Windrush Place development: Residents' anger as promised amenities fail to appear

Hundreds of properties have been built on the estate but a site reserved for shops remains a wasteland

Residents at a housing development are planning legal action after they were promised local amenities that are yet to be built.

The Windrush Place estate in Witney, Oxfordshire, has more than 1,000 homes but no shops or a community centre.

Building for the facilities should have started four years ago but the reserved site remains a wasteland.

Developers Vistry, Persimmon and Bloor said they were "fully committed to fulfilling [their] obligations".

Resident Lisa Gibbens told BBC News: "It's so disappointing, we were sold this dream."

The range of amenities detailed in the Section 106 agreement included shops, a sports pavilion, a primary and secondary school, sports pitches and a residential care home.

A Section 106 is a legal agreement between the local authorities and the developers, which can be linked to planning permission and obligations.

The deadline for completion of this work expired years ago.

The range of local amenities should include, shops, a sports pavilion, schools, sports pitches and a residential care home

Ms Gibbens and her husband were one of the first people to move into the estate five-and-a-half years ago.

She said: "We have several acres of rough, overgrown, dangerous ground with broken fencing around it, adjacent to the primary school where we should have our shops.

"We were promised four units of shops with some housing above and a community centre as well as residential care homes. Nothing's happened, no ground has been broken yet.

"It's so disappointing, because half of the reason we moved to this estate was because of the facilities we were going to get and were promised. We've spent five-and-a-half years waiting."

Although the sports pitches are up, they have not been signed off by the council so are unusable and fenced off.

Ms Gibbens added: "There are people moving away from the estate because the facilities we were promised when we purchased our homes just haven't materialised.

"It's frustrating, it's annoying and we are really trying everything we can to get our shops and community centre."

Residents are looking into legal action against the council which it says should have intervened to hold the developers to account.

Paula Higgins, CEO of the Home Owners Alliance, said developers were "notorious" for "promising a dream and then downgrading it".

"But if the developer has agreed with the council that they've handed over their money and the council hasn't built it, it's really difficult," she said.

A spokesperson for the developers Vistry, Persimmon and Bloor said planning permission for a sports pavilion had now been granted and construction would begin next year.

"Similarly, an application for a local centre which includes the provision for shops is with the council for consideration and is anticipated to receive approval later this year," the consortium representative added.

Plans for a care home or a secondary school were not mentioned, but the developers said they had made "significant improvements" to local infrastructure.

They said these include the introduction of a new bus route through the site, a junction access off the A40 and upgrades to Curbridge Road and Downs Road.

West Oxfordshire District Council previously said it was "working closely with the developers" to complete the facilities.

The local authority is expected to provide an update to the BBC on Thursday.

The Windrush Place residents are not alone with their problems.

The Barton Park development in Oxford is yet to see shops opened and those living at Didcot's Great Western Park still have no GP surgery even though plans were approved 14 years ago.

Follow BBC South on Facebook, X, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail].