A woman from Spencers Wood claims four years of building work have turned her once idyllic house into a hell home.
Cath Loftus says she has been choked by concrete dust, suffered flood damage, had rubbish thrown into her garden and been bullied by developers.
She also claims endless digging has caused her house to vibrate, builders have ignored restricted working hours and some have even camped in their vans at the bottom of her garden.
Cath, who has lived in Croft Road in Spencers Wood since 1995, says she is furious that her complaints to David Wilson Homes and Wokingham Borough Council have “been ignored”.
“In four years of endless noise, mess and congestion, I have been passed from one department to another, or one person to another,” fumed Cath.
“It has been very draining and stressful and there seems no end in sight to more housebuilding.”
David Wilson Homes have already built 250 houses around Cath’s property and more could be in the pipeline from them and other developers.
In addition to the noise and dust, Cath says huge trucks regularly block her driveway and turned a one way single track lane into a dangerous two-way road.
“I have a balcony that I cannot use because of the noise and, like my bathroom, it is now directly overlooked.
“For the same reason, the blinds in my bedroom are constantly down and I rarely use my garden.
“I spent £1,500 having my patio area done but concrete dust has completely ruined it.
“The dust has affected my health. I have rhinitis brought on by these huge levels of dust and now need to administer several different types of nasal sprays to keep it at bay.
“The people working in my garden have had to restrict their works as they have asthma and other respiratory problems. They tell me that they cannot work for more than an hour at a time as it’s so bad.”
Things came to a head when Cath says when a large metal file was thrown over her hedge which struck the workman building her patio.
“It bounced off my oak tree narrowly missing my workman’s head but grazing his shoulder,” she explained.
“When he looked down he was amazed to see a large metal file with a sharp pointed end. He immediately went around to see the site manager.
“He came round to see the offending article and attempted to take it away and apologised saying this wouldn’t happen again. They later returned with the individual that threw it who also apologised and said he ‘lost his temper’ and threw it in anger.”
Added Cath: “I got home to find a note and some other items on my step by way of an apology for this.
“However, I have had all sorts of rubbish including beer bottles thrown into my garden and pathways from the David Wilson Homes site office. Leaving a scribbled note and a few flowers as an apology really is not good enough.”
Cath says both David Wilson Homes and Wokingham Borough Council, have largely ignored her concerns.
“The council seems very weak. They just pass my reports of out of hours working and damage to my property from one person to another.
“As for David Wilson Homes, their workmen just don’t seem to care and as for their office staff, they have been bullying and seem happy to dismiss my complaints. I get passed around then ignored then spoken to as if I have no reason to complain.”
A spokesperson for David Wilson Homes Southern said: “As a five-star house builder we take our work on site very seriously, and have been liaising with Ms Loftus to come to an amicable resolution.
“As a gesture of goodwill we have paid for the cleaning of any residual dust left on her patio as a result of the dust caused by construction work during the exceptionally dry summer. Additional dust suppression measures were introduced on site as a result of this incident to prevent dust blowing off site in future.
“We work in accordance with our agreed planning conditions, and provide continuous road cleaning operations. Our contractors only work within the times and days permitted under the conditions attached to our planning consent.
“We are committed to developing our new homes in a considerate manner and endeavour to accommodate local residents’ concerns at all times.”
Wokingham Borough Council’s executive member for planning, Cllr Simon Weeks, said: “We have a great deal of sympathy for anybody who has suffered from inconsiderate builders and were very concerned by the incident when an object was thrown into a private garden – which is totally unacceptable. Although the Health and Safety Executive is responsible for such matters (and it was reported to the HSE) we immediately sent officers to the site to raise our concerns with the site manager.
“Similarly, we were concerned about the sewer and raised the issue with Thames Water (which is responsible). Thames Water carried out a CCTV investigation of the sewer on August 17 and has since reported to Wokingham Borough Council (WBC) that it is flowing freely.
“More generally, the enforcement powers available to local authorities over housing development are very limited and taking legal action is a slow and ineffective process. For these reasons, WBC finds it more effective to work with developers to resolve issues and only uses enforcement action as a last resort.
“WBC has, in fact, received very few complaints about the Croft Road site and issues have been resolved appropriately.
