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It was billed as the dream newbuild estate to settle down and have a family in a tranquil pocket of the West Country.
But residents living in Palmerston Heights, in Plymouth, Devon, have laid bare the true horrors of being trapped in leaseholder contracts on an estate dubbed the 'worst in the south-west'.
Families were attracted to the Persimmon Homes estate due to its beautiful views and its easy access to the suburb of Derriford and the sprawling Dartmoor National Park.
But after £52million was pumped into building the Forder Valley Link Road right outside their doors, residents say they wish they had never moved there.
Those living in newbuilds on Pintail Way say they were never informed that they would open their front doors to a busy main road, which runs for 1km and has a 140-metre bridge between the A38 and the north of Plymouth.
The once quiet road started being ripped apart and transformed into a dual carriageway in 2019 and was built to bring new homes and businesses to the area and reduce traffic from the A38.
Since 2015, Persimmon began work on building close to 900 two-bed and three-bed homes at Palmerston. And while residents now have an effective transport link, they claim they still lack basic amenities such as shops and playgrounds.
When MailOnline toured the property site earlier this week, residents living in homes encircled by scaffolding and JCB excavators shared their feelings of being stuck within unsalable residences they've nicknamed 'Fawlty Towers.'
In January 2017, Emma Trimer, aged 43, along with her spouse Steven, who is 40 years old, made the shift from a peaceful dead-end street to one of the initial homes in the development.
The couple purchased their house for £248,000 and state they wouldn’t have relocated with their three kids if they were aware of the connection to the bypass. They currently feel stuck in what seems like an unsalable property.
Ms Trimmer stated, "We were never told that it would turn into a major roadway. On the day I moved in, my neighbor asked me over for a cup of tea, and that’s when I learned about the situation."
'I would've stayed put if I'd known back then, especially since my little one was only three at the time.'
The idea of having little kids near the main road is terrifying; the risks associated with it are absurdly high.
There aren’t any safety features, nor are there speed bumps. People zoom down this road at 60 km/h since there are no speed cameras. They treat it like a freeway, and you’ve got your street racers too.
'The noise level increases as time goes by; the longer this stretch of road exists, the more congested it becomes.'
The Trimmers pay £180 annually as leaseholders, however, this amount might go up once they hit the 10-year milestone in two years.
The pair are now frantically trying to save funds to purchase the lease and thus gain ownership of the land where their home stands.
We'd feel frightened and confined if we couldn’t purchase the lease. We’ve attempted to sell it twice already, each time having to offload it for £260,000, whereas similar houses deeper within the estate are fetching £325,000.
The road has cost us a significant amount of money. Being leaseholders has also resulted in financial losses, and the property remains unsold.
My home is currently valued at just £10,000 higher after eight years. It’s impossible to sell. We’ve attempted it twice.
'With three young children, I moved into a cul-de-sac to come here. If I'd known that road was being built, I would never have even moved here. I live in a house I can't sell, so to me I'm stuck.'
The house itself, Ms Trimmer says, has been 'trying to kill her for the last few years'.
Last year, they lived on a 'building site' among scaffolding as all the fronts of the front of the homes on Pintail Way have to be rebuilt due to dodgy slate installed when they were first built.
Similar to numerous other developers throughout the southwest, Persimmon has encountered issues with the lantoom stone and has been endeavoring to substitute it in residences.
Once, when Ms Trimmer entered through the front door, a loose roofing tile almost fell onto her head.
The Trimmers are not the only ones angry about not being informed regarding the Forder Valley link road.
Mark Stephen, aged 47, along with his spouse Katherine, who is 39, were among the initial group of residents to relocate to Pintail Way approximately nine years back. They invested £250,000 in their four-bedroom home.
The pair, parents to two youngsters aged six and 11, mention they were assured of a tree-filled avenue right in front of their homes, complete with stores nearby, but what they got was a bustling primary street instead.
Mr Stephen informed MailOnline: "We were led to believe that the street would be a tree-lined avenue. Instead, we got a major road."
We hopped up and down exclaiming how revolting it was; we initiated legal action against our lawyers since they failed to provide details regarding the road. Had we been informed, we would have never proceeded with signing the contract.
'Therefore, we concluded with a highly successful settlement outside of court.'
Discussing the disturbance caused, he commented: "It’s quite loud. Every single night, an ambulance flies overhead and wakes me up; I have no issue with the sirens themselves, but we were assured that we would receive triple-glazed soundproof windows."
Ms Stephen mentioned that for several months, they had to reside within the scaffolding as their home’s facade underwent reconstruction.
Once upon a time, they said they came back from vacation to discover the front door had fallen off its hinges, an issue that remained unaddressed for several months.
Ms Stephen shared how two-bedroom homes deeper within the estate have been selling for nearly what she paid for her own house.
