- Calstock, Cornwall stuck with 33 new boarded up homes after planning row
Locals in a village featured in BBC series Beyond Paradise have blasted a developer after brand new homes were boarded up and left empty.
Residents in Calstock – which sits along a stunning stretch of the river Tamar in Cornwall – were promised 33 new homes on a patch of unused land with almost half classed as affordable.
But eight years after planning permission was first granted in 2018 the developers behind Bridge View claim council delays and abnormal costs have left them unable to deliver the project and now say it’s not viable to sell all the homes on the open market.
The costs included the need to build a second road, a more complicated drainage system and a £750,000 retaining wall.
Following a long-running dispute with the council, which has seen work grind to a halt, the developers recently took the extraordinary step to board up three of the finished houses.
One resident said: ‘It’s very sad for the village because we were promised affordables and now we have boarded up houses.’
Alastair Tinto, who has lived in the village 44 years and is a member of the Parish Council, said: ‘It was a contentious application to begin with but we supported the application because it was going to deliver 33 houses of which 15 were affordable.
‘There have been a lot of problems with the development since then. Those nearby will tell you there have been a lot of problems with noise and it’s taken a long time.
‘There has been six years of noise and disruption and dust, people have been through years of this and look at what’s happened.
‘The developer blames it on Cornwall Council and delays but I think that’s completely unfair.
‘This is their biggest project to date and I think they bit off more than they could chew – it failed because of their incompetence, not problems with the authority.
‘It’s a sad story for them because they have lost a lot of money but it’s very sad for the village because we were promised affordables and now we have boarded up houses.’
A document published by the council in January 2024, stated there were 160 households on the waiting list for homes in the parish.
When MailOnline visited the development this week no work was taking place and a number of clearly new houses had windows and doors covered with sheets of chipboard while several other homes looked close to completion but had never been occupied.
In a recent interview with the BBC, one of the developers, Michael Wight, said his firm had allocated £2.8m, for 15 affordable homes but claimed council delays then cost the firm £1.2m in interest.
He accused Cornwall Council of ‘weaponising’ legal planning agreements and ‘strangling the business cash flow’ by blocking the sale of completed homes.
Mr Wright also told the BBC no affordable housing operator wanted the homes meaning they could not fulfil planning conditions.
But a number of the village’s 6,000 residents say they were so incensed by the BBC’s ‘biased’ coverage with some even complaining to the public service broadcaster.
Phil Spurr, 70, who has lived in the village for 42 years, said: ‘The BBC piece was like ‘there now follows an appeal on behalf of very rich people who need more’.
‘I’ve never seen anything so lacking in scrutiny.’ Gaeli Jacketts, 52, who grew up in the village said: ‘They are boarded up for effect, we don’t know whether any of their claims are true.’
Dennis Watkins, 80, who lives next door to the development added: ‘I think he boarded up the windows purely for the BBC.’
The village’s beauty – including its century-old stone railway viaduct – earned it a part in the BBC spin off of Death in Paradise which returns to screens for a second series on Friday (March 22)
Mr Watkins added: ‘When we moved in 12 years ago we were told they would be building at the back of us and we accepted that. Then we were told ‘we’re going to give Calstock 15 affordable houses. That’s what sold it, nothing else.
‘I think we’ve been conned by people who couldn’t care less about Calstock.
‘I would like to see the site taken over by a professional building outfit that will communicate with the community and complete the affordable houses as promised.’
Gloria Watkins, 80, said: ‘Once it was passed and permission was granted I accepted that and I wanted to make sure it was done to the standard it was supposed to be done.’
Mr Spurr added: ‘There is a great need for affordable houses here. I know my children can’t afford to buy here and many other families are in the same situation.
‘This is one of the most vibrant communities on the River Tamar but people need homes.’
Linda Bunyan, 78, who also lives next door to the new development said: ‘The concern is the developer had got permission on the understanding they provide 15 affordable houses and they haven’t done so.
‘Without the affordable housing there is no benefit for local people. Why don’t they make the ones they are boarding up affordable houses?
‘It’s not fair, they are now moving the goalposts.’
The developers previously proposed to reduce the affordable housing share to 30% but say a nine-month delay in the council responding cost them £880,000. In January 2024 they told the council it was no longer viable to provide any affordable housing on the site.
Adele Fulner, another director of the firm, said it was a ‘complex situation’.
She told the BBC: ‘I’m sorry it hasn’t worked out the way we wanted it to.
‘I feel like we could have fought harder to make it happen and for that I apologise.’
Cornwall Council said it was: ‘Committed to working with developers that have been granted planning permission to ensure that a housing development, and the agreed number of affordable housing homes, are delivered in line with the planning permission.’
It said it ‘must adhere’ to planning policies, including neighbourhood plans and was actively working to secure the delivery of the development and affordable housing.
issues with the development had been ‘ongoing for several years’ and that it had ‘done all in its power to work with the company’.
Laura Adams is a tech enthusiast residing in the UK. Her articles cover the latest technological innovations, from AI to consumer gadgets, providing readers with a glimpse into the future of technology.
