"We paid £550k for dream new builds on desolate estate left unfinished for years"
Residents have blasted developers after paying £550,000 to live on a "desolate" newbuild estate which remains unfinished - FIVE years after people moved in.
Homeowners began moving into brand new modern homes on the multimillion pound Lilly Hay estate in Emstrey, Shrops., back in 2019.
But they say it has been besieged with problems ever since due to uncompleted work which has left people feeling like they are "living on a building site."
Many of the roads and pavements have been left unfinished resulting in massive potholes lining the streets, which are damaging people's cars.
Locals have also reported drainage problems with water flowing into what should have been their 'dream homes' during heavy rainfall.
The crumbling pavements mean mums have to walk in the road with pushchairs and have led to children getting injured by falling off bikes.
And the roads have no top layer of asphalt in some parts making them uneven and difficult to navigate.
Lin Glover, says not only are the roads and pavements incomplete but grass areas were overgrown, there were issues with the electrics and the estate was "desolate."
Lin, 69, who bought her property for £360,000 in 2021, said moving into her dream home had turned "into a nightmare."
She added: “This is the third new build home I have bought in my life and I've never experienced problems like this.
"I'm nearly 70 and this was meant to my dream home on a dream estate but it has turned into a nightmare.
“I moved here three years ago but some people have been in their houses in phase one since December 2019 so have been here five years, yet the roads and pavements are not finished all these years on.
"Phase two is now nearly finished and they have all their roads and pavements finished but ours have been left like this. Many are incomplete.
"The worst roads are actually where the first people that moved in live, so it is as if we have all been forgotten.
"We have complained so many times, but nothing is being done.
"There are massive drainage problems flowing into some people's houses and there are two feet deep holes on some of the pavements waiting to have lampposts put in. It's dreadful.
"People are complaining about their cars because of the roads, and as you come into the estate, there are four inches of difference between the road surfaces as well as holes everywhere - everybody is very, very unhappy.
“And the paths are just as bad and some young mums have to push their pushchairs in the road because the pavements are so terrible.
“The roads and paths should have been completed 18 months ago.
"They have marked them up five times but have to be remarked because nobody comes along and does anything.
“It looks desolate. I'm ashamed when people come to visit me here and have to drive onto the estate. It is just dreadful.”
Another resident, who doesn't want to be named, said he and his wife moved in with their two children three years ago.
He said: “Most patches of roads and pavements are incomplete and residents keep complaining but we have received no updates.
"Cars are breaking, there's a huge dip on one of the roads that is dangerous, and using pushchairs is a big issue for a lot of people – one of the kids fell off their bike not long ago.
"We have made numerous complaints but hear nothing back.”
Developers Taylor Wimpey has apologised to residents and has said remedial works to complete the roads and pavements are now due to start on August 5.
The firm said that the estate was a consortium site with Persimmon Homes and that their previous procedure of completing the roads and pavements at the end of the development has now changed to ensure roads and footpaths were completed as they go along, which is why phase two of the estate has been completed ahead of phase 1.
A spokesperson said: “We are sorry that the roads and footpaths in some areas of our Lily Hay development have not yet been completed to an acceptable standard.
"We would like to reassure residents that we are working hard to complete the highway remedial works that need to take place."
Homeowners began moving into brand new modern homes on the multimillion pound Lilly Hay estate in Emstrey, Shrops., back in 2019.
But they say it has been besieged with problems ever since due to uncompleted work which has left people feeling like they are "living on a building site."
Many of the roads and pavements have been left unfinished resulting in massive potholes lining the streets, which are damaging people's cars.
Locals have also reported drainage problems with water flowing into what should have been their 'dream homes' during heavy rainfall.
The crumbling pavements mean mums have to walk in the road with pushchairs and have led to children getting injured by falling off bikes.
And the roads have no top layer of asphalt in some parts making them uneven and difficult to navigate.
Lin Glover, says not only are the roads and pavements incomplete but grass areas were overgrown, there were issues with the electrics and the estate was "desolate."
