Government minister David Willetts in row with neighbours over his 'dilapidated' house after scaffolding left up for TWO years

• Neighbours claim there is a plant growing out of the roof and scaffolding is blocking traffic
• Tory MP says he has 'gone back to the drawing board' and will have to knock down property

Government minister David Willetts is embroiled in a row with his constituents over the ‘dilapidated’ state of his house.

Neighbours claim a plant is growing out of the roof and scaffolding which has been up for two years is holding up traffic.

The crumbling property is in a conservation area, heaping pressure on the minister to sort the problem out.

Neighbours say the scaffolding in Havant, Hampshire has been up for two years and forces traffic to slow down

David Willetts, the Universities Minister, said he was going back to the drawing board over what to do about his dilapidated property

The Tory MP – nicknamed Two Brains in Westminster for his formidable intellect – has admitted he has left residents in Havant, Hampshire frustrated.

The row centres on a 17th century building, which joins Mr Willetts’ family home, which he bought with his wife Sarah Butterfield in 2008 for £220,000.
The couple planned to convert it into two two-bedroom houses but a survey revealed it was in such a poor state it would need to be pulled down.

Now local people claim Mr Willetts, who joined the government as minister for universities and science when the coalition was formed in 2010, is taking too long to sort the problem out.Tim Dawes, from the Havant Civic Society, said: ‘I think it is beholden to David Willetts, who likes to demonstrate that he has the interests of the town at heart, to do something about it.

‘It’s in a conservation area so it’s covered by certain requirements.

‘David Willetts is a man of civic responsibility and a man of reasonable personal resources.

‘I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask him to try to do something about it. It’s been in a state of dilapidation for some time.’

Planning permission for the two properties was granted by Havant Borough Council, but it has since been decided that the building will need to be demolished.

‘We’ve gone back to the drawing board and put forward a proposal to knock down and replace it with something as similar as possible, a new building using the old bricks,’ Mr Willetts said.

‘The council had some queries about our original application and we’re about to submit a revised application which we hope they will be satisfied with.

‘It’s taken a long time, I understand people’s frustrations but I have explained what the problem was and we’re going to submit a revised application very soon.’