A beautician who defeated one of the UK’s biggest homebuilders at the High Court has been given a £10,000 scholarship to study law.

Georgina Blackwell represented her mum without any legal training because they could not afford a lawyer and won the case against Bellway Homes in a dispute over access to their garden.

Today the 23-year-old will be formally offered a free place on a degree course at private London law school BPP.

Builders Bellway Homes North East jumped into action when I asked for an explanation about Andrew Hutchinson’s complaint.

Andrew told me how his new home needed various repairs after he moved in.

Now the Newcastle-based company has given Andrew top priority to clear his list of outstanding problems.

Bellway will re-surface the crumbling drive at his house in Houghton- le-Spring, Tyne and Wear, after initially refusing to do so.

And further work will be carried out on walls, a door and a window.

Andrew said: “I have a decaying drive, my doors do not close properly, I have an ill-fitted window, holes in my walls, and absolutely no faith whatsoever in Bellway.

“I truly wish that we had never purchased this property.

“My wife and I have been made to feel as if we are nothing but an aggravation and irritant. We have had to do battle all the way and customer service has been nothing but diabolical.

“My patience has finally worn out and my stress levels have been pushed so far that I made the decision to ask for your help.”

They say home is where the heart is – but a fed up group of residents today claimed buying new property on an Ipswich estate has left them wishing they had never bothered.

All 16 homeowners in Cranberry Square, Ravenswood, have levelled an angry blast at Bellway, criticising the developer for failing to deliver the dream home they say they were promised.

They have also accused the property giant of poor customer service and shoddy workmanship, which has seen one problem fixed but another created in the process.

From Evening Star

Newcastle-based Bellway Homes was fined at Barnsley Magistrates’ Court after pleading guilty to the pollution of Knoll Beck at Brampton near Barnsley.
The company, of Dudley Lane, Seaton Burn, was also ordered to pay full costs of £2,119.87 to the Environment Agency, which brought the case.

James Keeley, for the Environment Agency, told the court that on December 13, 2004 an Environment Agency officer attended the Knoll Beck, which is next to the Heron’s Reach Development on Pontefract Road at Brampton near Barnsley, to carry out routine water quality tests.

The Knoll Beck drains from the Hoyland area to the River Dearne at Wath upon Dearne and is classed by the Agency as a “river of good quality”.

Yorkshire Post

The brochure described it as a gently-sloping back garden.

But when Alan and Jackie Carter prepared to move into their newly-completed four-bedroom Bellway house, they were horrified to discover what could only be described as a cliff towering above it.

Astonishingly, builder Bellway Homes had constructed both their and their neighbours’ back gardens on two levels – with one part 30ft or more above the other.

It is just about possible to scramble to the top using both hands, but to all intents and purposes around two-thirds of the land is useless.

Now the builder has been fined £6,000 after admitting the gardens are completely different from what the buyers had been led to expect.

I have brought a Bellway home in Devon where I live. The completion was due in February of this year and here I am at the end of May still unable to get a completion date. The lack of communication and excuses are adding to sheer frustration and I if I could I would withdraw from this property. There is no commitment from the builders at all, they don’t work weekends even though they are dramatically behind. I had to exchange within 4 weeks back in December, they are covered by every penalty clause so you have no chance of any reasoning. Bellway have certainly proved they are inefficient and unreliable and I would NEVER buy another home through them!
JH