Agenda item

A report of the Head of Cleansing and Open Spaces providing an update on work to deliver the adopted Open Spaces Strategy 2013-2028 and the need to produce a revised Strategy and action plan.

A report of the Head of Cleansing and Open Spaces, providing an update on work to deliver the adopted Open Spaces Strategy 2013-2028 and the need to produce a revised Strategy and action plan, was submitted (item 8 on the agenda filed with these minutes).

The Head of Cleansing and Open Spaces and the Policy and Green Spaces Development Manager assisted with consideration of the item and provided the following responses to issues raised:

(i)            There was no requirement for developers to offer open spaces to the Council for adoption.  For the Council to adopt an area of open space the developer was required to pay a commuted sum equivalent to 20 years of maintenance costs which would be secured through a Section 106 Agreement.  It was becoming more common for developers to choose to transfer open spaces to a management company which could levy a service charge on residents to cover the cost of maintenance.  Service charges could also be levied to fund the cost of maintenance of other communal facilities such as lighting, parking and unadopted roads.

(ii)          Consultants had been used to undertake the revised assessment of open spaces within the Borough because this was a specialist, technical area that required a planning background in order to undertake it, and involved visiting every area of open space in the Borough.  Using consultants also ensured that the study had a degree of independence.  The work had included consultation with parish and town councils and residents had been invited to put forward their views.  The costs of using consultants for the work were not yet known.

(iii)         The development of the revised Strategy would be undertaken by Council officers as they had the required skills and local knowledge.

(iv)         The Council’s standards required children’s play areas to be fenced and provided with a self-closing gate so that dogs could be excluded before the Council would adopt them.

(v)          Where parish or town councils owned areas of open space that required investment the Borough Council could provide advice regarding potential sources of funding.  It was unlikely that Section 106 contributions could be used to fund the investment as it was a pre-existing need.  It was also difficult to justify diverting Borough Council resources away from projects on Borough Council land. 

(vi)         The majority of the Council’s land holdings were in Loughborough.  Where the Council was the landowner projects were under the Council’s control and those projects were identified in the report.  That was not to say that projects to enhance open space provision in the rest of the Borough were not important.

(vii)        Alongside the review of the Strategy a new action plan would be developed for the next five year period.  The format of the action plan would also be looked at so that it could be made easier to read.

(viii)      Since the Open Spaces Strategy had been adopted the Council had reviewed its approach to the management of trees that it was responsible for.  As a result it had been recognised that the Council’s trees could cause quality of life issues for residents and extra funding had been secured to enable the Council to deal with those cases.  However a proportion of those trees were on the Council’s housing land and operational decisions regarding the management of those trees were taken by Landlord Services.  In addition, people had the right to prune trees overhanging their property back to the boundary of their property provided that the trees were not covered by a Tree Preservation Order.

The following comments were made by members of the Group:

(i)            The levying of service charges for the maintenance of open spaces could come as a shock to residents.  There were also concerns regarding the way in which service charges increased and the quality of the work that was undertaken to maintain some open spaces managed in that way.

(ii)          It would require a change in the law to require developers to offer open spaces to councils.  Given the increasing use of management companies rather than adoption by councils and concerns about that model it would be appropriate for the Borough Council to ask the Government to consider amending the law.

RESOLVED

1.         that the report be noted;

2.         that it be recommended to the Scrutiny Management that the following recommendations be submitted to the Cabinet in respect of the Open Spaces Strategy:

a)     that the Cabinet be asked to note that the fact that developers could choose not to offer open spaces for adoption by the Council and the increasing use of management companies to manage open space on developments as an alternative to adoption by the Council were of concern to the Policy Scrutiny Group;

b)     that the Cabinet be asked to also note that the Group identified the following particular issues with the operation of the management company model in addition to its general concerns:

·      the service charges that were levied by management companies could be significant for local residents affected by them;

·      there could be a lack of transparency in the way in which service charges were increased;

·      there was no consideration of ability to pay when service charges were levied;

·      there was evidence that maintenance work was of low quality in some cases;

c)      that the Cabinet be asked to draw the attention of local MPs and the Government to the issues identified above so that a change in the law could be considered to require developers to offer areas of open space to local authorities for adoption.

Reasons

1.         To acknowledge the information received.

2.         To draw the Cabinet’s attention to an area of concern and, acknowledging that the current system could only be altered through a change in the law, to request that the Cabinet seek to influence Government policy regarding the matter.