'˜You need to clear the mud off our roads'

Residents living at Navigation Point housing development say work to complete the remaining houses there is "a nightmare" with mud everywhere. Pictured are Paul Mortimer and Darren Mortimer

Greenhaven Homes was granted planning permission to build 279 houses at the former Lambsons site off Cinder Lane in Castleford in 2010.

Some of the homes at the riverside development, known as Navigation point, are already occupied.

But construction work is ongoing to complete the scheme. And people living nearby say the work is leaving their streets “covered in mud”.

Paul Mortimer of Cinder Lane said: “The brand new tarmac laid down with the first phase of the development has gone grey with all the mud.

“I can understand the builders maybe having a few initial problems sorting out cleaning but they never seem to clear it up. It just looks atrocious.”

Castleford councillor Denise Jeffery described it as a “horrendous mess”.

She said: “I visited the site and knocked on about 30 doors and everyone was fed up with the mud. When the developer got planning permission, they were meant to clear the road but it isn’t being done.”

John Gladwyn, development manager, said: “Residents have had a viable complaint and I am not looking to defend it. I visited the site last Tuesday and the roads were in a shocking state.”

He added: “We do book road sweepers to clear the road regularly but they are being notoriously unreliable.

“There are only a limited supply of road sweepers, covering several developments in the area. I appreciate that doesn’t help residents.

“We are trying to find ways of changing things such as getting road sweepers in more regularly.”

Coun Jeffery met with planning officers at Wakefield Council to raise concerns.

She said afterwards: “Somebody is going down to see the developer on site to explain that he has to meet planning conditions to clean the road on a regular basis. We will be monitoring the situation and taking enforcement action if it continues.”