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Plenary, 06 Sep 2007

06 Sep 2007 · S3 · Plenary

Item of business

Common Land (Housing Estates)

Tolson, Jim LD Dunfermline West Watch on SPTV

I asked to speak in this evening's debate not just because one or two constituents have contacted me with concerns since I was elected to the Parliament but because I received many such complaints in my preceding 15 years as a councillor in Dunfermline.

When a new estate was built in part of my council ward in the mid-1990s, the developer decided to appoint a factoring company to maintain the public areas that were jointly owned by the home owners on the estate. There was a public outcry when people started to receive bills from the factoring company without any prior knowledge that that would happen.

I remember being virtually summoned to a public meeting by residents to face accusations about the failure of the council to maintain their land. After I explained to them what had happened, their anger was aimed less at me or the council and more at the developer, who had omitted to mention the arrangement to them when they bought their new houses. It was in the small print of the title deeds, but what person excited about a new house for their family would look at that? Anger was also directed at their lawyers for not bringing the matter to their attention—no doubt the lawyers did not want to lose their fees, which would have happened if their clients had withdrawn from sales—and at the factors, who, it seemed, had the right to charge whatever sum they liked. The quality of the maintenance was often extremely poor, to boot.

Since then, it seems that the builders of every new development in Dunfermline—of which there have been plenty, including those at Admiral Heights, Caley Muir and Masterton Hall in my constituency—and of developments throughout Scotland have jumped on the bandwagon of undercutting their competitors by avoiding the up-front payment to councils of the adoption fee and passing the issue over to factors instead. That may not be illegal, but it is certainly underhand.

Now, more than a decade later, the factoring of land in new housing estates has become the norm, with the result that no developer has any significant edge over their competitors and none of them wants to pay the adoption fee to the council, as to do so would put them at a disadvantage with their competitors. However, a growing army of angry house owners is demanding action.

There is light at the end of the tunnel—there is a solution to the problem for a growing number of our constituents throughout Scotland. It lies with the Parliament, the 32 local authorities in Scotland and, perhaps, the factoring companies. If we were to pass legislation that required a planning condition that made it compulsory for public open spaces in new developments to be maintained in perpetuity by the local authority or a factoring company, a great deal of public anguish could be avoided. As a condition of gaining planning permission, developers would be required to conclude a legal agreement that would result in the public open spaces in our estates being maintained to a reasonable standard all year round, every year. However, I recognise that it would be simply unfair to put that burden on local authorities or factoring companies without giving them some protection.

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Plenary, 06 Sep 2007

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