FAMILIES living in a “trailblazing” new eco-town have hit out at the development saying they were sold a dream, but 13 years on they are desperate to move.
Residents of Cranbrook in Devon say they’re cut off due to transport and parking issues – and there’s hardly ever any hot water in their homes.
They say bus services are “appalling”, while the train station only operates services covering the five miles to Exeter every two hours, and there’s “nowhere to cycle” due to the high volume of cars.
The first residents arrived in 2012 believing they were part of a self-sustaining, environmentally-friendly community where they could rely on bicycles and EVs.
But a series of construction delays and design blunders have prompted some residents to cruelly nickname the town “Poundland Poundbury” – a reference to King Charles’s lavishly funded eco-housing scheme in Dorset.
The flagship train station was delivered two years late, costing £5million to build – though services to the nearby city are irregular, and locals are still waiting for a town centre to materialise.
The district heating system was supposed to be powered by a low carbon solid biomass boiler located half a mile away and providing hot water for all 8,500 residents.
Instead, the system is powered by gas, with residents complaining of outages that leave the whole town without heat and accusing operator E.ON of using its monopoly to hike energy prices compared with ordinary homes.
Other residents have complained they are banned from installing electric car chargers at their homes and roads are clogged because the eco pipe dream means not enough car parking spaces were built.
Local resident Sue moved to Cranbrook in 2014 but after 11 years is now desperate to leave.
She said: “The whole thing is very disappointing. We were promised a town centre which hasn’t materialised, and the bus services are appalling.
“When I moved here I was sold a dream of how it would be but none of those promises have been kept, it’s just about house builders making as much money as they can and not providing the facilities needed.
“The number of cars is outrageous for an eco town and the heating system is still gas, which is appalling.
“When I moved here I brought my bike thinking I’d use it every day but I’ve got rid of it now because there’s nowhere to cycle.”
Resident Zoe Wood added: “The only eco thing about it is, we lose heating and hot water all the time, so I suppose that’s us saving energy.”
Adam Quigley described it as “the town of the future where they have not planned for the future”.
He added: “We now have electric cars, which you cannot charge at home owing to the way in which they built the town.
“Detached garages and driveways which prohibit electricity in them, and houses that have no parking or pavement on any side.
“The future is bright, the future is not electric in Cranbrook.”
The rapid growth of the town is clear to see with hundreds of new homes, leisure facilities and even roads still under construction.
Numerous signs promise leisure facilities are “coming soon” but for many it’s not soon enough, while the initial eco claims have all but disappeared from official statements.
Developers hope the town will eventually have 8,000 homes and a population of 22,000, which would make it the second largest in the area.
But married couple Lorna and Paul Day, who moved in four years ago, described Cranbrook as a “lovely place to live”.
The whole town is a real let down, I’d like to move away if I could.”
Sue, Cranbrook resident
Retired facilities manager Paul, 64, said: “When we came here they said they were building a town centre; well, they have now. There’s a supermarket and a coffee shop, and they’ve just given approval for a leisure centre.
“People just want everything done yesterday.
“The beauty of living here is there’s lots of different routes, you can go out five different ways.
“There’s a lot of disappointment about the biomass because they sold the houses on that basis and now it’s gas, but the system is pretty good; you still get the odd breakdown but E.ON have got much better at communicating.”
IT worker Lorna, 61, said: “The council promised it before now, and that’s why expectations were high, but it hasn’t been delivered as quickly as they wanted.
“All the developments have each got a community garden. There is an issue with the lack of parking, but with the newer houses, they are addressing some of the parking issues.
“Halloween is great here, all the houses are done up, it was lovely and there’s a much better community spirit here which you don’t always get with other towns.”
And Emily Hook, 19, who moved to Cranbrook a year ago and works in a coffee shop in the town rejected the criticism.
She said: “I think it’s lovely; it’s a great place for new families.
“It’s true there’s not much to do here; during half term, you take your kids away to find things to do, but that will all change when the new leisure centre opens.
“It can be quite quiet, but there’s not much crime and there’s plenty of green spaces.
“Things are being built, and if you want something that’s good quality sometimes you have to wait a bit for it to take shape.
“There are some issues where younger people clash with the older generation, and some people get a bit entitled and don’t like to see things change.”
Councillor Todd Olive says Cranbrook was planned “infrastructure-led” from the start.
District and County Councils worked with developers to quickly deliver the first schools, community centre and railway station with Homes England funding.
After those early wins, the council stepped back and let developers take the lead.
Ads promising a “new town centre coming soon” got people’s hopes up, but things slowed down, and some projects needed more residents to make them worthwhile, he said.
The council then switched from a hands-off approach to a more proactive one.
In 2020, plans went in for a supermarket, shops and a nursery, and East Devon bought nearly four acres of town centre land – they also set up the “Cranbrook Placemaking Group” to keep developers on track, the councillor said.
He added: “A town centre masterplan was approved in 2024, and the centre now has the Cranberry Farm pub, Morrisons, a café, restaurant, hairdresser and a square, with a nursery due in 2026.
“Both councils are pushing a leisure centre and health hub from 2027, and funding is in place for ‘Cranbox’, flexible workspace for small businesses.”
