Newbuild property deserted and left half completed as its controversial developer goes bust – years after its proprietor was prosecuted for chopping down 176-year-old big redwood and polluting a river

A British builder who was fined for polluting rivers and chopping down a 176-year-old redwood tree has gone bust, leaving a newbuild estate abandoned half-finished. 

Fiorenzo Sauro, chief of Enzo’s Homes Ltd, previously made headlines in 2019 when he was fined £100,000 for chopping down around 70 protected trees – including one of Britain’s first ever giant redwoods, in Swansea. 

Last year, he was fined £20,000 after it was found his Wales-based company polluted a tributary of the River Llwyd with silt during work in the south Wales town of Cwmbran, Torfaen. 

And now, the tradesman’s company has collapsed and liquidators have been appointed – leaving the 29 homes in the White Cliffs Court development in Dover, Kent, unfinished. 

Half-completed construction work on the protected National Landscape site has left what councillors have dubbed a ‘horrendous chalk scar’, making it ‘probably the only site you can see from the moon’. 

The houses on the hillside Kent Downs site are still being marketed on Enzo’s Homes’ website, ranging from £300,000 for a three-bed to £550,000 for a five-bed. The site adds: ‘Each home is covered by a ten-year structural defect warranty for ultimate peace of mind.’ 

Last year, Dover District Council (DDC) issued an enforcement notice to the developer over a planning breach, ordering it to reinstate the land to its previous levels and cover it with topsoil. 

But this notice has now been appealed – and it will be up to the planning inspectorate now to decide what happens ‘in light of the status of Enzo’s Homes’, a DDC spokesperson said. It is not known if any of the homes have already been bought.  

Enzo’s Homes, which has been trading for 13 years, has been surrounded by controversy in recent years. 

It emerged in 2019 that its chief Sauro had ordered an 176-year-old redwood tree to be felled, in a deliberate breach of its protected status, because it bordered on land he wanted to develop into a housing estate.  

It was among 72 protected trees that were felled on his instructions in 2018 – and he was found guilty a year later and fined £100,000, a revision of the original £300,000 fine ordered that came after Sauro appealed. 

District Judge Neale Thomas said at the time the developer’s protestations of innocence were ‘hollow’, adding, ‘He was not a convincing witness at all’, and, ‘Much of what he said I did not believe’. 

The giant redwood – thought to be one of Britain’s first – was planted on the Penllergare country estate in Swansea in 1842 and grew to 90ft in height with a 16ft circumference. It bordered 14 acres of land sold by the city council for development.

Last year, he was slapped with another fine for polluting a tributary of the River Llwyd in south Wales with silt between December 2022 and March 2023, which can harm fish and other invertebrates by clogging their gills and reducing light in the water.  

The water pollution, caused by run-off from an Enzo’s Homes building site contaminated by silt, saw the firm fined £20,000. 

It was also ordered to pay a £2,000 victim surcharge and Natural Resources Wales (NRW) costs of £7,389.42, after the government body had been forced to repeatedly send officers out to the site. 

And now Sauro’s Enzo’s Homes has collapsed and liquidators have been appointed – and Labour ward councillor Michael Nee said he has ‘huge fears’ about what will happen now the White Cliffs Court site on Folkestone Road has been chained off unfinished. 

The representative for the Maxton ward, where the site is, said: ‘It could be local people who are burnt.

‘It could be a big hit to contractors or anyone who placed an offer on one of the houses, and they could have to pay the price.

‘It all seems to be up in the air at the moment. It could become a ghost town if the site is left to fall to wrack and ruin and become derelict.

‘A new developer could come in and finish the project, but they could have to tear it all down and rebuild, which won’t be good for the residents who will have to put up with another two years of mess.’

Residents of the Maxton area, west of Dover, have taken to social media to express their concerns – particularly the large expanse of chalk left exposed by the half-completed construction work.

One wrote: ‘Whoever takes on the site now has to sort a massive pile of unstable chalk.

‘The view from my house shows how deep the chalk is – it should never have been allowed.’

Another added: ‘Great, now it will be even longer before it is finished.’ 

The development is described on the Enzo’s Homes website as ‘a collection of 29 new-build homes on the White Cliffs of Dover’: ‘Upon entering an Enzo’s Home, you’ll immediately notice the high quality and workmanship that is not present in other typical new builds.’ 

But work on White Cliffs Court has been fraught with problems.

In August, DDC imposed an immediate two-month halt, effective from August 25 until October 18, on certain engineering work at the site. 

With the development set in a designated National Landscape, the council said there were concerns about construction work harming wildlife and the area’s ‘scenic beauty’.

DDC then issued an enforcement notice on the development in November. A spokesman said at the time that the depositing of chalk was an ‘unauthorised operation’ resulting in an ‘unsympathetic alteration to the site and wider landscape’.

The marked land was noticed by hillwalkers from miles away – including Dover’s Western Heights, an old fortress turned nature reserve around three miles away – at least from the summer of 2023.

Council leader Kevin Mills, of the Labour Party, described the landscape as bearing a ‘horrendous chalk scar’ from the unfinished construction work, saying it was ‘probably the only site you can see from the moon’.

DDC’s enforcement notice has now been appealed, with the final decision on this in the planning inspectorate’s hands. 

A DDC spokesperson said said: ‘As far as the council knows, the appeal is still going ahead – it will be for the planning inspectorate to make a decision in light of the status of Enzo’s Homes.’

Stephen Goderski and Oliver Collinge, of PFK Littlejohn Advisory, were appointed joint liquidators on February 27.

Mr Goderski said: ‘Enzo’s Homes traded for nearly 13 years prior to its liquidation. We will be engaging with all relevant stakeholders to maximise the return to creditors.’

Enzo’s Homes was contacted for comment.