House builder defends Yate development branded 'eyesore' (From Gazette Series)

House builder defends Yate development branded 'eyesore'

9:30am Friday 19th March 2010 in

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A HOUSE builder has defended a Yate development which local councillors have branded an ‘eyesore’.

Although all of the four one-bedroom and 10 two-bedroom apartments at Edward Court, next to the Lawns public house on Church Road, have been sold the wall surrounding the site remains incomplete.

Developer Beaumont Homes, based at Frome Mill Farm on Nibley Lane, said the freezing weather this year had meant the natural stone wall could not be completed.

But town councillor Chris Willmore said there had been more than enough time to finish it.

She said: "The last story we were given was that it could not be completed because it was winter.

"I am becoming increasingly concerned that the developer will sell off these flats without completing the wall and we will be left with an eyesore."

Cllr David Evan-Jones said: "There is no excuse over the weather. The wall around the new South Gloucestershire Council offices has been put up without any problems."

However, founder and owner of Beaumont Homes, Miles Morgan, said: "Unfortunately we have not been able to finish building the wall due to the recent weather. The temperature needs to be three degrees and rising for the cement to set correctly for 24 hours including through the night. If this does not happen then the wall will crumble and fall down."

He said Beaumont Homes was a small, family firm that was trying its best during the recession and they did not have the same resources as South Gloucestershire Council.

He added: "We don't have money to burn but we do not want to give the impression we are in dispute over finishing the wall. We are going to complete it and have been building a bit each week. We hope to have it finished in the next three weeks."

Beaumont Homes was granted planning permission for the development of two apartment blocks in April 2008. The development is one of the first in Yate to be built to level 3 of the Eco Homes specification and will boast video entry systems and gated private parking.

South Gloucestershire Council’s planning enforcement team is monitoring the development.