Lottery homes in St David’s will not be occupied by Christmas, but will be ready in the first quarter of 2011 according to Government Senate leader David Burch.

Senator Burch said: “We fully recognise and share the disappointment felt by the lottery winners, but equally look forward to the day, very soon, when we can welcome them to their new homes at Harbour View Village.”

Lottery winners were first awarded the homes in June 2005 and ground was broken on the site on May 31, 2007.

While Sen Burch then said he expected the first phase of construction to be completed in nine months, the project suffered repeated delays attributed to the discovery of a 540,000-gallon underground storage tank and severe winter weather.

Sen Burch told the Senate this morning that he met with 50 of the 84 families who will eventually own one of the homes last night, and promised to give them weekly updates moving forward.

“The meeting was extremely positive with some of the families expressing their understandably extreme disappointment at the current delay, but with all expressing their appreciation for the commitment to delivering this product,” Sen Burch said.

Are you affected by this??What do you think??Email news@royalgazette.bm

For the full story, read tomorrow’s Royal Gazette