New victims of homes scandal

THE other side to the Parkway housing ‘scandal’ was revealed this week after a private home buyer told the of his anger at not being able to move in to his property almost a year after exchanging contracts.

In 2008, West Berkshire Council gave £900,000 of taxpayers’ money to Parkway developers to ensure that 37 of the 147 homes built there were affordable following the company’s claims that it couldn’t afford to build any.

The 37 units were completed in early 2013, but they are still empty almost two years later, owing to SLI’s failure to negotiate terms with a social housing provider to manage them.

In July 2014 the council took the unpredecedented step of blocking the sale of any new private homes at the site after “losing patience” with SLI, and in February this year announced its intention to sue the developer for breach of contract – however, four months on the issue is still no closer to being resolved.

One man caught in the middle of the row, Julian Post, says he has been “hit with a wall of silence” since paying his deposit and exchanging contracts on a Parkway property in July 2014.

Mr Post said: “At first my wife and I were told SLI were sorting out a housing provider and that there would be a delay of a couple of weeks. Then we were told a month, then two months.

“In January this year, we were informed that SLI had done a deal with the social housing provider and that we would definitely be in our property by March at the latest.

“Here we are in June and we are still no closer. It is highly frustrating and annoying to say the least.

“There are at least 14 other people in a similar situation as ourselves and there are all those people in Newbury that need social housing that are being affected by this too – what is happening to them?"

A spokesperson for One Housing Group, which has entered into an agreement to manage the social housing, said: “There are a number of issues outstanding with the properties before we are able to accept them to ensure they meet the high standard that we know any new resident would expect.

“Some of these are legal issues, currently being agreed with West Berkshire Council, and others are additional works to the properties that both we and Standard Life have agreed to.

“Once the legal process has been completed, the rest of the works can be carried out and the homes will be available for the community.”

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