Issue - meetings

Report of the Executive Manager - Communities

The Strategic Sites Delivery Officer, (SSD Officer) delivered a presentation that provided the Group with the updated position and information on the future of public open space on housing developments. At its meeting in July 2020 the Group asked officers to identify and investigate what is happening on housing developments across the Borough.

The SSD Officer explained the need for open spaces and the requirement by Policy on small, medium and large scale residential developments. Under the Local Plan the Council has identified 6 strategic sites within the Core strategy and 25 additional sites under the Local Plan Part 2, these developments range from 45 to 4000 dwellings in size.

In respect of the current position within the Borough, the SSD Officer reminded the Group that pre-2000 the Council adopted and maintained the open spaces which became costly, therefore, between 2000 - 2011 the Council collected commuted sums from the developer to help towards the cost of maintaining the open spaces. These commuted sums were in themselves difficult to obtain from the developer so from 2012 open spaces were required and the responibiity to manage and maintain open spaces fell upon the developer, most of whom collect a service charge as follows:

·       The housing developer(s) are responsible for payments towards the maintenance of open space on Strategic Sites, Local Plan Part 2 sites and major windfall sites

·       The developer(s) pass that cost/responsibility on to residents through a management company as a monthly charge

·       That service charge is then payable for the entire time that each property on the development is occupied

However, the SSD Officer explained that the current model has shown up a number of issues, which residents living on these developments have reported, these are highlighted as follows:

·       On the Strategic Allocations and some Local Plan Part 2 sites large community areas/parks to mitigate harm from the development are available for use by all, but are funded by the few residents living on the new development(s)

·       Residents are experiencing issues with Management Companies – requesting extra charges for services above what is already collected in the monthly fees

·       Residents have questioned the parity of cost paid which can vary across the different developments

Following the Scrutiny meeting in July 2020, the SSD Officer provided a summary advising the Group that support of Members and Developers was sought, 15 sites have been identified and from these, a small sample size of 9 responses were received. The average cost per household is £201 per year with most sites paying less than average. It was noted, that many of the issues identified could not be addressed through planning, the Council is doing what the majority of other local authorities are doing and any long term implications are unknown at this time.

In concluding, the SSD Officer provided an example from Warwick District Council of a Supplementary Planning Document (SPD), which the Council may wish to consider, to set Rushcliffe standards and provide consistency for developers.

Members asked specific questions in relation  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31