West Norfolk housing developments have been impacted by poor weather

Wet weather has delayed housing schemes in west Norfolk (stock photo)

Two major housing developments have been beset by months of problems caused by "extremely poor weather conditions".

A report to King's Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council revealed challenges at the Florence Fields site in Gaywood, near King's Lynn, and the Southend Road scheme in Hunstanton.

The weather threatened to delay progress at the sites that will deliver more than 250 properties between them.

Both are backed by council funding and are being built by Lovell Homes.

The developments include several affordable homes and private rental properties.

Florence Fields became waterlogged following Storm Babet in October last year and the site continued to endure problems.

It faced additional issues due to a collapsed Network Rail culvert, which disrupted the flow of surface water, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Flooding concerns had threatened to derail the project entirely, with the Environment Agency opposing it at the initial planning stage and several local people raising fears it could have a high risk of being flooded.

Alistair Beales, cabinet member for business, told the council in a report that while the first bricks had been laid, ground conditions and extremely poor weather continued to "challenge progress".

He warned that a long-term resolution needed to be found in the coming weeks to avoid delays.

The scheme has also faced rising costs and has required the council to increase its budget from £48.3m to £54.4m.

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Meanwhile, building work is in its final stages at Southend Road, Hunstanton.

Mr Beales described it as a "complex and challenging" project, with high winds hampering the installation of roofs at the start of the year, although the development was now near completion.

It is expected to be finished by late summer.

Michael Saunders, operations manager at Lovell, and James Grant, project manager at the council, said in a joint statement: "Both autumn and winter were exceptionally wet with record levels of rainfall in west Norfolk.

"The weather created very challenging ground conditions, which inevitably caused some delays at both Southend Road and Florence Fields.

"However, our positive and proactive approach to managing water on the sites meant we were still able to carry on operating and we continue to work in partnership to make progress on the developments."