Meeting called over Cambridge newbuild homes demolition plan

The developer said the "most effective" thing to do was to demolish and rebuild the properties

A public meeting is to be held after a developer confirmed it was going to demolish 36 unoccupied newbuild homes.

Barratt and David Wilson Homes Cambridgeshire said a "small number" of houses on the Darwin Green site in Cambridge had foundation issues.

Labour councillor Antoinette Nestor said: "People's lives and dreams [have] suddenly become shattered."

The developer "apologised to customers" and said it was "doing all we can to lessen the impact of this for them".

Some of the properties on the site have "sold" signs on them

The Labour-run city council said it "was recently made aware of failures to the foundations" of the homes at the site, where a private company was appointed as the building control provider, not the local authority.

Ms Nestor said: "Although these houses are empty, residents in phase one of the development have already moved in, leaving them wondering if their properties also face the same issue.

"We're desperately short of houses and developers like Barratt and David Wilson can't even seem to do it properly."

Plans for about 1,500 homes at Darwin Green were agreed in 2015.

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Labour's executive councillor for planning and infrastructure at Cambridge City Council, Katie Thornburrow, said: "Our planning and building control officers are meeting with the developers to stress how seriously the council are taking this matter and we will continue to be proactively involved."

The developer said the properties "did not meet our usual high standards".

"The most important thing is that the homes we build for our customers are of the highest quality possible and this means identifying any mistakes and putting them right, which is what we are doing here."

The public meeting will be held at Storey's Field Centre on 29 June at 19:00 BST.