Residents of Colwell were left ‘disappointed and angry’ after contractors arrived at Birch Close yesterday (Thursday) morning to start work on a field which has planning permission for new houses.

The contractor brought diggers onto the site to put in 17 kerbstones as part of Journey Estates Ltd’s application to build 44 homes on land to the east of Birch Close.

The 3-year time limit for the application is due to expire tomorrow (Saturday), but it can be extended indefinitely, if “material operations” or building works have already started, including starting to lay out or construct a road or part of a road.

Contractors had already been persuaded not to continue working on the site on Monday.

A contractor on the site said: “Planning permission has been granted but there are a few conditions which have not been met. We have been asked by the developers to put in 17 kerbs.”

In December, the Planning Committee rejected the latest bid by the developers to vary the timing of a Traffic Regulation Order on land, contrary to a council officer recommendation. However, there is a dispute between the council and residents whether this affected the planning permission, with the council saying the issues will need to be investigated.

Residents are concerned that building more houses will lead to more raw sewage discharge in the area, because the system is currently unable to cope. Huw Jenkins said: “There have been a lot of pedantic arguments with the council about what is ‘unlawful’ and what is ‘unauthorised’.

“The bottom line is that planning permission has not been granted, and the planning department are a bit like Nelson, putting a telescope to his blind eye and saying they know it’s wrong, but they are not going to do anything about it.”

Cllr Chris Jarman said: “People are disappointed and angry. There is a huge frustration that there has been no mechanism to stop the builders doing what they are doing.

“The bottom line is, pre-consent planning has been refused and anyone arguing otherwise is putting common sense in the back room.”

An IW Council spokesman explained: “The Local Planning Authority (LPA) has been made aware of contractors onsite at Birch Close, Colwell. This piece of land has planning permission for new homes, but not all of the pre-commencement conditions have been discharged.

“Commencing the development would breach the outstanding pre-commencement conditions, and the LPA has confirmed this to the landowner’s agent. If the development did proceed now, then it would be unauthorised, not unlawful. The LPA is investigating whether any actions undertaken onsite would require enforcement action.

“That means that commencement may not invalidate the existing planning permission, and we would need to undertake investigations to understand whether works undertaken would prevent the works required by the two remaining pre-commencement conditions from being complied with.”

The developers were contacted via their agent but declined to comment.