THE residents of an estate in Soham who were left with half-finished roads when a developer went bust are calling for it to be closed to through traffic.

Homeowners living in Kingfisher Drive and on the Barleyfields estate in Soham were left high and dry back in 2006 when housing developer Cofton went out of business, with many of the main roads leading into the development only half-finished.

As such, they were never formally adopted by Cambridgeshire County Council, and have continued to crumble over the years without any maintenance.

In recent months, the county council announced it had negotiated a new deal with other developers building on the site that will eventually see the roads completed and adopted by the authority.

Although repair work is being undertaken, the county council said it had no control of the timing of these works and was, therefore, unable to provide a timescale for when the adoption of Kingfisher Drive would be carried out

Until the repairs are carried out, however, residents of the estate – under the auspices of the Barleyfields Residents Association - have called for the road to be closed to through traffic to prevent further damage to the road.

The association said: “Kingfisher Drive is a private, unadopted road and should be closed at the Mereside end for good reasons.

“By using the road we are damaging it further, making it more expensive to repair. There has been an increase in heavy traffic using the road, which it not currently suitable for, thus increasing the damage further.

“The police, builders and councillors are asking all Barleyfields residents not to use this as a shortcut to the industrial estate and beyond. It will hinder the progress to get the road adopted.”