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A "ghost estate" of 33 abandoned new-build homes is still empty in a Cornish village after eight years. Locals blame "building houses for wealthy people from outside the area." The homes on the plot in Calstock have never been lived in after the developer's costs snowballed out of control.

The project was left unfinished and boarded up after the developer was unable to afford to finish the project. It had promised "15 affordable homes" - but now stands derelict. Planning permission was approved in 2018 but a seven-year planning row followed and it is still empty. Locals blame the lack of actually affordable homes available.

The scheme pledged "same high standard of workmanship, energy efficiency and appeal as the open market designs". Eight years on, the houses remain boarded up and incomplete.

Abandoned properties at Bridge View in Calstock, have sparked fury amongst some villagers, with one saying, "the developer promised benefits for local people but didn't deliver," reports The Mirror.

The builders, Michael Wight and Adele Fulner of Construction Partners Ltd (headquartered in Exmouth, Devon), had initially envisaged nearly half the properties being designated at reduced prices.

Yet months down the line, Cornwall Council confirmed they had received and given the green light to a revised planning application for the site in October (2021), which involved cutting the number of affordable homes.

That said, certain reports indicate it took a full three years for the fresh planning application, which slashed affordable homes to just 10, to secure approval from Cornwall Council.

Grahame Bartleet, a local resident, remarked: "The developer promised benefits for local people but didn't deliver. They didn't comply with their planning permission and ran out of money."

He added: "Planning consent was conditional on a number of affordable houses. The developer applied to reduce the number of affordable houses, and that was approved.

"The developer then applied to remove all affordable housing and that was refused.

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"South East Cornwall is one of the most deprived areas in the country: perhaps building houses for wealthy people from outside the area isn't the best way forward for the community."

The council maintained that trimming affordable homes from 15 down to 10, at that juncture, still fell within the requirements for the village, as outlined in the Calstock neighbourhood plan and Cornwall Local Plan.

Meanwhile, the developers' expenses ballooned whilst awaiting approval for the revised planning application, they claimed, with hold-ups ultimately causing affordable housing operators to pull out.

Construction Partners Ltd is classified as a "micro" enterprise by business intelligence firm Endole - whilst the developers have acknowledged they are "not a big company", with one labelling the planning system as "broken."