Bovis Homes' new estate in Wantage 'looks like Chernobyl'

Bovis Homes already defended itself last month over the unfinished Letcombe Fields development in Wantage, where it has built hundreds of homes.

But now more residents have now spoken out, calling the developer a ‘nightmare’ and criticising the ‘enormous effort’ needed to spur its customer service team into action over problems such as drainage.

One resident of the Denchworth Road estate, Jacob Breslau explained: “In my opinion Bovis Homes does not do much here to maintain the public areas except grass cutting.

"Generally public paths are abandoned and covered with weeds... Some areas were never completed… (The) play area has never been finished and is now covered with soil and weeds.

"It looks like a playground in Chernobyl.”

Mr Breslau, who moved into the site at the end of August 2015, continued: “We had reports of metal wires sticking out from the path, collapsing pavements, cracking kerbs and large potholes.

"Bovis Homes customer service is not responsive – all houses were sold long time ago; it takes enormous effort to convince them to do anything.”

Last month, another resident accused the developer of ‘abandoning’ the site and leaving materials there, while there are more issues highlighted on a residents' Facebook group.

One resident claimed to have listed more than 200 problems, while others complained of poor access for disabled people, little street lighting, ‘disgraceful’ maintenance and poor communication.

Vale of White Horse district councillor for Wantage Jenny Hannaby has also hammered the developer for ‘taking the money and not delivering’, adding that one problem was that the completion of a main road was linked to another development finishing.

Saying she was ‘furious’ with the way residents were being treated, Ms Hannaby went on: "Residents have already had two years of misery and we could be looking at many more months.

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"Bovis are not doing maintenance right and they have not put the children’s play area in as promised.

"I am very cross about this – it puts the building trade into disrepute."

Citing her construction background, she added: “Not all developers are like that but it does seem to be the Bovises of this world that are taking the money and not delivering what they promised.”

Another resident, who has lived on the development since December 2015, was equally unimpressed.

Claire Glasscock explained: “I wouldn't really know where to start to tell you about the amount (or) severity of snagging that we've been through, as others have.

"Dealing with Bovis has been a complete nightmare, and still is as they fail to accept responsibility for anything and love nothing more than to ignore customers in the hope that they give up.

“Since the building work has been completed, residents have definitely been abandoned with an unfit and incomplete development, mainly due to building of another development by Abbey Homes.”

She added that drains had been a repeated problem and that she was angered that Bovis ‘fobbed things off and failed to accept responsibility’.

Wantage MP Ed Vaizey added: "I have spoken out on a number of occasions about my concerns regarding the quality of new houses being built in the constituency.

"My office continues to liaise with the local councils, developers, and home builders to ensure the best outcome for residents.

"We know that Bovis have committed to responding to issues outlined on the Letcombe Fields site and we will continue to press them for action on behalf of residents."

Bovis Homes issued the following statement: “We would like to reassure residents that we remain committed to completing the works at Letcombe Fields and apologise for the inconvenience caused.

“This work is ongoing and our contractors have recently carried out significant landscaping works around Letcombe Fields. Visits will take place weekly during the plant growing season to ensure these areas are properly maintained.”

It continued: “We have also been working closely with Abbey New Homes and it has been decided to bring forward the road resurfacing and improvement works prior to the completion of their new development.

“The regional team will continue to communicate closely with the residents as the work progresses.”