AFTER years of frustration, ridding an estate blighted by floods is finally moving forward, but criticism has emerged of the plan.

Persimmon Homes has started work at Picket Twenty to eliminate drainage issues which cause pavements and roads to be flooded at the development.

Work has already begun on a temporary solution of expanded soakaways while residents were told last month final surfacing works, pledged to also improve the situation, will be undertaken once the whole system is approved by Hampshire County Council.

This will include surfacing on the main spine road which Persimmon Homes says is a cause of flooding at the site entrance.

But residents fear porous block paving which could be used for the site’s roads are causing the issue.

Adam Buckenham, resident and former deputy chair of Picket Twenty Forum, said: “They are trying to rush it through, get it approved and that is it, because of that in the future any work needed to be done is going to come out of taxpayers’ money.

“It should have gone through our council, it has not, and then gone through the community forum.

“After six years someone should be brought in to assess it and say that is right or not.”

He added: “We have been going through hell. We can’t help but feel there is something amiss. Residents are upset, quite understandably they are as disgusted, as I am. The residents deserve so much more.”

The block paving which is currently rutting and causing flooding up to the front of houses at the entrance to the development will be replaced, Persimmon Homes say.

A letter to residents from Persimmon Homes said they had ‘verbal’ agreement from the county council, which will eventually have to adopt the roads and their maintenance, but authority chiefs insist they will scrutinise the scheme fully and have yet to agree to adoption.

Councillor Rob Humby, executive member for environment and transport, said: “The spine road in the Picket Twenty development was not completed at an earlier stage because it was used for construction traffic as the estate was built in phases.

“The first phase of block paving which was completed at the entrance of the estate is showing visible signs of failure, and, therefore, the investigation into the causes of this failure will need to be complete before any further surface layers of block paving are constructed.

“The current surface water ponding is due to the fact that the construction is only partly finished - part of the completion involves drilling into the base layer which allows the water to escape. Once Persimmon can satisfy the county council that the failures are due to specification and poor workmanship, we expect them to set out how they intend to avoid a repeat of the earlier problems.

“The county council will only adopt roads, and agree to take on responsibility for their future maintenance, once developers have completed construction to an adoptable standard.

“If the county council were to adopt highways that were incomplete or substandard then the cost of finishing or rectifying any problems with the roads would fall on the Hampshire council tax payer rather than the developer.”

Other residents have called for Persimmon to give a date of when the final surfacing of the spine road will be completed.

Resident Ross Henry said: “A lot of the roads are unfinished and remain unfinished because of the effectiveness of the finished design.

“If the roads remain unfinished then we need a drainage solution as we don’t want to keep driving through lakes – it is ridiculous.

Mr Henry said that soakaways had previously been installed on the estate but there became filled with silt from construction and were not maintained.

“Persimmon has not committed to a time scale. We can say that Persimmon have made progress and have taken action to do something but it is not a final solution, they have got to tell residents what the timescale is.

A spokesman for Persimmon Homes South Coast said: “The technical solution for the drainage of the road is a matter for Hampshire County Council to decide as part of the road adoption process.

“We are working together with [the council] to finalise the solution ready for installation now that the first phase of the Picket Twenty development has been completed.

“We have already corresponded with all residents on the development, and they will be kept up to date with progress directly via letter.

“The work currently taking place is a temporary additional solution being installed at the company’s cost, prior to Hampshire County Council finalising the requirements for the adoption of the road with us.”

Ward councillor Iris Anderson said: “I just want this to be sorted out for the residents of Picket Twenty, I want it to all get resolved as they [residents] have suffered quite a bit with the flooding.

“We as councillors have supported they and they have worked hard to solve the problem.”

Persimmon refused to clarify details about the work when contacted by the Advertiser.