Residents claim new Barratt Homes housing development is affecting their homes and disrupting their lives

Residents on a road next to a Barratt Homes development in Longridge have created their own action group claiming Barratt is ignoring their complaints.

The Redwood Road Community Action Group was formed earlier this year after residents compared notes and felt as individual complainants they were getting nowhere.

Spokeswoman Jane Wigman said they were fed up of being “fobbed off” and listed a catalogue of complaints relating to construction work at the Bowland Meadow development off Chipping Road, Longridge.

These include: hairline cracks appearing in their homes; buildings shaking /vibrating as heavy plant is used on adjoining land; contractors starting earlier than the 8am permitted start and residents getting no warning when heavy plant is being deployed by their boundaries.

The group represents the 45 residents living in 24 houses along the development site's boundary.

Jane claims her property has been particularly affected by subsidence and one elderly resident had been told there must be a poltergeist in her home after she complained of items falling off shelves in her home. She said: "I've been here 13 years. My conservatory floor is literally dropping away from the skirting board. The exterior of the conservatory is moving from the side of the house. My fireplace and hearth has moved away from the skirting board. I feel there's quite a lot of unusual things happening on the property since they started all the groundworks."

Group members are especially aggrieved because their homes are also Barratt homes from an earlier phase of development.

The Redwood Drive residents have been joined by some near neighbours on Firwood Close and Crumpax Avenue.

The group has now enlisted the help of two local town councillors.

A statement put out by the group said: "Despite assurances from Customer Care, there has been no improvement in communication with residents along the site boundary."

Calling for more consideration and courtesy to be shown it continued: "This development is going to take very many years from end to end and residents will have a lot to endure, most particularly the elderly, housebound and those who are working from home. ...The existing Barratt home residents are simply asking to know what is likely to happen and when, and what happens in the case of damage, where they have simply been referred to their insurance company."

A spokesperson for Barratt Homes, Manchester, said: “As a five star homebuilder we take these complaints very seriously. We have recently met with a councillor and local enforcement officer to discuss residents’ concerns, and we are looking into them to ensure that the works at our development keep any disruption to a minimum for local residents.

"We would like to reassure local residents that the current works on site are normal construction activity, part of the agreed planning application and they do not create excessive noise or vibrations. We will also look at setting up additional monitoring on site to ensure levels are acceptable to consider residents’ concerns.”

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