Motion J
Proposer: Councillor Bentley
This Council recognises the frustrations of many residents who have bought new properties on new housing developments in Colchester when the local roads and other amenities have yet to be adopted and therefore residents are left at the mercy of the developers or their contractors to make good repairs to highways or fix streetlights or maintain open spaces or deal with flooding issues . All of these residents pay full Council Tax however, local Councillors are left to negotiate with developers on their behalf without any authority. This is unacceptable.
Therefore, this Council resolves to ensure that any new development of more than 20 properties is subject to a detailed schedule and timetable drawn up and agreed by the developer and CBC Planning department of when works are to be completed and roads and fixtures are to be handed over for adoption. This should form part of the planning application. Failure to comply will result in penalties for the companies involved, to be agreed by Planners and Members.
As the motion relates to a non-executive matter it will be debated and determined at the meeting.
Main Amendment
Proposer: Cllr Barlow
The motion on Adoption of Amenities for New Housing Development be approved and adopted subject to the following amendments:-
In the first paragraph:-
• delete “All of these residents pay full Council Tax however,”, and replace with “Councils and”;
• after “are” insert “often”.
In the second paragraph:-
• replace “resolves to ensure” with “believes”,
• replace “is” with “should be”,
• replace “and CBC Planning department” with “Planning, Highways and other relevant departments of Colchester Borough Council (CBC), Essex County Council (ECC) and other organisations”.
• delete all words from “This should form…” ;
Add new paragraph as follows:
“This Council resolves to begin discussions with ECC Highways and other relevant organisations as appropriate to ascertain the feasibility and practicality of bringing in such a scheme, including resolving the issue of whether it would be possible to introduce under existing legislation. This Council also requests that the Borough’s representatives on ECC and in the House of Commons provide the support necessary to further this proposal and the Planning Officers report progress and options to the Local Plan Committee and a final report is referred from that Committee to Full Council for discussion and approval no later than the July 2021 meeting.
If the approved, the amended motion would read as follows:
This Council recognises the frustrations of many residents who have bought new properties on new housing developments in Colchester when the local roads and other amenities have yet to be adopted and therefore residents are left at the mercy of the developers or their contractors to make good repairs to highways or fix streetlights or maintain open spaces or deal with flooding issues . Councils and local Councillors are often left to negotiate with developers on their behalf without any authority. This is unacceptable.
Therefore, this Council believes that any new development of more than 20 properties should be subject to a detailed schedule and timetable drawn up and agreed by the developer and Planning, Highways and other relevant departments of Colchester Borough Council (CBC), Essex County Council (ECC) and other organisations of when works are to be completed and roads and fixtures are to be handed over for adoption.
This Council resolves to begin discussions with ECC Highways and other relevant organisations as appropriate to ascertain the feasibility and practicality of bringing in such a scheme, including resolving the issue of whether it would be possible to introduce under existing legislation. This Council also requests that the Borough’s representatives on ECC and in the House of Commons provide the support necessary to further this proposal and the Planning Officers report progress and options to the Local Plan Committee and a final report is referred from that Committee to Full Council for discussion and approval no later than the July 2021 meeting.