Eco-homes backed by King left to decay

A hamlet of eco-homes backed by the King has been left in decay 13 years after the properties were built.The nine mock-Georgian homes have stood abandoned since they were built in 2013 at Coed Darcy, a £1.2bn development on the site of a former oil refinery near Port Talbot, South Wales.Plans for the 4,000-home scheme were inspired by the King’s model village, Poundbury, where residents are encouraged to live and work in the same community, and it was backed by his Prince’s Foundation for Building Community, which championed sustainable building.However, only 294 homes have been built to date after its initial developer became mired in financial difficulties, with residents complaining that it has no schools, shops or doctors’ surgeries.On the western edge of the 1,060-acre development stand 10 Georgian-style properties overlooking fields, wetlands and woodland.Built in 2013 to test building methods that were set to be used elsewhere in the village, they were complete with gardens, lamp posts and sash windows.But now they stand discoloured and partially boarded up, with a mile of wasteland separating them from the other homes built in the village.As recently as 2019, St Modwen, the initial developer of the site, claimed the hamlet was “sat there ready to be occupied”.But the homes have never been occupied and were recently compared by a film-maker to “something out of an apocalyptic movie”.“It just looked completely abandoned,” said Jay Curtis, 38, who filmed the site using a drone.In 2008, St Modwen drew up plans for the development that included 4,000 homes for 10,000 residents and four schools.The thousands of “sustainable” homes were set to be built with traditional Welsh stone, and would repurpose the brownfield land vacated by a former BP oil refinery.Neath Port Talbot council described the scheme at the time as establishing “a sustainable community of 4,000 traditionally styled Welsh homes”.When building work began in 2013, the King visited the village, the buildings of which were designed by Ben Pentreath, who is responsible for much of the development at Poundbury.“In a number of years, the site will be incorporated into the wider master plan and the houses will be occupied,” Mr Pentreath said at the time. But building work soon stalled because of “financial difficulties”.In 2023, Alun Llewelyn, a Plaid Cymru councillor on Neath Port Talbot council, said it had faced “major challenges”, including the 2008 financial crisis.St Modwen has since become STM Brighton Group, a subsidiary company of Revantage.The company submitted a scaled-back planning application for 1,800 new homes in 2021 which excluded the site of the hamlet.Rob Williams, its director of major projects, said the new village would be inspired by the “15-minute neighbourhood”, a controversial planning concept which holds that a person should be able to access amenities within a quarter of an hour’s walk or cycle without needing to drive.“The pandemic has changed the way people think about their living space, community areas, and the importance of work-life balance,” he said in 2022.“Our new master plan focuses on the principles of creating a ‘15-minute neighbourhood’, with the community able to access many daily needs within a short distance of their homes.“While the scheme has evolved from the original planning consent, our vision for Coed Darcy remains just as ambitious and just as innovative. It will be more relevant and deliverable for the needs of the area, more sustainable, and aspires to be an exemplar for Wales.”The proposals were approved in 2023 but the development is yet to begin.Mr Curtis said there was “no real, clear answer” about why the development had floundered.“There’s no real, clear answer,” he said. “That’s what baffles most people. To have that level of hype, a royal visit, and such ambition – and then to see it all just left – it amazes people.“These are big, expensive homes. There are a lot of them. And no one ever moved in.”A spokesman for STM Brighton Group said: “We have sought to engage with the council on scheme viability for a number of years and submitted revised proposals last year. We are now working closely with the council and progress is dependent on a planning decision, which we hope will be delivered imminently so the site can be taken forward without further unnecessary delay.”A spokesman for Neath Port Talbot council said: “The development at Coed Darcy has been the subject of ongoing discussions over many years with previous developers St Modwen and now its parent company Blackstone Group, which, after purchasing St Modwen, moved the ownership and responsibility of the site to a new company, Revantage.“The development has largely stalled in recent years in a difficult economic climate with previous applications having sought to vary the terms of the legal agreement relating to the overall development to make such development viable and deliverable.”