Issue - meetings

The report of the Director – Development and Economic Growth is attached.

It was RESOLVED that:

a)             the Good Practice Guide for the Management of Open Spaces to allow officers to engage with developers and management companies be endorsed and that delegated authority be given to the Director for Development and Economic Growth to make updates in line with the core principles of the Guide; and

b)             the Leader be requested to continue to lobby Government to regulate the governance of management companies to ensure transparency and remove charges unrelated to the direct management of open spaces.

The Leader and Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Strategic and Borough-wide Leadership, Councillor Clarke MBE presented the report of the Director – Development and Economic Growth, which provided an update on the management of open spaces on new developments within the Borough.

In opening his comments, the Leader said that he would first like to suggest alterations to recommendation a) in replacing the word ‘adopt’ with the word ‘endorse’ and adding wording that Cabinet ‘gives delegated authority to the Director for Development and Economic Growth to make updates in line with the core principles of the guide’, as this reflected that it was a living document.

The Leader said that Cabinet had decided not to adopt open spaces on new developments due to the considerable financial burden that would place on the Council and said that since 2011 open spaces had been the responsibility of the developer. He noted that various concerns have been raised as to how the management of those open spaces took place and as such he had hosted a roundtable with residents and a cross party of Councillors and representatives from housing developers and management companies and had written letters to The Secretary of State for Housing and Communities, which had been passed on to the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Housing and Local Government Department who he was in conversation with.

The Leader highlighted that the Good Practice Guide had four themes, which were service, fairness, transparency and community and these sought to reflect the issues and concerns raised by residents to assist in discussions with government and the possibility of regulation of the management of open spaces. He said that the Guide provided a good basis in the start of ensuring that good practice was maintained and to reassure residents that the Council understand and acknowledged their concerns.

In seconding the recommendation, Councillor Upton highlighted that the management of open spaces was a national issue and not just pertinent to the Borough and he was pleased that the Council was at the forefront of preparing a guide. He hoped that there would be some national regulation of the sector in the future. He said that the Guide was advisory and whilst not legally enforceable was good to have.

Councillor Upton noted that housing developments and design had changed over recent years with the introduction of community areas which the residents were responsible for and paid for, but often which non-residents could use. He hoped that the government would pick up the challenge and that developers would get on board with the Good Practice Guide and hoped that a copy would be shared with prospective buyers by the developers and solicitors and that copies would be made widely available and given much publicity.

The Leader clarified that the Guide applied to freehold property as opposed to leasehold property.

Councillor J Wheeler said that the Guide aimed to provide clarity about what the Council wanted both for residents and management companies for open spaces and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7