Cheshire East is still looking into how much privately-owned green land it has been maintaining at the council tax payers’ expense – but says a report is due next month, writes Belinda Ryan.
The council’s environment and communities committee was told in October last year the authority had been maintaining 547 parcels of land not registered as being owned by the council.
A review was ordered to look into the matter.
This month, the Local Democracy Reporting Service asked the council for an update, including how much this had cost the council tax payer.
Committee chair Cllr Mick Warren (Ind) said: “This work is ongoing and a report will be presented at the council’s environment and communities committee in September.”
The matter first came to light last year in relation to parcels of open space on a residential estate in Sandbach.
The then director of environment and neighbourhood services said: “There are around 50 parcels of amenity green space dotted throughout this estate open to the public that, at some point in time, were included on the predecessor council’s (Congleton borough) schedule for grounds maintenance and has since continued to be maintained by the predecessor council and now Cheshire East Council.”
He said Cheshire East became aware that some of the green spaces were up for sale and decided to withdraw maintenance from six parcels of land on the estate.
“However, it was subsequently established the council did not own any of the green spaces on this estate – the lands had been retained by the developer rather than transferred to council and later sold on to a third party,” the officer told the committee.
This finding resulted in a broader exercise to review land registered in the council’s ownership against land it maintains.
And this revealed there were 547 parcels of land Cheshire East maintains which it is not registered as owning.
The committee was told this doesn’t mean all 547 are not owned by the authority, but further investigation was needed.
The next meeting of the environment and communities committee, when this is due to be discussed, takes place on September 28.
Nearly 12 months from 2022 to now to reliase there is an issue. CEC has operated for some years now. It is going to be a few more months before the true position is known. This is not the first mal- administration brought to our attention. Should CEC be replaced by the original Councils? Is it the Council Senior Officers OR poor Councillors who don’t know what to ask or do? I wil leave it with you.