Kitchens in a new-build estate in Wallingford Flooded

Residents were shocked to wake up and find pools of water in their new Bloor Homes based on an estate in Crowmarsh Gifford last weekend. Due to the temperatures reaching lows of -9C, water in the pipes had frozen and expanded causing the pipes to burst and leak into people’s homes. After resident’s raised the issue with Bloor Homes, a housing development company that finished the first phase of the estate in June last year, the housebuilder posted an ‘urgent’ letter to the 150 homes. It said: “Winter rules: Make sure the stopcock isolator valve to any outside tap is shut off and drained down during frosty weather.”

Some residents also noticed a lot of condensation in their attics causing damage to items that had been stored there. One resident, who has asked to remain anonymous, said: “I was away at the weekend so if it hadn’t been for a neighbour feeding our cats we never would have known about the outside valve.

Councillor Sue Roberts, who represents Wallingford on South Oxfordshire District Council, said the issues residents were facing is part of a bigger issue of homes being built ‘inadequately’. “This is awful,” she said. “This pressure to build new homes than we need means they are being thrown up. “There are going up too fast and without due care and attention. What we should be building, as we are in a climate emergency with the world heating up at a ridiculous rate, is houses to an extremely high standard.