Homeowners on a half-finished Oxfordshire estate say they have been left living in “complete misery” after the developer behind the project collapsed and left key infrastructure unfinished.
Around 30 households at Linden Gardens have spent more than five years dealing with unmade roads, poor street lighting and drainage systems that were never properly completed.
Residents now fear they may have to raise the money themselves to finish the estate, with the outstanding work expected to cost up to £100,000.
Construction was abandoned after the developer shut down last year, but those living on the estate say Oxfordshire County Council should have prevented them from being left in this position.
At the centre of the dispute is a road bond, a safeguard intended to ensure that if a developer fails to complete a scheme, residents are not forced to cover the cost of finishing roads and related infrastructure.
Residents claim the advance payments code protection was not enforced, leaving them feeling “deceived and isolated” as they face the prospect of paying for work they believed had been secured.
James Bullen, 36, who lives on the estate, said: “Irritation doesn’t even begin to cover it. We have been completely let down by the council whose sole job was to make sure this security was made and we were not left responsible.
“It is five years of complete misery; nobody can sell their homes in the current state that the roads are in – it has been miserable for five years.”
Locals living in around 30 properties at Linden Gardens, Oxfordshire, have been forced to contend with unfinished roads, inadequate street lighting and incomplete draining for more than five years
It came after the site’s developer went bust and walked away from the project, leaving the estate prone to flooding in the winter
Images from last winter showed muddy water rising over pavements and onto driveways
‘The council has failed to enforce the protections that exist for residents, and the damage to us here has been very real.
‘We have been totally deceived by the council, and our community has been left to absorb the consequences – stress, cost, and years of avoidable deterioration – because the council and the system didn’t do its job.
‘The emotional and financial impact has been immense, and the council have made us feel wholly unimportant, not listened to, and totally isolated.
‘All of this could have been prevented if the council had followed their own procedures and information presented in their own guidance documents, and ultimately set out in law, but instead they have gaslit us at every opportunity to protect themselves and the wrong decisions, and left us fighting for years.’
Residents have also complained that the unfinished works have left the area prone to flooding, with images from last winter showing muddy water rising over pavements and onto driveways.
Elsewhere, huge potholes have been left on sections of the road which appear not to have been touched for months.
In a video published on social media, Charlie Maynard, Liberal Democrat MP for Witney, said: ‘Just have a look around, there’s all sorts of mayhem.
‘Manhole covers raised, and some of them very high and pointy, which people could burst their tyres on.
‘Some of the lights don’t work, and pavements are still not built.’
The politician has called for the council to pay for works to be completed – before securing the money from Taggart Homes – though this is something it has so far refused to do.
Another local, Maria Woods, said: ‘If OCC had done the single job required of them – collect the bond – none of this would be happening.’
Instead, the Linden Gardens community claims the council then failed to act even when the developer stopped responding, abandoned the site, and ultimately went insolvent in June 2025.
Huge potholes and gaps in unfinished roads are visible – and residents may now have to foot the bill to complete construction works themselves
A stretch of road in Linden Gardens is seen almost totally flooded last winter
TH Carterton Limited, which managed the project for Taggart Homes, was closed last year.
In a further blow, the Local Government Ombudsman has dismissed residents’ complaints.
So locals have resorted to starting a GoFundMe page, with has so far racked up more than £2,500.
Locals now fear they may not be able to sell their homes, while others are dreading the winter months when flooding is likely to happen once more.
A resident, preferred not to be named, said: ‘We did nothing wrong.
‘We are ordinary families and we bought homes believing the road would be finished, but now we have been left to pay.’
Oxfordshire County Council said it ‘understands the frustration’ of residents, but insists that it ‘fulfilled’ its statutory duty.
The council added: ‘We understand the frustration felt by residents at Linden Gardens following the developer’s collapse.
‘Oxfordshire County Council fulfilled its statutory duty by serving an advance payments code (APC) notice on the development.
‘At the time, the developer was actively progressing a private street agreement with the council, which is the established route for resolving these matters and would have removed the APC requirement.
‘In those circumstances, the council continued to work with the developer through that process until the developer’s subsequent financial difficulties brought progress to an end.’
A private street agreement is a formal legal contract between a property developer and a local council that sets the rules for constructing, approving, or managing a road that the public does not maintain.
The council added: ‘Linden Gardens was always intended to remain a private road and is not an adopted highway.
‘Responsibility for private roads rests with the landowner and the management arrangements that are established for the development, rather than the highway authority.’
As such, the council says the development does not fall within its ‘maintenance responsibilities’.
According to the council’s advanced payment code information sheet, it states: ‘No work on any building can be started until the APC is paid.
‘If work is carried out before the sum stated under the APC has been paid, Section 219(1) states that the owner of the land and the person carrying out the building are guilty of an offence and are liable to prosecution and a fine.’
