A £12-million scheme to build 90 new houses in a Herefordshire village has ground to a halt after the builder went bust.

Tricas Construction of Bromsgrove had been appointed to build the estate at the Madley Road site in Clehonger west of Hereford for national social housing firm Stonewater, aided by a £3.7-million Homes England grant.

But Tricas, formed only in 2017, has now appointed liquidators, leaving this and other schemes still only half-built.

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Confirming this, Stonewater’s regional director of development Matt Crucefix said: “We are working to appoint a new contractor as a priority. We hope to formalise this in the next few weeks and work should begin soon afterwards.”

Thirty-two of the houses are intended for shared ownership, and have been advertised as such on the sharetobuy.com website.

“We have been in regular contact with customers who had expressed an interest in the scheme, and have a dedicated team allocated to the site to ensure we can give customers the most accurate and up-to-date information,” Mr Crucefix said.

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Ward councillor David Hitchiner, a supporter of the scheme, said he was “hopeful that some homes will be occupied before the school term starts in autumn”, and encouraged locals in need of housing to apply.

Tricas’ website makes no mention of its travails, and still lists the Clehonger scheme under its “current developments”. But there is no reply from its main phone number.

This is the second such mishap to befall Stonewater in Herefordshire in less than a year.

Its project to build 114 modular homes at the former tile factory site off College Road in Hereford was hit last summer by the liquidation of its main contractor for the job, specialist builder Ilke Homes of North Yorkshire.

On this, Mr Crucefix said: “We have appointed a new contractor for this scheme and work is due to recommence on site very soon.”