Our £400,000 newbuild homes have been completely ruined by freak accident – we’re cut off & can’t use our cars

OWNERS of £400,000 newbuild homes say they’ve been completely cut off by a freak accident – and they can’t use their cars.

Residents in Haden Cross Drive, in Cradley Heath, West Midlands said the ground above their homes first began to slip in March 2024.

After a wall gave way, the desperate residents used sandbags to prevent any further demolition.

However, the bad weather in recent months and weeks has seen tons of earth slide down.

Including a massive mound, now completely blocking the road to the residents’ cul-de-sac.

Now around 12 homeowners, in £400,000 homes, can’t drive their cars up to or away from their homes.

Dunedin Homes owns the private estate, however, the frightened residents say “no one is taking responsibility” for the landslip.

Instead, they have to park far away and trek up to 100m through their neighbours’ gardens to get home.

To make matters worse, the street lighting is yet to be switched on.

Reece Aleksander, 33, an engineer said his drive – near the biggest slip – has been blocked since March.

He said: “I’m certainly starting to get worried about it creeping further to where our garden is – it could end up breaking our garden wall and coming into our kitchen.

“We’ve got a one-year-old so not being able to use the drive has been a bit of a nightmare.“

Despite the estate being privately owned, Reece believes Sandwell Council needs to step in.

He said: “The council isn’t interested because it’s a private road but then what do we pay council tax for?

“I think a steeper incline in the road to reduce the angle of the slope should have been done.

“The road and the land that has come down is owned by the developers and the wall that was there before was built by another company.

He added: “No one is accepting responsibility.”

Another resident, firefighter Rachael Howard, 34, is letting one of her neighbours use part of her driveway.

However, other people are always parking outside her house, she claims.

She said: “It’s a nightmare, especially with the lack of street lighting.

“It’s awful for residents – I’m looking straight at it and I just see it progressively getting worse.

“Over Christmas with all those storms we had and seeing people carrying newborns and small children past it – it’s dangerous.”

Rachael said the situation has been left for “far too long” to establish responsibility.

She continued: “The developers paid someone else to build the wall around it before it broke so it’s been left and left for far too long to establish who’s responsible.”

Reece added: “People don’t want to live in constant fear or something happening.”

THE COUNCIL AND DUNEDIN HOMES REACT

Developer Dunedin Homes have been approached for comment.

But speaking to the BBC, Dunedin Homes said it understood “as the landowner that it is our responsibility, pending legal actions, to make safe the slope”.

They added that this work began in December, but was suspended when tips closed for Christmas.

The developer apologised to residents for disruption, which they say is not of their making.

The landowner, Dunedin Haden Cross, say the problem was first reported to them in March 2024.

The statement continued: “Since then we have been working closely with those who completed the original design for the slope’s stability, and installed a wall to try to understand the cause of the slippage.

“Dunedin Haden Cross do not accept any liability for the slope failure and in the matter of costs and liability the insurers and loss adjusters have been notified and our solicitors are closely monitoring all correspondence.”

Sandwell Council said it was in “ongoing contact with the developer.”

A spokesperson said: “We completely understand their concerns.

“Even though the land is not owned by the council we have, however, been in ongoing contact with the developer to check what action the management company responsible for maintenance and repair is taking to rectify the problem.”