A HOUSING estate has been left without street lights after the developer failed to finish a road connecting the new homes, according to the town’s MP.

Gideon Amos, the Liberal Democrat MP for Taunton and Wellington, used a parliamentary debate on Wednesday (December 11) to criticise a housing developer for leaving residents of a Taunton close high and dry.

Mr Amos claimed that developer had failed to finish the road running through the new estate, meaning Somerset Council could not formally adopt the street – and therefore street lighting could not be delivered.

The government did not respond to these specific claims, but said it would make it easier for local authorities to hold developers to account.

Mr Amos made his comments during a debate on housing developers organised by Robbie Moore, the Conservative MP for Keighley and Ilkley.

He said: “Too often, in my constituency of Taunton and Wellington, big housing developments are not completed as they should be and fail to come with the infrastructure that is needed.

“In one close in Taunton – a development substantially completed over a decade ago – the developer still has not finished the road surfacing, making the adoption of the close by the local authority impossible and meaning that there are no street lights there.”

When a road is adopted by the local authority, they become responsible for maintaining the surface and carrying out any necessary repairs to the neighbouring infrastructure – including installing or replacing street lights.

For a road to be adopted, it must be completed to within an agreed standard, which is laid out in guidelines by the Department for Transport (DfT).

If a road cannot be adopted, the residents living on the road are responsible for its upkeep – and would have to pay a substantial sum to private companies to carry out maintenance.

Mr Amos did not use parliamentary privilege to name either the location of the development or the company responsible – and declined to do the same when approached by the Local Democracy Reporting Service following the debate.

He did, however, call for the new Labour government to make it easier for developers to be held to account when the infrastructure they promised was not successfully delivered.

He said: “About 5,800 homes in Taunton, and about 1,000 in Wellington, have been approved or constructed since 2012, but we [Liberal Democrats] believe that the focus and priority should be the 150,000 social homes a year that the country needs.”

Rushanara Ali MP, the parliamentary under-secretary for homelessness and rough sleeping, did not respond to Mr Amos’ specific concerns but said her government would empower councils to hold developers’ feet to the fire.

Ms Ali – who represents the Bethnal Green and Stepney constituency within Greater London – said: “We need to ensure that developers fulfil their responsibility.

“Points made by my colleagues about the contributions made by the community infrastructure levy and section 106 planning obligations are well made. In particular, section 106 delivers nearly half of all affordable homes per year.

“The honourable gentleman made some important points about the need for local communities to benefit, which is crucial.”