Richmond Housing Partnership (RHP) has had to "terminate" its contract with its contractor in charge of the conversion of the former Roselands Clinic site in New Malden, which has been left derelict since July 2019, into 37 new flats.

The new flats, located in 163 Kingston Road, New Malden, are supposed to house residents from Cambridge Road Estate who have been forced to leave while the estate is being redeveloped.

RHP is currently looking for a new contractor, but has not confirmed a date as to when the works will be completed.

Sharing her frustration about the delay in the conversion with Kingston Nub News, a resident, who has lived next door to the site for 18 years, said: "It's absolutely criminal really that a building can be left derelict for so long.

"The poor families forced to leave Cambridge Road Estate have been waiting five years for this new build.

"In July 2019, RHP demolished Roselands clinic next door and then in July 2020, after the first lockdown period, they started building. And then various developers have gone bust. And I think we're onto the fifth one now.

"People have come in to start building and then dropped things and then disappeared because they've gone into receivership or whatever."

The woman - who asked not to be named and will be referred to as Ms Z – has contacted Kingston Council to find out what the cause of the delay is, but the council cannot help as RHP is not under Kingston borough.

However, Ms Z said, "One councillor did tell me that RHP is making a decision within the next four weeks, but I don't know what the decision is for. That was a few weeks ago and I've not heard anything yet."

She continued: "The building is wonky and there's big holes in the walls and green all around the top of the building where it's all gone mouldy and green, and it's really, really unfinished.

'There's big holes in the walls,' says Ms Z (Credit: Tilly O'Brien)

"The look of it is impacting the local area. There's also a lot of graffiti starting to come."

'The look of it is impacting the local area,' says Ms Z (Credit: Tilly O'Brien)

Roseland Clinic was a day centre for people with mental health issues.

Ms Z said that since its closure, she has seen one of its former patients "masturbating" on public benches and at bus stops.

She said: "So, it has impacted the community that they have closed the day centre down."

Speaking about the delay in the Roseland Clinic development, an RHP spokesperson told Kingston Nub News: "We understand local residents' frustration that works to build 37 homes for people in New Malden at our Roselands development site have stalled.

"As a socially responsible business, RHP is committed to delivering efficient, reliable services that are proactively managed to maximise value and reduce waste for our customers.

"Unfortunately, and despite our best efforts to support the contractor, we had no choice on this occasion but to terminate the contract."

They continued: "While works at the site are paused, we've replaced the hoarding and secured the area to protect residents. Security will remain in place alongside regular security checks of the building as long as necessary until a replacement contractor is appointed.

"We're currently working on a plan to determine the next steps and thank residents for their patience while we work this through. We will update those affected as soon as we're able to."