Resident on flooded and 'forgotten about' holiday park near Northampton speaks out over 'chaos' on site

A resident at a flooded and “forgotten about” holiday park near Northampton has spoken out about the “chaotic” situation surrounding the site.

Cogenhoe Mill holiday park – Billing Aquadrome’s smaller sister site – was badly hit by flooding in the New Year.

More than 100 residents at Cogenhoe Mill are reportedly not allowed back until April due to issues with electrics caused by the heavy flooding.

One resident, who wanted to remain anonymous due to fear of reprisals, said: “I don’t know where to start. It’s absolutely chaotic. We call ourselves the forgotten site.

“We got the first email [on Tuesday] since we left the site due to flooding. They’ve told us we can’t go back now until an undefined date in April.

“Since January 6, there has been no electric. They’ve had since then to rectify the problem with the electric. But we can’t go back until April. They’re just fobbing us off. They’ve had all this time, and all they’ve done is concentrate on Billing.”

As per their contracts, residents must vacate the holiday park for two months every year between January 6 and March 1. During this time, many residents choose to stay in temporary accommodation or travel abroad until they are able to return, spending thousands in the process. However, residents now face having to shell out for another month for shelter – while still being charged the full ground rent by Cogenhoe Mill.

The resident said: "Cogenhoe Mill still wants us to pay our ground rent for the year, which is £4,000. We’re currently spending thousands on temporary accommodation until we can get back on site.

"They said they will credit our account. Everyone is saying they are not paying ground rent for a place where they cannot go.

"It’s cost us £1,500 a month for accommodation the last two months. We’ve been staying in an AirBnb. We’ve now got to find another £2,000 to stay away for another month. We haven’t got it. And we’re not the only ones in this situation. We’ve got people abroad who are going to be coming back on March 1 with no idea and nowhere to stay.

“We’ve also been told we can’t go on site for anything at all after this weekend. They don’t want people seeing what’s not happening. People need to check their vans for insurance purposes, but they are saying you can’t go on.”

Asked what he would like to see happen, the resident said: “They need to get another separate contractor to come and do our electrics. They need to improve their communication because we get told nothing. And also, some sort of discount or compensation on the ground rent. There’s got to be some happy medium. These things need to be spoken about.”

Administrators in charge of the site, Grant Thornton LLP, have been contacted for comment.