Mr Stephen stated: "Our property is a four-bedroom townhouse featuring a garage and two parking spots. Due to our location on the main road, we are experiencing financial losses."
I wouldn’t have relocated here with such young kids. We definitely wouldn’t have purchased this home if it was set to become the primary route connecting the A38 and Derriford.
When questioned about a potential sale, Mr Stephen stated: "We might consider selling if the right opportunity arose. However, if we were to sell this property and look for a similar one, we'd likely have to take on an additional £200k mortgage."
We might not relocate until our youngest child completes their schooling at the local school. We'll manage as best we can and simply endure it. It’s all about persevering through it.
Further along Pintail Way resides Matthew Potter, aged 47, who purchased his home for £249,000 when he first moved in with his wife and two children at the beginning.
Standing at his residence, currently enveloped in scaffolding, he remarked: "The inspection report for this house indicated that there wouldn’t be any significant roads within a 300-meter radius from the property."
'We expected the smaller road to remain as it was. We imagined it would resemble an ordinary street instead.'
Mr Potter mentioned that the road causes considerable disruption; however, their primary worry—as mothers and fathers of two small kids—was the sizable particles entering through the ventilation system.
It’s unsettling dealing with road traffic, and what’s even more worrying is the pollution getting into our home," he stated. "We never intended for them to grow up close to such a busy main road.
Mr Potter expresses his affection for the house, yet questions whether he would have relocated here had he been aware of the significant road and the issues it would entail.
'I would have liked open honesty from the first place. At no point did I see a plan for a major road,' he said.
'The top priorities were honesty initially and ensuring the properties met the standards for their location on a main road; those were the two aspects I cared about.'
At the intersection of the primary thoroughfare stands Rebecca and Andy Jones, who invested £315,000 when they relocated there one year back.
Although they understood exactly what they were committing to regarding the road, their ideal relocation swiftly turned into a nightmarish experience as they had to endure living in a 'construction zone' for the initial five-month period.
'Experiencing the stress and anxiety that we've been through was never our intention,' Ms Jones stated.
Prior to their move-in date, they were notified that the stonework would be taken out, and instead, there would be fresh plastering on both the front and side portions of the house.
When questioned about why the back wasn’t being addressed, they mentioned they were informed it would be cleaned and everything would end up matching.
'I thought, fantastic, we'll end up with a home that looksbrand new but is actually nine years old,' she explained.
Ms Jones explained: 'In May, the scaffolding went up and Persimmon just don't communicate.
'Ours was an end-house which turned into the loading area. The project lasted half a year; the scaffolding stayed up till late October. Our initial summer in the home was quite miserable.'
We were unable to unlock the front door for half a year. In the area where they completed all the work, I believe it changed the frame, causing it to stick.
They say that water was also coming through and they ended up with a 'two-tone house', where the side and front were a different colour to the back.
"There have been instances when we could have simply listed this house for sale and moved away," she stated.
We've called the house Fawlty Towers because it feels like one issue follows another constantly.
We moved in filled with excitement, but it has turned out to be absolutely terrible; everything has just been horribly bad.
'It felt as though we were essentially residing at a construction site.'
Even though they were aware of the main road, they claim that they were assured triple-glazed windows would be installed for noise reduction, which hasn’t occurred. As a result, they frequently face disturbances from vehicles speeding along the route.
The pair now worry that once their children have left home and they decide to sell, finding a purchaser might be challenging.
Another neighbour, who did not want to be named, fumed at not being told about the main road when she moved in nine years ago.
She said: 'We weren't told about the main road. I moved from Southampton and we had a claim, we did get compensation.'
She also raised concerns about where the £200 estate maintenance fees were being directed, saying: "If you take a look at the estate, it looks terrible; proper upkeep seems to be lacking, which bothers me most."
'People have had to fight or threaten to get things done.'
Local architect Mark Pearson, who previously assessed the estate for a University College London report on housing schemes across the country, described Palmerston Heights as one of the worst estates he had visited in the south-west.
"The combined impact of all the design issues and the seclusion of the community makes it an unpleasant place to live," he stated in 2020.
A representative from Persimmon Cornwall and West Devon stated: "We acknowledge that certain property owners had reservations regarding the closeness of their homes to an adjacent roadway. The existence and positioning of this road were explicitly detailed in our preliminary documentation provided to clients."
Similar to numerous developers in this area, we obtained stones from the Lantoom Quarry; however, it was later discovered that some materials had problems impacting their appropriateness for use as exterior cladding.
'The program at Palmerston Heights has been progressing steadily and remains active, providing continuous communication and assistance to the homeowners impacted.'
'We are not aware of any customers whose sale has been affected by the works, and we have offered to provide written assurances should any homeowner need them.'
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