Drain work disagreement outside subsiding home in Costessey

Gary Hatt - who is registered blind - lives in Green Hills Close, Costessey with his 85-year-old mum Vera Thornhill.

The pair have been dealing with subsidence issues at their home, leaving huge cracks throughout the house.

The family has been dealing with damage from subsidence issues since late 2018 (Image: Gary Hatt)

However, work has halted on repairing the property after a defective drain found in their back garden has Anglian Water and Norfolk County Council bickering over who needs to fix it before work can continue.

Mr Hatt, 62, said: "We've been suffering from these issues since the end of 2018 after some botched work a few years before.

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"We have cracks throughout the kitchen, lounge and we can't open or shut our conservatory door.

Gary Hatt, 62, said the last five years has been a nightmare (Image: Gary Hatt)

"There's been some work done, having polymer resin put in part of the property, but now that's stopped because of a storm drain at the back of the house.

"The drain has a defect but these companies are arguing over who owns it and therefore, whose responsibility it is to fix it before work can begin again.

"This has been going on for years now and there's just been emails back and forth for five years - it's just in a deadlock at the moment.

Anglian Water and Highways have been going back and forth around who should fix a defect drain at the back of the property (Image: Gary Hatt)

"We're not hearing anything constructive and I've got enough on my plate without needing to try and sort this.

"Me and my mum are both frustrated and annoyed about all of this."

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An Anglian Water spokeswoman said: "Our local team identified that the problems at the property are from the surface water system, which is owned by Highways."

Vera Thornhill, Gary's mother, has been trying to get the subsidence issue resolved for years (Image: Gary Hatt)

However, a county council Highways spokesman said: "We’re aware of the concerns and while our initial investigations suggest this pipe is not the responsibility of the county council, we will continue to liaise with the residents on this matter."

Mr Hatt has since been to the Ombudsman in order get the issue resolved.

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He added: "It's been a couple of months so hopefully we'll be having a call from them soon to advise us on how to proceed.

"I wouldn't wish all of this on my worst enemy - it's been a nightmare."

Mr Hatt said he was getting nowhere resolving the home's multiple issues (Image: Gary Hatt)