water to make his point.

Another resident of Station Road, Ruth Miffen, was left distraught after the foul mess forced her to cancel her 70th birthday party.

She said: “We had people coming over from Ireland for the party but we have had to cancel. This is the third time this week the sewage leak has happened. It is constant. The heat this weekend has made it worse.

“It is a disgusting stench and it is coming out of our toilets. No-one seems to care.”

Her husband John, 69, is furious and says his neighbours are poised to take drastic action.

He said: “It is like living in a shanty town. We are all worried about our health. We have called Anglian Water and asked them to do something.

Ian Miffen, Pat Noble, John Wales & Wendy Charnock “It is a long standing problem. All they do is come with a truck and pump it out – then it happens again.

“One of the neighbours says he is going to get a big bucket of sewage and dump it in the headquarters of Anglian Water to see how they like it.”

Neighbours Wendy Charnock, 67, and her husband John Wales, 85, woke up yesterday to find sewage pouring into their conservatory.

She said: “It absolutely stinks. The authorities just keep putting us off. It’s like living in medieval times – not a so-called modern, civilised society.

“My husband had to dig a trench when it happened before because sewage flooded our whole garden. It’s a disgrace that a man his age has to do that.”

The village is served by five pumping stations. A single forty year-old pipeline six inches in diameter takes the sewage out of Longstanton and carries the total effluent output by the time it reaches the boundary with Willingham.

A spokeswoman for Anglian Water said: “We know that there is a problem and we will be thoroughly investigating and apologise for any inconvenience.”

Anglian Water has urged residents who notice any sewage pollution to call 0845 7145145.

Raymond Brown
Cambridge Evening News

Drainage problems and the Pumping station

Yesterday (Sunday) the pumping station stopped working again and Anglian Water spent all of last night fixing the problem. If you’re experiencing any drainage problems then contact Anglian Water and tell them the pumping station is not working.

This is now becoming a regular problem that needs to resolved.

Anglian Water
Anglian House
Ambury Road
Huntingdon
Cambridgeshire
PE29 3NZ

Water and sewerage service and emergencies
08457 145 145
This line is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

Open email from Cllr Alex Riley

I’m sending this email to all the residents of Home Farm whose email addresses I have. Apologies to those of you who live on the Persimmon development, because it doesn’t affect you.

There are many serious problems with the way this estate has been developed, but the one which generates most emails to me is that of the roads which have not been made up by the developers. I have promised several of you that I would reply to your enquiries and I thought it useful to copy that reply more widely.

It is my view that this is a relatively straightforward problem to resolve. Here’s why.

The “spine roads” have not been made up, though cul-de-sacs have. The ostensible reason for this is that the developers had contracted with Coftons to do this work and Coftons are now in administration. The developers appear to be using this as a reason for delaying making the roads up.

There appears to be no “Section 38” agreement in place for these roads. A Section 38 Agreement is an agreement between the developer and the Highways authority (i.e. CCC) and does not involve SCDC at all. The agreement effectively says “If the developer builds this road to the HA’s specification and maintains it for a given period then the HA will adopt it”.

I have been given to understand that Wimpey are considering restarting construction on the site and that therefore it will suit them rather well to sort this mess out first – after all, how would it look to prospective purchasers if their 4-year-old homes still had no made-up roads?

It seems to me that in law none of the developers have a leg to stand on if their contract with you as purchasers contains the fourth Schedule which I have seen in the contract between Kings Oak (now Barratts) and one resident.

This Schedule appears to commit the developer to make up the roads. If Coftons go into administration then the problem would appear to reside with Barratts or Wimpeys, not with you or Coftons’ administrators. The ultimate recourse you have is for one (or more) of you to sue the developers for failure to deliver on this Schedule. I would have thought that the receipt of a few letters indicating a readiness to do just that would have an electrifying result on these developers.

And there is another course of action which it is easy for you to pursue. I have been advised that lawyers acting for the original purchasers should have ensured a retention on the purchase price until the road is made up. Failure to do this renders the lawyer liable to a negligence claim. So why don’t as many of you as possible start to turn the heat up on your conveyancing lawyers, insisting on them dealing with the retention.

The sewer situation is, I believe, related, though sewers are covered by a “Section 18” agreement. I believe that sewers under non-adopted roads cannot themselves be adopted. Hence resolving the road issue should automatically resolve the sewer adoption issue.

I hope this helps. I know that there are a significant number of other issues with the development, but this is one that I am convinced can be relatively simply fixed.

Good Luck!
Alex

Blocked drains

Hi,
 Please pass this on to all on the estate. I have been informed that all of the drains on the site are blocked and very close to backing up onto the road.

I have checked the manhole at the junction of Stevensons road and Duddle drive and it is near the top.

So far I have called the Barratt homes emergency number and been told as I am outside the two year limit I need to contact our management company? (anyone know anything about it?).

I am waiting a call back to let me know if someone will come out. If possible could you all check your drains and report this to whoever you can to put pressure on them to send someone out?

The Barratt emergency number is 08456016084
Good luck
Jonathan