A GROWING band of disgruntled residents are drowning in despair over the constant sogginess of their flood-prone gardens on new estates at the edge of Newton Abbot.

Their rising tide of anger over poor drainage on the Fairways and Stanbury Meadows developments is being directed at builders Redrow who they claim are doing little to alleviate their woes.

Critics have even established their own Facebook forum to pool their grievances over the company’s failure to fix the boggy, clay-related problems affecting new-builds off the Ashburton Road.

Furious Richard Butterworth of The Greens unleashed a 5,000-word tirade against Redrow after a bitter campaign demanding reparation left him and his young family with a garden which is as sodden now as it was when he moved in last autumn.

He complained this week: ‘We feel Redrow has breached our consumer rights and ignored a widespread problem across the site by failing to plan correctly for draining the site.’

He reckons their back garden is a hazard for family use and effectively unfit for purpose.

Equally miffed is Laura Jenkins, of nearby Clover Way, who insisted: ‘We still have the same waterlogged garden – and this is all due to Redrow not preparing the ground properly.

‘We cannot use our garden. It’s disgusting. All of us on the estate feel this issue should be rectified without charge.’

Pauline and Graham Boughton, not far away in equally afflicted Cranesbill Way, joined in: ‘We have tried planting more shrubs, and removing tons of rubble - but so far our efforts have been in vain.’

Both felt there was little chance of any redress...unless a media campaign prompted Redrow to respond more positively.

The couple balanced their blast by acknowledging they had no issues with their new home which they accepted was built to a high standard.

But their praise had a sting in the tail.

‘In the majority of cases Redrow’s customer service is excellent, if not exceptional, but when a monumental issue arises they sadly fail to show any empathy or understanding,’ they maintained, adding they would buy another house from them, provided drainage was not a problem.

Mr Butterworth was particularly incensed that Redrow promised to rectify his problems and then changed their tune by offering a less detailed plan of action which involved aerating the garden and feeding it pellets which he felt were harmful if accessed by children.

‘Our garden remains waterlogged and unusable. It shows no promise of any improvement,’ he thundered.

He added: ‘Seeding was supposed to have taken place, but this has not happened and our garden still has many bald patches.’

Only three weeks ago Redrow was on the receiving end of a similar outburst from another house-buyer on Kingsteignton’s Moorland Reach development who expressed frustration at the lengthy time they wasted trying to persuade Redrow to fix a problem...with their waterlogged garden.

A spokesman for Redrow said: ‘We have been assisting two home owners at The Fairways regarding standing water in their gardens.

‘This can occur during periods of excessive rainfall as we have experienced in recent weeks.

We are working with the affected home owners to investigate further so that we can take the appropriate action and resolve the matter.’