Lin, 69, who bought her property for £360,000 in 2021, said moving into her dream home had turned "into a nightmare."
She added: “This is the third new build home I have bought in my life and I've never experienced problems like this.
"I'm nearly 70 and this was meant to my dream home on a dream estate but it has turned into a nightmare.
“I moved here three years ago but some people have been in their houses in phase one since December 2019 so have been here five years, yet the roads and pavements are not finished all these years on.
"Phase two is now nearly finished and they have all their roads and pavements finished but ours have been left like this. Many are incomplete.
"The worst roads are actually where the first people that moved in live, so it is as if we have all been forgotten.
"We have complained so many times, but nothing is being done.
"There are massive drainage problems flowing into some people's houses and there are two feet deep holes on some of the pavements waiting to have lampposts put in. It's dreadful.
"People are complaining about their cars because of the roads, and as you come into the estate, there are four inches of difference between the road surfaces as well as holes everywhere - everybody is very, very unhappy.
“And the paths are just as bad and some young mums have to push their pushchairs in the road because the pavements are so terrible.
“The roads and paths should have been completed 18 months ago.
"They have marked them up five times but have to be remarked because nobody comes along and does anything.
“It looks desolate. I'm ashamed when people come to visit me here and have to drive onto the estate. It is just dreadful.”
Another resident, who doesn't want to be named, said he and his wife moved in with their two children three years ago.
He said: “Most patches of roads and pavements are incomplete and residents keep complaining but we have received no updates.
"Cars are breaking, there's a huge dip on one of the roads that is dangerous, and using pushchairs is a big issue for a lot of people – one of the kids fell off their bike not long ago.
"We have made numerous complaints but hear nothing back.”
Developers Taylor Wimpey has apologised to residents and has said remedial works to complete the roads and pavements are now due to start on August 5.
The firm said that the estate was a consortium site with Persimmon Homes and that their previous procedure of completing the roads and pavements at the end of the development has now changed to ensure roads and footpaths were completed as they go along, which is why phase two of the estate has been completed ahead of phase 1.
A spokesperson said: “We are sorry that the roads and footpaths in some areas of our Lily Hay development have not yet been completed to an acceptable standard.
"We would like to reassure residents that we are working hard to complete the highway remedial works that need to take place."
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FunTranscript
00:00You're a resident here in Shrewsbury on the Lily Hay Estate.
00:03I am.
00:04And how old's the estate roughly?
00:06Nearly, well, it was first people moved in in December 2019, so five years this Christmas.
00:12And we're going to show on viewers on the video there some of the issues.
00:17It's still a mess isn't it? The paths, the roads.
00:20It's dreadful and I've been fighting the cause for at least two years.
00:24We haven't had a site foreman on this estate for two years.
00:29So nobody walks it, nobody understands.
00:32Taylor Wimpey's customer service is absolutely appalling.
00:36And I've been in touch with them monthly, weekly and daily for two years.
00:42And it's been really stressful, it's hard going.
00:44But we won't give in.
00:46The residents are very, very unhappy and we just need to get it sorted.
00:52So Lynne, when you find yourself moving to an estate, you know,
00:55they say, oh, it's going to be this, it's going to be that, it's going to look wonderful.
00:58And then you buy, you spend a lot of money on a house and they don't finish it.
01:03They don't, you know, finish the paths, the roads, the kind of communal areas look a mess.
01:09What comebacks do you have that the council don't want to know, trading standards don't want to know?
01:13No, the council don't want to know because they say until it's completely finished, they don't adopt the roads.
01:19So until then they don't take it off Taylor Wimpey.
01:23Taylor Wimpey just have nothing to say other than we understand your frustrations.
01:28They have no idea how frustrating it is.
01:32It's frightening. We went 18 months with no street lights whatsoever.
01:37Through the winter, it was dangerous.
01:39It doesn't matter whether it's health and safety issues we're talking of.
01:42They just don't want to know.
01:45They treat us like morons and it's just not acceptable and we won't go away.
