RESIDENTS are demanding answers over the redevelopment of a Southampton housing estate amid claims that delays have been “devastating”.

City leaders have been urged to confirm a timescale and details of plans to build 665 homes at Townhill Park following the demolition of several blocks of flats.

Councillors have been told that delays to the project first unveiled in 2012 have so far resulted in the loss of 102 students and three staff members at Townhill Infant School.

It comes as families have started to move out of flats earmarked for demolition.

In 2019 staff and residents called for a plan and timescale – which were then released in 2020, but now proposals are being reviewed by the new Conservative administration.

Cllr Spiros Vassiliou, cabinet member for communities, culture and heritage, said the council is committed and work on plans is under way.

But speaking at a council meeting on Thursday, Steve Gibbs from Townhill Infant School, said the delays have been “devastating”.  “We have gone from 270 children to 168 children and had to lose three members of staff. Currently we are a bit in limbo because no-one would give us any definite timescales, we don’t know when children would return and if the numbers keep going down we’ll have to keep get rid of staff.”

Townhill Park resident Kim Ayling added: “You say you understand but I don’t think you do. I don’t think you know the enormity of the decisions that you have to make on other people’s behalf.”

But school bosses stressed that the school is not at risk of closure and cllr Vassiliou said he understood residents’ frustration and that he will share more information when he has it.

Daily Echo: Artist impression of Townhill Park regeneration. Artist impression of Townhill Park regeneration.

He said: “I am not just going to pick a date out of the air. For me what’s important  is being able to deliver good quality homes for people and working with partners to do that.”

Leader of the opposition, Cllr Satvir Kaur, added though that it is “worrying that the rest of the regeneration project now hangs in the balance”.

“Other than a vague desire to want to have more homes, the Tories confirmed that they did not know when the project would now be complete; they refused to make all new homes affordable, they gave no guarantee to people being forced to leave right now whether they can return; and despite pleas from the community, there was no commitment to more family homes than are being lost.

“Local residents, schools and other impacted need certainty. At the moment there is none.”