Family who moved into a new housing development in Cornwall are ‘forced to park 200 metres’ from their home because Persimmon contractors ‘keep removing the road’
- Shaun Buckingham, 32, says family living ‘nightmare’ amid ongoing road works
- Main access road ‘blocking bin men, grocery deliveries and emergency vehicles’
- Comes after a parallel access road was also dug up, turfed over and fenced off
A young family are living a ‘nightmare’ after being ‘forced to park 200 metres’ from their new home because contractors ‘keep digging up the roads’ leading to their cul-de-sac.
Father-of-two Shaun Buckingham, 32, claims his family have effectively been ‘cut off’ as bin lorries, food delivery vans and emergency vehicles are unable to reach his home in Truro, Cornwall, due to the main access road now resembling an ‘assault course’ – complete with pot holes, raised levels and metal fencing.
It comes after a smaller access lane running parallel to the frame maker’s property was also dug up by developers Persimmon, before being turfed over and fenced off, forcing residents to park hundreds of metres away.
Mr Buckingham, who moved last summer to the Copperfield development at Arch Hill, with his care worker wife Sarah – and their son and daughter – says families in the Park Kerwys cul-de-sac are ‘fuming’.
Persimmon told MailOnline today it was sorry for the ‘disruption caused’, adding that the works on the main access road are expected to be finished next week.
Recalling the first bit of road to be dug up, Mr Buckingham told Cornwall Live: ‘One day someone knocked on the door and asked us to move our car as they would dig up the road.
‘So we did but they replaced the lot not with fine gravel but with mud which they seeded with grass. So basically mud.
Father-of-two Shaun Buckingham (pictured), 32, outside the access road which was turfed over and fenced off, forcing him to park 200 metres away from his home
Mr Buckingham claims his family have effectively been ‘cut off’ as bin lorries, food delivery vans and emergency vehicles are unable to reach his home in Truro, Cornwall, due to the main access road (pictured) left resembling an ‘assault course’.
‘Now we can’t even access our own house and we have to park about 200 metres away.’
Then in January, Persimmon warned residents that the main road round to the cul-de-sac would be undergoing works.
Mr Buckingham recalled: ‘They slipped some bit of paper through the letter box one day at 4.55pm telling us that the main road round to the cul-de-sac would be closed then they all went off for the weekend.’
Mr Buckingham claimed construction workers told him on January 21 that the work would take a day, but it was not opened until after January 25 – before closing yet again just days later.
He said: ‘It’s been a nightmare. It was such a mess that when the kids came home from school they didn’t know how to get to the house because there was no path or road left.
‘My wife is a carer in the community and is under a lot of stress. She really doesn’t need these kinds of things on top of it.
‘There’s no street lights and she has to either leg it across the mud or go on a massive detour. All the neighbours are fuming too.’
Mr Buckingham claimed Persimmon closed the road to his cul-de-sac again on February 2, and told the residents in a letter that it would be reopened by the weekend which it was not.
Images show the road still with pot holes, fencing and raised levels.
Mr Buckingham (pictured), who moved last summer to the Copperfield development at Arch Hill, with his care worker wife Sarah – and their son and daughter – says families in the Park Kerwys cul-de-sac are ‘fuming’
Mr Buckingham (pictured on main access road) said that he went into the Persimmon site office and inquired about the work only to be told that in fact the ‘road’ work might be completed by the end of the following week instead
‘They told us the road was finished today (February 9) and had now reopened,’ Mr Buckingham said pointing to a huge pot hole.
‘That’s not finished at all. It’s an assault course. Not a road. No emergency service vehicle can come up this road.
‘Taxis don’t come up and supermarket delivery vans have told us to do click and collect because they can’t make it up here.
‘The bin lorries can’t come up either. Basically we’re cut off but apparently the road is done.’
Mr Buckingham said that he went into the site office and inquired about the work only to be told that in fact the road work might be completed by the end of the following week.
‘We just don’t know when we’ll have a road to come home to,’ he added.
‘They created some little pathway but they dug up that too now. It’s ridiculous.
‘To be honest, the last two weeks have been a nightmare. The place is a mess and we have a driveway we can’t even drive to.’
A spokesperson for Persimmon Homes Cornwall told MailOnline: ‘We apologise for the disruption caused to our customers and housing association residents on Park Kerwys at the Copperfields development in Truro.
‘As other phases of the development are being built there is sometimes unfortunately disruption to existing residents.
‘We do all we can to minimise this and keep residents informed.
‘In this instance we sent letters to the 14 households affected and a site manager visited every home twice to discuss the disruption and where their alternative parking would be.
‘The works are due to be completed next week.’
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