Phase 1 Road Adoption – Persimmon Homes

The Forum has received a statement from the Cambridge County Council regarding their understanding of the Home Farm Phase 1 and 2 road adoption process.  It is clear that the actions taken by residents on Phase 2 roads (Stevensons Road, Duddle Drive, Sheepwash Way) have been very effective but there has been little or no impact on the Phase 1 roads (Collingwood Drive, Nelson Crescent, Hardy Close, Bullen Close).  Persimmon Homes are still not completing their responsibilities in working with the Council to make the necessary repairs so that road adoption can commence.  The Forum needs some of the residents on these roads to step forward and help raise awareness so that more pressure can be put on Persimmon Homes to fulfill their responsibilities.

The following statement was received from Michael Cunliffe, Business Support Assistant, Highways Development Control.

The phase 1 roads, constructed by Persimmon, have direct access to the existing adopted highway of Over Road and so the progress of their adoption will not affect or be affected by the adoption of the phase 2 roads.

The process for achieving adoption of the Phase 1 roads has been discussed with Persimmon Homes for a number of years but cannot proceed without their action, which includes undertaking necessary remedial works.  As soon as Persimmon Homes wishes to begin working towards adoption of the Phase 1 roads they can do so.  I recently confirmed this with Paul White, Adoptions Manager for Persimmon Homes East Midlands on the 13th March 2012.

Paul has said that Persimmon are keen to progress toward the adoption of the Phase 1 roads, however the speed at which this will happen rests entirely in their hands.  Until the phase 1 roads are adopted, they remain the responsibility of Persimmon Homes.

Once the Phase 2 roads have been brought to the necessary standards, as approved by our inspectors, we will need to be provided with the necessary paperwork which shows that the party wishing to have the roads adopted has the right to do so.  Once we have the confirmation from our inspector and the necessary paperwork, adoption can take place.  However, I cannot provide a timescale for when Barratt’s will accomplish this.

Longstanton Life: Article on Home Farm Protest

Most residents should be receiving their Feb/Mar edition of Longstanton Life in which the Home Farm Forum were able to get a centre spread article describing the protest that came together on Jan 2nd.  The article includes a comprehensive background and key facts of the situation we are in.

Here is a PDF file of the centre spread and the text of the article is shown below:  LL_Feb

Home Farm residents’ protest

On Monday 2nd January, over one hundred residents on the Home Farm development here in Longstanton came together to protest about the lack of progress in completing their roads and paths. They united to send a very clear message to Barratt Homes, Taylor Wimpey and Persimmon (their developers) and their local politicians, local authorities, planning authorities and Councils, that you’ve all let us down and we won’t tolerate this any longer.

It has been over five years since residents first started purchasing homes on Home Farm, which currently has around two hundred or more houses on the development. The developers left the site in 2009, but without completing the roads and infrastructure that they had been paid to do.

The worst of the problem is evident on Stevensons Road and Duddle Drive where the roads and paths have not even been completed, and are now showing obvious signs of deterioration, and as a result trip hazards are increasing daily. It is only a matter of time before there is a serious accident.

While the roads remain unadopted, the developers are responsible for maintaining the development as stated in residents’ contracts. Let’s not forget that our contracts and deeds state quite clearly that the developers will as a condition of our purchase bring the roads, sewers and footpaths up to an adoptable standard (top coat) and not just to a base coat level. They will also maintain the roads, footpaths, sewers, open spaces and local play areas (LAPS) until such time as the roads, sewers and open spaces are adopted by the appropriate body or Council.

As things currently stand, the Councils have no responsibility for the roads and paths, although we are paying a portion of our Council tax towards our street maintenance.

As a consequence of this, our homes are becoming harder to sell as prospective buyers are advised against purchasing on this site.

The residents have been concerned about the number of prospective buyers that have been put off from buying houses on the development. We are well aware of residents who have had to drop thousands of pounds off the value of their homes or have seen contracts fall through at the very last moment. What is happening is really upsetting because this is a really close, proud community that can’t quite believe this has been allowed to happen.

The show of support on Monday was a strong message to the developers, councillors and local authorities, that this problem needs to be resolved very quickly. People need to be aware of the potential issues of buying new homes, or recently developed houses where the roads are incomplete or have not been adopted as this is happening on a local and national scale.

For residents of Longstanton who are unfamiliar with the current road adoption situation on Home Farm here are some of the key facts as we understand them:

• The ground works across all of the Home Farm Development have not been adopted. Arguably residents are therefore paying council tax for services they do not receive (such as road maintenance, street lighting, general upkeep of the area, etc.) which seems very unfair.
• Cofton’s were subcontracted and paid by Barratt Homes and Taylor Wimpey to complete the roads several years ago on Duddle Drive & Stevensons Road but the company went into administration.
• Barratt Homes and Taylor Wimpey are contractually bound to complete the roads as continually reminded by residents’ solicitors. It is the developers’ problem that they paid Cofton’s and is something they shouldn’t be using as an excuse not to complete the roads in Home Farm.
• Unfortunately, no bond or guarantee (referred to as a Section 38) was requested by South Cambridgeshire District Council as a condition of development, which is why the Council is unable to complete the “ground works” in the advent of a developer going into administration. However, Cambridge County Council would waive the inspection charges to facilitate adoption as we understand to make the process less costly for the developer.
• As of 1st October 2011, the sewers are now the responsibility of Anglian Water, which was originally another key issue as to why the roads could not be adopted. This will now also reduce costs to complete the adoption of the roads.

The residents formed the Home Farm Forum to act as a collective voice to raise awareness of the issues we are facing as well as coordinate a clear plan of action to resolve them. For more information and regular email updates about this campaign, or to get involved go to https://homefarmforum.wordpress.com. For those on facebook join the “Home Farm Forum” group also to discuss and react to the developments as they happen.

We really hope that Barratt Homes, Taylor Wimpey and Persimmon, the local politicians, local authorities, planning authorities and Councils understand now how important this issue is to us as they continue to develop in our area. There really can be no more excuses. The roads need to be adopted as soon as possible. People are fed up with the talking and are demanding action now!

Letters sent to Developers

Attached are copies of the three letters recently sent by the HFF committee to the developers of the Home Farm Estate to inform them of the recent protest photo and article which will appear in the February 2012 Longstanton Life Magazine.

Persimmon Letter

Wimpey Letter

Barratt Letter