Hathersage Court

RESIDENTS on two estates in Newington Green have told the council they have no trust in it after years of new-build chaos.

Neighbours in Hathersage Court have not had access to their communal play area and basketball court for 10 years.

The playground was locked up and the outdoor space made inaccessible in 2016 when the council first discussed plans to build new houses on the estate.

But since the new-build project was given the go-ahead in 2019, not a single brick has been laid.

At a meeting of the housing scrutiny committee on Tuesday, Jack Rogers, chair of Hathersage Court Residents’ Association, told councillors: “Initially you had our support for the new-build homes, and really, ultimately, that’s been eroded.”.

He added: “Now we’re more in the position that we’d just like our green space back. We’d like our basketball court back. And we’d like to stop wasting time negotiating with the council, working with the council, putting a huge amount of unpaid hours into trying to make these good outcomes.”

Residents also said that the council had promised improvements to the existing block as part of the new-build scheme, but that nothing has been done. Instead, they have been living with a temporary heating system which was only meant to operate whilst the new-build was in progress.

“This was supposed to be connected to the new-build houses which haven’t been built,” Mr Rodgers said. “So we’ve been living with this substandard temporary heating system for many years now with no sense of when that’s going to get connected up.”

The Tribune previously obtained data under a Freedom of Information request that showed the project has already cost the council £2.3million. Yet, despite the promise of 45 new-homes, six years of work has amounted to a few felled trees and a knocked down wall.

The committee was told that 176 emails had been sent to the council about Hathersage Court, and 16 meetings were conducted to discusss the situation.

Cabinet councillor Diarmaid Ward admitted that he had never visited Hathersage Court, adding: “I have been to most of the new builds in the borough. I fully accept I have not been to Hathersage. There is a lesson for me here because I tend to visit new-build projects where we’re actually on site.”

He added: “What’s awful about the Hathersage story is that we’ve never managed to get on site. That’s not acceptable.”

Residents of the Park View estate also spoke to express sympathy with the Hathersage Court residents, adding that they had suffered similarly as a result of prolonged and disorganised new-build plans.

Sara Brakes, who chairs the estate’s residents’ association, said: “Their story rings completely true with our story.”

Other tenants added that they felt “let down” by the council, and said that they had received little support throughout the new-build process.

Cllr Ward told residents: “We want to make this right. I can’t change what’s happened, but I can commit to coming to the estate as soon as possible.”