THE housing association behind a recently built estate in Bodmin has said it will work with one of the town’s Cornwall Councillors regarding concerns over maintenance.

Cllr Jenny Cruse, the council member for Lanivet, Blisland and Bodmin St Lawrence said she had concerns over overgrown patches in the area.

While admitting there was some work to do, a spokesperson for Coastline Housing said some of it was the responsibility of individual customers.

Cllr Cruse after the visit: “I visited the Coastline estate in Bodmin where there are some really overgrown areas. I had a long list of queries which include why a few areas are well kept by Coastline, but most are not. I asked for more shrub areas to be maintained. We all agreed that the general maintenance was not satisfactory and if residents are paying for this, they are not getting value. Questions about where are the dormouse and hedgehog boxes and when will the dead trees be replaced?

“It's no good planting trees and then not maintaining. I saw too much litter and some fencing had been broken down and a car driven across the play area. That area is soulless and surely could be made into a nicer space.

“It would be good to have more residents taking care of their front gardens but hardly an incentive when Coastline have not stepped up to the mark and left areas of the estate looking uncared for. If anyone wants to help me push for these Improvements, please contact me.”

A spokesperson for Coastline Housing said: “We undertook a site visit to this neighbourhood with Cllr Cruse this week and were pleased to meet with her, do a walkabout and see how we could address any concerns. Following the visit we have asked our Grounds Team to cut back the hedges within the next fortnight. We have a maintenance schedule for all our hedges and maintain them regularly after the nesting season – from September – but appreciate there is an issue here with overhanging plants affecting paths so we will remedy this as soon as possible.

“We do regularly maintain areas of grass and shrubs in this area on the land that we are responsible for. Some areas – like the example in the picture – are the responsibility of individual customers to maintain so this is a different issue. The fence around the grassed area was unfortunately broken in an act of vandalism recently and we will be replacing this and repairing it soon. We hope all this work will help improve the environment for our customers here and we would encourage all of our customers to keep in contact with us and report any other concerns as and when they arise so that we can remedy them.”