A GROUP of York neighbours say they are claiming for damages likely to run into thousands of pounds against a national house builder - because they say building work opposite them has caused large cracks inside their houses.

The residents, who live in Grove View, Clifton, noticed cracks appearing across their walls about six weeks ago.

Opposite them, building work is taking place for a Barratt Homes housing development. The development - on the former St Peter's prep school site in The Avenue - caused widespread opposition in the community when planning permission was granted two years ago.

Residents say the cracks have been caused by the vibrations from a large digger which was being used on the site.

They said they contacted their solicitors to ask Barratt to remove the heavy digger, which they say caused the problem, having previously met the housing company about the issue.

The digger has now been removed.

One Grove View resident, Steve Prophet, 48, said he knew of at least seven homes that were affected by the cracks. He said the building vibrations had caused the ceiling of a recently redecorated bedroom in his house to come away from the wall.

He said: "The cracks are all along the coving in our front room - and across the ceiling.

"We will be in contact with Barratt over damages.

"We're absolutely petrified that our houses might subside at a later date.

"Everyone along our row has got quite severe cracks on their door frames."

Another resident, Bryan Oxley, 53, said he had a 14ft crack across the wall and ceiling of his front room, and many others throughout his house.

He said: "It's like a mosaic of cracks.

"I am absolutely horrified - and really worried for the state of my house.

"I want to move out into the country, but how can I sell a house that's slowly falling to pieces? The vibrations are absolutely horrendous. I can't use my front room, or my bedroom."

A Barratt York spokesman said: "We would reassure residents that we take these matters seriously and apologise for any inconvenience caused.

"We will provide every assistance to investigate the cause of the cracks and our engineer is conducting a thorough inspection.

"The plant used by our sub-contractor at The Avenue is common to most building sites and should not have caused any of the defects reported."

A Barratt Homes engineer has visited some houses in the row to assess the damage.

Updated: 10:43 Monday, May 10, 2004