CAMPAIGNERS IN Brockhill are calling on their new Member of Parliament to finally resolve the issue of the council’s adoption of open public spaces on their estate.
Brockhill Residents Association’s pleas for Redditch Borough Council to adopt the open spaces have been ongoing for more than a decade alongside continued frustration with somewhat poor maintenance and upkeep.
The association has launched a petition to call on their MP to ‘intervene’ and ‘get to the bottom of the problem’. So far the petition has garnered 135 supporters, just shy of its goal of 200 backers.
The Brockhill Residents Association’s founder, Peter Merricks, said it could be a very lengthy process to get Persimmon to carry out maintenance. For example, trees encroaching onto his property had taken upwards of six months to be trimmed.
“Persimmon aren’t necessary maintaining these places and getting action is a long process.
“I’d rather the council be honest and say it cannot take it on. It feels like they find any excuse not to adopt the land.”
There are almost a dozen open spaces in Brockhill involved in this dilemma, including Brockhill Park, a nature reserve, a woodland buffer zone and other areas.
Under section 106 planning laws, the council has powers to issue enforcement notices to adopt the land and claim different sums of money from Persimmon to facilitate the adoption.
The Standard reported in October 2019 agreements had been made to transfer both the land and cash owed from the developers to the council.
Almost five years later, residents say they are still in the dark and the plans are yet to come to fruition. In total, the adoptions could benefit the council by £500,000 or more.
A Redditch Borough Council spokesperson said: “Officers still continue to work on resolving this issue.”
Persimmon Homes say the delay in proceedings is due to changes being made to plans. Resurveying of the spaces has taken place to produce an overlay of plans for Land Registry approval.
A Persimmon spokesperson said: “We are currently awaiting a response from their Legal Team, following which we can proceed with the adoption process and complete the development.”
The company apologised for the length of time it had taken and added it would work with the council to ‘get it done at the earliest opportunity’.
“Redditch remains an important town to us, having provided hundreds of homes for local people in the area over the last 20 years.”
