MICKLEOVER COUNTRY PARK

When people moved into a new luxury housing development in Derby they were not concerned that roads and pavements were unfinished. Three years on, residents on the Mickleover Country Park estate, in the grounds of the former Pastures Hospital, are sick of waiting for their streets to stop looking like those on a building site.

Many of the roads on the estate, where four-bedroom homes sell for £385,000, have not been properly surfaced and there are raised manhole covers in the roads. Jill Craxton, who moved into Merlin Way three years ago, said friends who visit her are shocked by the state of the roads in the area.

She said, "Those who have nice cars have a job avoiding the manhole covers. Some of the houses around here are extremely expensive and you would think that if people have spent a lot of money, they would expect to live in a nice area. We moved here because it was very green for a new estate, but it's not a pretty sight at the moment. I think it's a shame that it's been left in this state."

Lindsay McEwan, of Sandpiper Lane, said, "I'm surprised it hasn't been done sooner. The developers just seem to be dragging their heels for no apparent reason." Richard Finnegan, also of Sandpiper Lane, said, "I keep seeing signs about the estate saying that remedial works are under way, but we still have no asphalt on our roads."

The upkeep of the estate's roads and pavements is the shared responsibility of two developers. Derbyshire County Council will not take over responsibility from them and adopt the roads until the streets are of a higher standard. A spokesman from the council said, "Once the development had been finished we did an inspection, but we found a large number of defects, including problems with street lighting, road and pavement surfaces and drains being raised too high."

He said the council would not take over the care of the roads until the improvements had been made. Mr Finnegan said, "We are in the highest band of council tax in this area and all we get is the basic service of getting our bins emptied. In the winter I couldn't get my car off the estate because the council didn't grit our roads as it wasn't its responsibility."

A spokesman for Redrow Homes said, "The footpaths and road surfaces at the development in Mickleover are a shared responsibility between Redrow and Wimpey Homes, formerly McLean Homes. Remedial work and surfacing is currently taking place at the development and manholes are temporarily raised to allow the work to be completed. We apologise for any inconvenience to residents. However there inevitably has to be some minor disruption while we undertake the work." (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph)

The unfinished roads and pavements on the estate have been an ongoing issue with myself and Redrow, who fell out with their contractors and made no urgent cover of contractors to finish off the job that should have been done a long time ago. It was only through many phone calls (some unanswered) that we managed to get the site office removed only five or six weeks ago, and not a lot has been done since.

My initial complaint to Redrow was about the apartment blocks that they built directly in front of our luxury home for 10 or more flats which look straight into our home. This is something that the local MP is also looking into at the moment for us (I have a detailed letter from Mark Todd), to investigate the reason why, after three applications to the council to build opposite us and many other homes, it was turned down and thrown out by the council, but a representative for the Secretary of State agreed to the building, ignoring all the letters opposing the idea and calls made by the residents of this estate.

People cannot sell their houses because of this building. The estate really is a shambles and no thought has been giving to the planning and considerations of other people. The people living in the flats have started parking outside the territory of the building and parking on the main road again opposite our house.

This blocks us in, so we have asked numerous times if they could park in their designated areas but they "like to see their cars when they look out of the bedroom window." I have spoken to many people in Redrow about this, and also the site carer. I have many names and details of dates and quotes, and also the letter from Mark Todd.

Many, many people are angry on the estate that we were never listened to. They constantly talk about the state of the development and how they have been so let down by them. We feel that once they had sold all the plots we were simply left to our devices, and that has been exactly the case. Deborah Hartland

Residents, who have paid between £280,000 and £415,000 for houses, claim that the pavements and roads are filthy and some drains are blocked. They say the lack of responsibility has prevented the roads from being gritted in the winter despite numerous complaints by them to the county council. But the county council will not adopt the roads because there is a problem with the street lights. A county council spokeswoman said, "The roads on the estate have not yet been adopted and the county council will not adopt the roads until it's satisfied that any defects have been dealt with to avoid extra cost to the taxpayer. It's not the responsibility of the county council to provide bins on roads which have not yet been adopted."

Theresa Ging, of Merlin Way, has installed metal railings at the front of her garden because she is frightened of heavy vehicles skidding on ice in the winter months. She said, "If you walk through the estate at, night you can see the street lights which are on the blink. The roads are filthy, there's weeds growing in the pavements and some of the drains are blocked. I used to have a wooden fence at the front of my house but I'm so scared that something will skid off the road in the winter I had metal railings put up."

Beverley Rise, also of Merlin Way, said, "Weeds are starting to grow and the place just looks unkempt. A bus comes to collect the children and in the winter it's scary because the roads aren't gritted." South Derbyshire district councillor Frank Hood said, "I made some inquiries and found out that the county council will not adopt the development because it doesn't come up to its standards." A spokesman for Redrow Homes said, "We're aware of the issue, which is the joint responsibility of both Redrow and George Wimpey, and an order is to be placed to repair the lights.