Angry residents have accused developers of damaging their homes and disrupting their lives with a massive building project.

The scheme involves creating 283 houses and apartments on the now abandoned Merton College site in Central Road, Morden.

But residents in nearby Canterbury Road have accused developers Barratt Homes of damaging their houses and gardens because of the vibrations caused by digging and demolition works.

Residents also claim the builders have created excessive noise and disturbance, and have failed to give enough notice of the work - which has involved the dumping of a huge pile of rubble at the bottom of their gardens.

George Romaine claimed he was woken up by the shaking when it began a few weeks ago. He said: “We were in bed at the time and the house started moving back and forth. We were a good 50 yards away but the vibration was incredible.

“The shaking has been going on for weeks, and my garden has been absolutely mucked up. These people gave us no idea they were going to start.”

He has since complained to Barratt, and believes a series of hairline cracks in his house and patio are a result of the vibrations. Another neighbour has reported damage to her radiators caused by the work, which is set to continue for months.

Resident Susan Dean described the dust from the building work as “horrendous”, and said it has set off her daughter’s asthma and made it impossible to hang out washing in the family’s garden.

Adrian Sims, construction director at Barratt Southern Counties, said: “The only complaint received was from one resident on Thursday, regarding a possible crack in his property. We visited him on Friday and have subsequently employed an independent construction engineer to determine the cause.”

But other residents insist they pointed out their problems to Barratt’s site manager when he came to visit Mr Romaine’s house.

The project has not yet been registered with the Considerate Constructors Scheme, under which builders pledge to minimise disruption to neighbours - but a spokesman for Barratt said they were "going through the registration process and will be signed up shortly."