“Ending ‘fleeceholding’ in Hinckley & Bosworth.
This Council is deeply concerned at the actions of those housebuilders in Hinckley & Bosworth who have decided to hand the management and sometimes ownership of public open spaces to third party private concerns.
This Council is appalled that residents are then obliged to pay an annual management fee which can be hundreds of pounds and that this fee can increase without any safeguards or protections or guarantees that services of an acceptable standard will apply.
Further, this Council understands that such actions by developers means that millions of pounds of section 106 monies that would have been given to parish councils (who are democratically accountable) to be invested back into local communities is avoided and not paid.
Although this practice has been around for some years, it has become almost universal in the last five years and is having numerous negative consequences.
The Welsh government published a report on such estate charges and noted that these charges had created two-tier public open spaces with many residents deeply unhappy with the service providers and unhappy at the lack of accountability.
Further it was a cause of resentment with access made difficult for non-resident residents on the basis they did not pay for community upkeep.
Just as we have seen with the selling of leasehold properties on new estates and the various charges associated, the development industry cannot be trusted to self-regulate itself. The rightly condemned leasehold charges were seen as a disgrace and have been challenged at Westminster. We now need action to curtail and address ‘fleece hold properties’.
This motion asks the Council, its officers and its Executive to take positive steps to oppose estate charges. To demonstrate this, we ask that the following recommendation be accepted:
· We raise the matter formally with our local MPs, explaining our grave concerns and ask them to raise these concerns in Parliament
· We work with other local authorities to campaign effectively to see these practices outlawed or substantially reformed
· We offer support to residents wishing to legitimately challenge fee increases without rational justification and at a time when many face a cost of living challenge
· We enable our own public open spaces team to work with parish councils to retain public ownership and accountability over these important public spaces
· We look to see what more can be done within the planning process to ensure parish councils have greater support in the negotiations with developers around public open space and provide more effective guidance and support.
In years to come and as problems build up in these public open spaces, residents of the borough will rightly ask what we did to prevent this scandal. Let us at least play our part in raising it at a national level and trying to address it locally.”
Minutes:
Councillor Lay and Councillor Furlong had given notice of the following motion:
“Ending ‘fleeceholding’ in Hinckley & Bosworth.
This Council is deeply concerned at the actions of those housebuilders in Hinckley & Bosworth who have decided to hand the management and sometimes ownership of public open spaces to third party private concerns.
This Council is appalled that residents are then obliged to pay an annual management fee which can be hundreds of pounds and that this fee can increase without any safeguards or protections or guarantees that services of an acceptable standard will apply.
Further, this Council understands that such actions by developers means that millions of pounds of section 106 monies that would have been given to parish councils (who are democratically accountable) to be invested back into local communities is avoided and not paid.
Although this practice has been around for some years, it has become almost universal in the last five years and is having numerous negative consequences.
The Welsh government published a report on such estate charges and noted that these charges had created two-tier public open spaces with many residents deeply unhappy with the service providers and unhappy at the lack of accountability.
Further it was a cause of resentment with access made difficult for non-resident residents on the basis they did not pay for community upkeep.
Just as we have seen with the selling of leasehold properties on new estates and the various charges associated, the development industry cannot be trusted to self-regulate itself. The rightly condemned leasehold charges were seen as a disgrace and have been challenged at Westminster. We now need action to curtail and address ‘fleece hold properties’.
This motion asks the Council, its officers and its Executive to take positive steps to oppose estate charges. To demonstrate this, we ask that the following recommendation be accepted:
· We raise the matter formally with our local MPs, explaining our grave concerns and ask them to raise these concerns in Parliament
· We work with other local authorities to campaign effectively to see these practices outlawed or substantially reformed
· We offer support to residents wishing to legitimately challenge fee increases without rational justification and at a time when many face a cost of living challenge
· We enable our own public open spaces team to work with parish councils to retain public ownership and accountability over these important public spaces
· We look to see what more can be done within the planning process to ensure parish councils have greater support in the negotiations with developers around public open space and provide more effective guidance and support.
In years to come and as problems build up in these public open spaces, residents of the borough will rightly ask what we did to prevent this scandal. Let us at least play our part in raising it at a national level and trying to address it locally.”
Upon being put to the vote, the motion was CARRIED and it was
RESOLVED –
(i) The matter be raised formally with the two local MPs, explaining the Council’s grave concerns and asking them to raise these concerns in Parliament;
(ii) Work be undertaken with other local authorities to campaign effectively to see these practices outlawed or substantially reformed;
(iii) Support be offered to residents wishing to legitimately challenge fee increases without rational justification and at a time when many face a cost of living challenge;
(iv) The Council’s public open spaces team to work with parish councils to retain public ownership and accountability over these important public spaces;
(v) The Council look to see what more can be done within the planning process to ensure parish councils have greater support in the negotiations with developers around public open space and provide more effective guidance and support.