Pensioner blames developer for flooded home

Buy photos » Dines Green resident Joan Green, 83, watched in horror as water flooded her garden and seeped into her home. Picture by Geoff Berkeley.

A DEVASTATED pensioner in Dines Green has hit out at a housing developer after her home was flooded just days before Christmas.

Joan Green believes the new Earls Park housing estate is to blame for water gushing through her garden and into her home on Tudor Way on Thursday, December 20.

The 83-year-old came downstairs at 7.50am to make a cup of tea and before she knew it water was seeping into the house, ruining her recently fitted new carpets.

It is the third time her property has been flooded this year and Mrs Green claimed the problems had been caused by the new estate being built by Redrow at the back of her home on Earls Court Farm.

"It is really devastating. We won't be able to go away or do anything as we are frightened that we will come back to a flood," she said.

Her son Nigel, 52, who rushed over from his home in St John's to help her with the clean-up operation before calling the fire and rescue service, also blamed the new development for the flooding.

"My mum has been here nearly 60 years now and it has happened three times this year, but up until then it hadn't happened at all, not even in 2007," he said.

Local councillor Richard Udall (Lab/St John's) added: "Mrs Green is at the end of her tether, she must suffer no more. Redrow need to take urgent action to divert water away from her property and need to do so now. No ifs, buts or excuses, they need to act."

A spokeswoman for Redrow Homes (Midlands) revealed the company had also been contacted by Age Concern about the incident and it had sent one of its technical team to asses the problem.

"We cannot be certain as yet as to the cause of the flooding but our investigations are on-going and we have already taken some precautionary measures," she said.

"We extend our sincere sympathies to any residents affected by flooding during the recent unprecedented weather conditions."

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