RESIDENTS of a Warrington housing estate have been left without properly maintained play areas and open spaces after the developer went into liquidation.
Householders on the Briarswood estate at Great Sankey have been “left in limbo” for three years, according to a local 
councillor.
Now Cllr Hitesh Patel (pictured) is to raise the matter at next week’s meeting of the borough council.
He will ask Cllr Linda Dirir, executive member for highways, transportation and climate change what steps the council can take to resolve the issue.
Developers McInerney Homes went into liquidation without the council having collected monies owed to it to maintain the open spaces and play areas on the estate.
Cllr Patel said: “These residents bought their houses in good faith but now, as the warmer weather approaches, they face yet another year where the grass and weeds and nettles will get overgrown and detract from what is a beautiful estate.
“What steps can the council take to resolve this issue so the children on the estate have somewhere safe to play outdoors.”
Eighteen months ago, residents of the estate launched a campaign to tidy up play areas themselves.
But faced with growing problems of fly-tipping and the presence of rats, they were unable to make progress.
At that time, the borough council said that because the developer had gone into liquidation before concluding agreements with the authority, the council was not responsible for maintaining open spaces and play areas.
5 Comments
The Council take council tax from these houses and should be responsible for maintaining their facilities if the builder has gone bust…. just like they do in all of the other areas of the town…. god knows we pay enough for them to buy Ipads and Audis so surely a few grand a year to provide a safe environment for children to play in is not too much to ask?
Not sure why the council should be doing anything, particularly if it involves spending money that I guess they don’t have, it is a private development, maybe the residents are going to have to put their hands in their pockets to get the area sorted before the council adopt it and then I assume maintain it as part of the service that they provide. Don’t builders have to put up a bond before they commence building to cover for things like this, just in case they go bust. I understand that when the builder went in to administration the site in question was transferred to Ludgate Hill Developments Limited, so maybe they should be contacted to sort it out, not the council.
The government charges road tax – doesn’t mean they are responsible for my car repairs or providing me with satnav and in-car audio system
In the old days building firms were required to take out insurances and in some cases to provide a bond for the adoption of roads. Why was’nt a similar scheme adopted in these cases. It was common before this for certain firms to conveniently go bankrupt and leave the householders to foot the bill for road charges. Makes you think does’nt it
True enough, but you can’t force the householders to pay either and eventually it will end up as an eyesore….. I lived on Liverpool Road in the mid 80’s (on the block Where the Chinese is on the corner)… the backs there were unadopted and the residents had a whip round to try and get it sorted before the council would adopt…. every month they chipped in a little to cover the eventual cost. Trouble was, half way through some clever bod decided to get the first half done…. those residents that then lived in that bit then refused to contribute anymore and to this day it is unfinished and an eyesore…