It was once King Charles’s vision of a utopian idyll, where private and affordable housing mixes with boutique shops, places of work and public services such as schools.
But residents living in Poundbury, which is built on Duchy of Cornwall land in Dorset, claim the model town is no longer living up to its paradisal image.
King Charles began work on the project in the late 1980s, and since then, it has grown to boast around 2,320 homes, 4,600 residents and 240 businesses.
However, disgruntled locals allege that the town near Dorchester has fallen into disrepair since he became King and Prince William has no interest in it.
Margaret and Roy Hendy have lived in Dorchester for 15 years. They pointed the blame at the Duchy of Cornwall – the royal family’s private estate – for Poundbury’s supposed demise.
Mrs Hendy, a retired accountant, said: ‘This place is bloody awful now. This was Charles’s baby but he doesn’t have time to look after it and William doesn’t want to know.
‘If we could move out tomorrow, we could, but we are getting too old to do that.’
Mr Hendy, a retired aircraft engineer, added: ‘The leaves are piling up, the grass isn’t cut and the windows are falling apart.
King Charles began work on Poundbury in the late 1980s, and since then, it has grown to boast around 2,320 homes, 4,600 residents and 240 businesses
Pictured: Sekhar Sootarsing who was cleared of punching his elderly neighbour in a row over exhaust fumes in Poundbury
King Charles is pictured visiting Poundbury. He began work on the town in the 1980s
‘All I would ask is that they just take care of it (Poundbury).’
The town’s genteel reputation suffered a blow in October when a court case brought to light a seemingly unsavoury incident between three pensioners, which led to a woman being knocked to the ground and a man prodded with a walking stick.
Sekhar Sootarsing, 69, a retired commodities trader, was cleared of assaulting 83- year-old Ingrid Wright-Holmes during a row over exhaust fumes.
He was said to have clobbered the elderly lady after she and her husband Christopher went to speak to him about the noisy engine of his Ford Mustang.
Mr and Mrs Wright-Holmes said they had been enjoying an al-fresco glass of wine on a spring evening when the ‘obnoxious stink’ from the exhaust filled their back garden.
A jury at Bournemouth Crown Court returned a unanimous not guilty verdict to the actual bodily harm charge Mr Sootarsing was facing in just 50 minutes.
Meanwhile, other unhappy residents have claimed that drug taking and anti-social behaviour is on the rise in Poundbury.
One local said he could smell cannabis when he jet washed his car, while another said it was common knowledge that some areas of the town were drug hotspots.
Residents also complained about the Duchy whose rules and regulations mean they are left ‘freezing’ in the winter as double glazed windows are outlawed.
An elderly woman, who did not wish to be named, said she had lived in Poundbury for 14 years and was fed up with the Duchy’s ‘aloof and officious’ ways.
She said: ‘There are too many rules and regulations. The Duchy are aloof and officious.
‘You are not allowed double glazing so it is freezing in the winter and my home doesn’t get above 17C.’
Her comments come after residents blasted The Duchy of Cornwall as ‘arrogant’ in a row over cherry trees earlier this year.
Locals, who have paid a premium for their views of Thomas Hardy’s Wessex, were left ‘furious’ when they discovered the Duchy and their developers had plans to put in a ‘curtain’ of trees that would obscure their vistas and block out the light from their homes.
Mr Sootarsing told Mrs Wright-Holmes (left) to ‘get stuffed’ during the row over the noise of his car engine and exhaust fumes in Poundbury, Dorset
Pictured: Construction taking place on a building in Poundbury, Dorset
Left to right: Residents, Christina and Donald Brett, Julie Burt, Josephine and Andrew Cook and Paul Baker
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Residents claimed the Duchy then added further insult by putting in a retrospective planning application to change the species of tree after they were already planted.
The new controversial bird cherry trees, planted on one side of the road, can grow up to 82ft tall and 26ft wide.
Locals also claimed the Duchy ignores any attempts at communication and just ploughs on with what they want at the expense of the people living there.
A fellow resident said there had also been rumours about parcels being nicked from outside homes, although this had not happened to them.
Andrew Cook and his wife moved to Poundbury from Hertfordshire when he retired.
He bemoaned the fact that ‘the idyll they had been sold had paled somewhat’.
Mr Cook laid the blame at the ‘feudal’ Duchy for how they interact with residents.
He said: ‘Generally it’s a nice place to live and we have got some nice neighbours, but the idyll we were sold has paled somewhat.
‘Not enough for us to hate the place, there are benefits and some disadvantages.
‘One of the things we like is that you can walk to everywhere you need – doctor, dentist, shops, vets – within 10-15 minutes so we don’t use the cars a great deal.
‘My main beef is with the Duchy and the way they treat you.
‘There’s a real lack of consultation and often the execution of whatever it is they are doing is just not suitable or doesn’t resolve the issue, which is quite frustrating and can be stressful.
Pictured: Previously graffiti has been cleaned from signs in the playground in the Great Field
Heaps of leaves in Poundbury, which is something that residents have complained about
Pictured: The controversial trees that have already been planted in Poundbury
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‘I’ve spent two years dealing with an issue that could have and should have been resolved within a few weeks.
‘They just don’t seem to listen and it seems a very feudal system.
‘I think it seems like a good idea, but the ideal leaves quite a lot to be desired.’
Poundbury has been built over the past 32 years on Duchy of Cornwall land near Dorchester.
Charles has had a big say on the architecture, with neo-Classical style apartment blocks, mock-Georgian houses and red brick ‘Victorian’ style warehouses.
Its centrepiece is Queen Mother Square which commemorates his grandmother.
The Duchy of Cornwall say on their website that they want to ‘create beauty and reflect local character and identity’.
Some Poundbury residents spoke up to defend the ‘picturesque and eclectic’ town.
John Matthews, 40, a resident for the past eight years, said: ‘It is a picturesque and eclectic place to live and I am happy here.’
But he said that Charles’s dislike of road markings caused a traffic ‘free for all’ with frequent near-misses.
And he said he feared that locals were being priced out of the town as properties were so expensive, meaning ‘you hear a lot of London accents’.
The town is due to be completed in 2026.
A spokesperson for the Duchy of Cornwall declined to comment.
