A mum who moved to a garden city for a “blissful green escape” says it’s become a “living hell” thanks to ongoing construction.
Jodie Weston was excited to get her foot on the property ladder when she bought her home through a shared ownership agreement in Clocks Avenue, Ebbsfleet Garden City in August last year.
She paid £75,000 for 25% of her property from West Kent housing association, which means she pays part mortgage and part rent for her two-bedroom apartment.
However, within weeks of moving in with her three-year-old son, she realised she had moved into a working building site.
Since then, the 32-year-old says the construction activity has punctured her tyres, and the windscreen on her new Audi A1 was broken from debris falling from developer Redrow’s truck.
As a result, she says her vehicle constantly looks like she’s “driven out of a volcano” because of the amount of dust.
To make matters worse, the mum-of-one says a private company, National Parking Control (NPC) has now been empowered to operate on the main road of her estate and has dished out fines to residents parking there.
Jodie Weston looks out at the construction work in Ebbsfleet Garden City. Picture: Barry Goodwin
However, the apartment complex only has 28 marked parking spaces to serve the 44 apartments, which means once the spaces are full, residents can’t park near their property or on the main road without a fine.
Jodie told KentOnline: “We are now stuck in an impossible situation, I work in the nightlife industry and when I come home on weekends often 1-2am, I need to park a 20-minute walk away from my home.
“I got a £100 fine last week for parking in a disused road in the development that wasn’t causing an obstruction to anyone.”
Matters took a turn for the worse when the DJ discovered Redrow would be expanding their building site perimeter with a fence erected outside her bedroom window and front door.
“Ebbsfleet Garden City is advertised online as a blissful green escape and a great home for young families, but it has become a living hell,” she said.
“It’s just awful. I want to cry all the time. It just feels like we were sold something that’s not the reality.
A drone view of the immediate construction work around Clocks Avenue. Picture: Barry Goodwin
“It’s definitely not what I signed up for and I would never have bought the property if I’d have seen it in that state. It’s honestly horrendous.”
“On top of this my son and I are also suffering from bad asthma from the never-ending dust that floods across the development.”
Jodie was told the new perimeter outside her home will be there for two years and despite making complaints, she says nothing has changed.
“It’s my first home I was saving for 10 years to afford something, I could only afford a shared ownership property because that’s the life of a freelancer, and it feels like all these years of me saving have gone down the drain.
She says residents received a letter around a day and half before to say the building perimeter would be moved. However, Jodie says the perimeter is “huge” and she didn’t know where or how close it would be.
“Never in a million years did I think the building perimeter was going to be up against my front door, its just a nightmare,” she added.
A drone view of Clocks Avenue in Ebbsfleet Valley. Picture: Barry Goodwin
She believes residents should be allowed to park on the main road while an agreement is made over parking in the close, and wants the perimeter moved from her front door.
She’s not the only one calling for a solution. Nasir Bashiry is a dad and taxi-driver but in the last three months the parking has caused him “great trouble”.
The lack of spaces and the fines for parking on the main road means he now has to wait in his vehicle for hours for a space to become available before he can go into his house.
Talking to KentOnline from his car while he waited for a space in an already cramped car park, he said: “Right now I have a newborn baby and my wife had a C-section, they need me. I’ve come from work and I have to stay in the car for a couple of hours to find a space to park my car – but there is no space.
“Right now, my wife, my baby at home – they need me and I just finished work and I have to stay in the car to find a place to park my car. Please someone, do something about it.”
Nasir previously received fines for parking on the main road, which has since been cancelled, but residents have been told going forward, they will be fined despite having nowhere else to park.
The mum-of-one moved to the garden city for a “blissful green escape”.
It is understood that parking spaces on the site for homes are controlled by an environmental plan that is managed through the Ebbsfleet Development Corporation (EDC).
A spokesperson for the EDC said the development and associated parking provision had been approved under the Whitecliffe outline planning permission, and were designed to balance the needs of residents with “wider sustainability objectives”.
They said: “The approach is based on a public transport–orientated strategy, taking into account the site’s proximity to the forthcoming Market Centre, the sustainable transport network including Fastrack and Go Coach, and the provision of car club spaces in Alkerden Village.
“Parking for these apartments was approved as unallocated to accommodate residents and visitors, with management and enforcement the responsibility of the relevant landowner or their appointed management company.”
A West Kent spokesperson said they understood why Miss Weston and other residents were upset about ongoing construction, dust and parking problems.
They said: “West Kent only owns and manages some of the homes within this much wider development – and we don’t control the roads, parking enforcement, or any of the construction work. However, we fully appreciate the impact these issues are having on the daily lives of our customers living there.”
The firm said it would “continue pushing” for improvements around parking and the impact of ongoing construction and said it would be speaking with Redrow, the management company, and EDC.
A Redrow spokesperson said: “We are sorry to hear about Ms Weston’s complaint and have reimbursed her for the damage caused to her windscreen.
“We continue to work closely with the other developers, on-site contractors, and West Kent Housing Association to minimise disruption to residents and ensure they can enjoy their community whilst construction is ongoing.”
Redrow says it did not instruct parking or enforcement officers at the development.