Our affordable new homes have been boarded up – council is strangling us and no one is allowed in… it’s tragic

RESIDENTS are fuming after their affordable new homes were boarded up - with no one allowed in.

Developer Bridge View said council delays and "abnormal" costs have stopped it delivering 33 homes in the Cornish village of Calstock.

There are 160 households on the waiting list for homes in the area, according to recent council documents.

The homes were granted planning permission in 2018, but Bridge View boss Michael Wight said delays cost the firm £1.2million.

Wight blasted the council for "strangling the business cash flow" by blocking the sale of the homes.

Unexpected costs during construction work cost the developer another £750,000 - draining the budget for 15 affordable homes.

The costs included a second road, a drainage system and a £750,000 wall.

Affordable housing operators backed out of the development in November last year following the surge in costs.

This meant that the developer was unable to meet planning conditions - so the site was mothballed.

Councillor Dorothy Kirk called the spat a "tragic situation where everybody loses".

She told the : "I hope somehow we can rescue it. We have to find a solution, end of.