Inside the 'ghost' newbuild estate left abandoned for seven years in bitter row over £750k wall

A NEWBUILD estate has been left abandoned for seven years – all because of a row over a very expensive wall.

A planning stalemate led to the fully completed, brand new homes in a Cornish village being boarded up and left empty.

A row of new houses, still deserted and boarded up. — The Calstock housing estate which has been deserted and left boarded upCredit: SWNS

A deserted housing estate in Cornwall, UK, with boarded-up homes and a viaduct in the background. — The brand new homes are empty amid the planning row stalemateCredit: SWNS

A damaged construction fence lies on the ground in front of a row of unfinished houses. — A fallen railing is pictured on the ghost town estateCredit: SWNS

Aerial view of an unfinished housing estate. — The developer blamed council costs for the desertionCredit: SWNS

The 33 new homes in Bridge View, Calstock, had planning permission granted in 2018.

Parish councillor Dorothy Kirk called it a ” tragic situation where everybody loses”.

One of the directors behind the development claimed his firm had put aside £2.8m for 15 affordable homes but council delays cost them £1.2m.

He accused the council of “weaponizing” planning agreements and blocking the sale of finished houses.

The additional costs included the requirement of building a more complicated drainage system, a second road, and a large retaining wall priced at around £750,000.

In turn the council said it has “done all in its power to work with the company”.

As of January 2024, there were 160 households on the waiting list for homes in the parish.

Cllr Kirk told the BBC: “We have to find a solution. I don’t want Calstock to be deprived of homes, I don’t want to see the developer lose everything. We have to have houses for local people.”

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 is understood to be reviewing a revised planning application for the site.

Another abandoned newbuild estate in Dover has been dubbed a “horrendous chalk scar”.

Disgruntled locals have slammed the developers who went bust and expressed fears the area of “scenic beauty”, in Dover, could become a “ghost town”.

There deserted site, on Folkestone Road, has 29 empty new builds.

And ill-fated construction work has left a huge band of chalk exposed on the landscape.