01:52And you were saying what you'd like to see is, you know, government taking a more of a proactive kind of position.
01:58Possibly, you know, there's a pool of money that doesn't get released until they've proven they've done all the work and signed off the estate.
02:07Some kind of system.
02:09Yes, I believe when you're buying a new home, whether it's mortgage or whether you're buying it is irrelevant.
02:15But a percentage of the money of the cost of the house should be held in a trust or by a solicitor, by somebody.
02:25And until the estate is finished, so the houses have been delivered and snagged, the roads, the paths and the POSs are complete and the lighting.
02:34That's when they should receive that extra part of the money.
02:38Now we hand our money over immediately.
02:41We have no comeback whatsoever.
02:44We can walk away and all we can do is fight.
02:47And we have been fighting for two years.
02:49It's very tiring and it's really stressful.
02:54So you were saying that this path here has issues with the drainage because there's a bit of rain and the whole path here just floods out.
03:00Yes, that's just from the drizzle we had yesterday.
03:02Normally, right from last October, with the rain that we've had this last year, this would be completely covered.
03:11You wouldn't be able to walk through it.
03:13You'd have to walk around it and the grass would be sodden.
03:16And the same is at that end.
03:18So you couldn't access into the estate through its natural walkway.
03:24So Lynne, we've got the drain covers here peeping out.
03:28It even says so on the sign.
03:30And you were saying that some of them have had to be done a few times because they'll just wear away.
03:33Some of them will be topped up at least four times because the cars have to drive around them because there's no room to go either side of them.
03:40It constantly wears it down.
03:41So they keep coming and topping it up rather than actually topping the road.
03:45And this road should have been topped 15 months ago.
03:53So Lynne, we've got a bit of a play area here and you were pointing out some stones edging.
04:01I mean that's, you know, if someone falls down and bangs their head on that.
04:05And the weird thing is this looks like it was meant to be a path, doesn't it?
04:09I'd have no reply at all as to why it's even here.
04:12But the only thing I can think, it's a path.
04:14Because currently, people are now coming and walking and they walk along here.
04:19And they walk all these people's private drives, which they're not supposed to.
04:22And how much are residents paying to have this maintained?
04:26To have this maintained, we've just had the bill, £8,000 a year.
04:30Just for mowing some grass?
04:31Just for this child's play area, yes.
04:34£8,000 a year?
04:35Yes.
04:36It only gets mowed every fortnightly.
04:38Between May and September and the rest of the year, it's not touched.
04:46So Lynne, the landscaping on the estate leaves a lot to be desired.
04:50It certainly does.
04:51We've had lots of POSs that have never been laid at all.
04:55We've had hedging that it's just been overtaken by the grass.
05:01Because the bark they put down, they refuse to put any weed control underneath it.
05:06So everything just grows through it.
05:08Actually, we can see that, can't we, if we walk along.
05:14So who's meant to maintain all this then?
05:16Taylor Wimpey were, right up until the beginning of this month.
05:19Where they've just handed over to our estate management people.
05:23But we have yet to have any communication with them about how it's going to be managed once they've taken it on.
05:37So Lynne, randomly there's two lampposts.
05:39What's going on with that?
05:41There is.
05:42At the beginning of February, a company came.
05:44The one is a sensor light that hasn't worked for some time.
05:47And they are transitioning to the basic lamppost.
05:50But they have all been like this along the walkway since the beginning of February.
05:55And nothing has happened since those days.
05:58And you were saying it's still weird with the streetlights.
06:01There's streetlights that are on permanently.
06:03There are streetlights that are on 24-7.
06:05There are streetlights that don't come on at all.
06:08And there are streetlights that are incomplete.
06:10And nobody seems to have an answer as to why nothing is finished.
06:15There are three things for Taylor Wimpey to finish off.
06:20The one is the lighting.
06:21The one is the paths and roads.
06:22And the other is the POS.
06:24And we have none of them complete.
06:26Not one of the tasks they need to complete is done.