About St Modwen Homes

Please tell us what you like and dislike about this area:

Locking Parklands is in a great location, away from the hustle and bustle but close to the beach, country side abs easy access to the M5 Bristol & Bath.
There is a great community and residents respect the area they live in making sure it is clean and tidy.
Bin collections happen regularly and residents are asked to keep their bins hidden in the garage which keeps a pleasant look around the estate.
The only real traffic is residents which means it tends to be a quite location.
Parking can be hard for visitors at times with limited visitor spaces but we have always managed.
We could do with a local convince shop on site, the nearest we have to drive to. We have a good on site primary school, secondary to be built and doctors surgery in the making.
There is plenty of open space which has been great to take our boys out on adventures and a nice place to take a run!

Please share one thing (or more) which you wish you had known before you moved in:

It would have been nice to have had some sort of platform to have seen the design options for the kitchen and bathrooms to have a visual of what they would look like. It was hard to tell from a tile or floor sample.

How has the building management responded to any problems or issues you have raised:

We had to issues, one with out guttering abs one with out balcony abs both were sorted promptly!

Love the design and layout of our property. A decent garden which is not very overlooked on our plot – some others are not as lucky as this.

A nice selection of extras were available free of charge when we purchased – including outdoor tap, turf, Nest thermostat and Ring doorbell.

We have had a number of snags – to be expected(?!) – most are being looked in to but the lead time from reporting to sorting IS very delayed in our experience. Still waiting for some shower door end caps which we reported on moving in day 10 months ago.

Please tell us what you like and dislike about this area:

Fantastic location in relation to shops – 10 min walk to Blythe Bridge shops including Tesco Express, or if you’re driving it’s less than 5 mins to Meir Park Tesco, McDonalds, B&Q etc. Blythe Bridge train station nearby, but bare in mind trains from there are local services so you’d want to change at Derby/Stoke to a ‘proper’ train.

Only problem is the A50 is a concrete noise machine so, yes, you will hear it whilst at home. Relatively quiet and unproblematic when windows are closed but something to consider

Please share one thing (or more) which you wish you had known before you moved in:

Not all homes get soundproof trickle vents. We were led to believe they would, but ours does not. You can hear the A50 from the rear of the property rather loudly, although we quickly ‘tuned in’ to this and it doesn’t bother us – but it may put off guests from sleeping!

How has the building management responded to any problems or issues you have raised:

Hit and miss.

We have been in for 10 months and still waiting for some issues to be rectified which were reported on the day we moved in. Major snags for the most part have been taken care of, but you very much get the impression that issues are resolved as slowly as possible to minimise the amount of remedial work that St Modwen are obliged to give before the 2 year warranty expires.

With the rapid growth of the company you’d expect them to acknowledge they need more technicians on the books to remedy snags.

All in all I am not dissatisfied as many of our issues are being addressed, but some remain ignored with no response at all to suggest when or if they will be booked in.

Facilities wise, things could be improved somewhat. We don’t have any dog waste (or normal) waste bins around the development. The vast majority of residents are considerate and I have never noticed a waste or dog waste problem, outside of what the on site builders, or local cats, leave behind.

The play park has limited equipment and is not fenced off or gated at the front at all. This makes it a little worrisome for parents with younger children who cannot relax knowing their child cannot escape. Furthermore i’ve witnessed balls escape the park area and hit the cars of residents who live opposite the park. This should be considered as it’s not very fair to those residents.

What really lets the development down is the lack of maintenance. Any open, public space has gone to ruin due to weeds. Turf that was only laid within the last couple of months (around the park for example) has been swallowed by weeds. They have been allowed to populate and get so out of control that they have spread to neighbouring gardens, curbs and so on and this is the same story across the development. There are weeds absolutely everywhere and it’s a nightmare as a property owner to maintain. I weed the front garden twice a week and still it’s not enough. This is my biggest concern about the development as it’s a significant time and money sap for residents. It also makes the development look run down and neglected.

Please tell us what you like and dislike about this area:

The local area is pretty good. There are major supermarkets, parks, entertainment facilities and more in very close proximity to the development. Within 20 minutes or so you have convenient access to Stafford, Stoke and Derby as well as the beautiful Peak district just a little further out. There’s something for everyone.
Parking is OK, (but not great) on the St Modwen’s parts of the development in particular. Mid sized homes don’t typically have enough or adequate parking and many cars end up parked on the street or over hanging their drives as they aren’t quite deep enough to double stack modern cars. This isn’t really a big issue but it is certainly something that could have been improved upon. Residents in the flats also either don’t have enough parking, or don’t always use their allocated spots as some part out on the road taking up more space.

Generally speaking it’s a fairly quiet development with the normal noises you’d expect from a housing development (kids playing, dogs barking etc) The development could be improved with a few basic things- dog waste bins for example.

Personally I am quite pleased there are no shops on site as from previous experience these just seem to attract anti-social behaviour as a development ages. Tesco express is just a few minutes away.

Please share one thing (or more) which you wish you had known before you moved in:

Relatively minor thing, but I wish i’d known that no door number would be provided so that we could have ordered one prior to moving in, ready to go up. No door number meant that our home was difficult for postmen, delivery drivers and visitors to find initially until we could get a door number delivered.

I also wish i’d known about the council tax banding. The council seem to be banding these properties much higher than you’d expect. Similar sized homes in the area are band C and occasionally band D. Ours has been rated a band E, at double the cost of our (larger) previous home. This need to be questioned not just by residents, but we need the backing of the developers as well as it would make me reluctant to purchase from the developer in future.

How has the building management responded to any problems or issues you have raised:

Emails I have sent have never been replied to unfortunately.

Please tell us what you like and dislike about this area:

The area worked really well for us as we were both raised locally so already knew where everything was when we moved in. We are roughly 30 minutes away from both Nottingham and Sheffield and the Peak District so we thought it was a great access spot for all. A train station in walking distance would be much more convenient than having to go to Chesterfield or Alfreton. There are some nice bars etc in Chesterfield but hopefully following the upcoming development of clay cross there will be more which don’t require a bus or taxi. Parking on the street is very limited, having friends and family round can be a bit of a nightmare as there is literally no spare space for anyone who does live on the estate never mind those just visiting. Aside from the odd party its mostly very quiet on the development which is nice.

Please share one thing (or more) which you wish you had known before you moved in:

The show homes are always of a better quality than the one you will purchase. Don’t settle with issues like we did, keep pushing to get things fixed because you don’t spend thousands on a brand new property for it to be at a bad standard. Get everything sorted within the first week because after they have your money they just don’t care.

How has the building management responded to any problems or issues you have raised:

The building management haven’t responded well to any issues. Initially, when doing our snag list, he even failed to write everything on it. So when contractors came round to fix something they had no idea to what kind of extent. When we asked to see the list he actually wrote down, they said to just send over our list again because apparently he just couldn’t write down what we told him to?