Work has resumed on a half-built seafront housing estate left abandoned for more than two years.

The Sands - a £20 million development in St Mary’s Bay on Romney Marsh – is now under new ownership with GC Construction LTD which has confirmed plans to put the homes on the market in June.

It was expected to welcome its first residents in the summer of 2019 but supply issues delayed construction.

More than four years on, contractors were nowhere to be seen and the vandalised buildings had become a home for pigeons and rabbits.

But now the estate could be welcoming its new residents later this year.

GC Construction LTD, a property development and construction company based in Manchester, say work has now commenced on the site.

A spokesperson said: “We are correcting any defective works, and then working to complete the initial phase which will bring fabulous homes to this unique and exciting beachside development.

“We are intending for the marketing to commence in June, and for some homes to be ready for occupation in 2024.”

when KentOnline visited the site last week, a construction company was seen working on the damaged homes.

Windows around the site that have previously been damaged have also begun to be addressed, with many now boarded up to prevent further damage.

Diggers and other construction vehicles were also spotted.

Mark Jones, who lives directly opposite the estate in Jesson Close, previously stated he puts his “blinkers on” to avoid even looking at the smashed-up four-acre plot.

“Before the development was even proposed it was a waste ground, so we need to have something there,” he said in October.

“But what’s happened since is not acceptable.

“It has been turned into a dumping ground. God knows what kind of thing people have been putting there.”

In 2016, plans submitted by Stanford-based developer FDC Homes Ltd were approved by Folkestone and Hythe District Council (FHDC) for 59 houses and 26 apartments.

The site was later sold to Compass Builders Ltd and work commenced in early 2018, but a “national shortage of plasterboard” delayed the expected launch the following summer.

In February, it was revealed that a potential buyer had shown interest in the half-built estate.

In 2019, several of the new-build homes were up for sale on Rightmove, with prices ranging from £130,000 for a one-bed apartment to £490,000 for a four-bed townhouse.

Compass Builders Ltd fell into administration last year.

The site was previously home to a holiday camp known as The Sands Motel. But the budget family resort was demolished after being damaged in the Great Storm of 1987 and remained unused.