Residents living in the newly built village outside Derby say they are trapped in no man’s land due to the destruction of the area. Construction on the 500+ home Langley Country Park estate, on Radbourne Lane just outside Mickleover, was completed years ago.
But according to those who live there, it has been abandoned by those who manage it – and, due to legal proceedings, local residents are not allowed to do anything about it. This causes an atmosphere of frustration.
Ian Debling moved in 2016 from Kirk Langley. She wanted to live in a newly built home, and loved the country feel and landscape of Langley Country Park, but has since grown sick of trying to solve problems on her own so she can be proud of where she is. life.
He said: “They won’t listen to us. We are not in control. We can’t ask them to do anything because we have no control over the management company. I would recommend to anyone not to buy a new building.” in a plantation like this because everything is arranged the same way.”
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Residents complained about many problems. They weren’t immediately visible to the naked eye, but Ian and co. think they paint a bad picture of where they live and that’s not what they signed up for.
Among them are trees that are quickly damaged. Ian said he had counted at least 50 “big” who had died over the last year. Most are still surrounded by wooden supports, erected to enhance their growth, although years have passed since they finished growing, meaning the supports are no longer needed.
The wood is cracked and has a lot of wear and tear. One of them, near the park, had its wooden supports broken – a minor problem, residents said, but ignored by managers and contractors who inspected the site recently.
Another tree mentioned had brown leaves, even though it was summer. The base of the stem was broken – due to carelessness by those who came to cut the grass and knocked it down, residents said.
At the entrance to the estate, two ponds known as SuDS – a continuous drainage system – to allow rainwater to drain away and be recycled – are completely overgrown with plants, which residents say prevent water from going down the drain.
In the streets, there are lampposts with no lights on — erected and left aimlessly. Weeds line the roadsides, with trash strewn near the waterways.
In the children’s play area in the garden in the middle of the plantation, wood splintered and the material on the back of one of the utensils was torn and damaged. Stones and gravel strewn across the path in the middle. On other parts of the road, the asphalt has cracks on both sides.
Michael Thompson moved with his wife from Burton and thought it looked like a “beautiful” estate, with dog-walking fields nearby. The appeal has gone now, he said.
“It’s been let down, basically,” he explained. “When it was finished it was pretty neat but since then it just went backwards.”
Michael Cummins, who has moved from Hertfordshire, said he now wants to move on amid the troubles.
Whereas in the past, land in newly built plantations belonged to the council after completion, but not anymore. Today, while roads are still adopted by councils, communal areas such as parks and lawn edges eventually become the property of “management companies,” set up by developers — in this case, Miller Homes and Redrow Homes — while they’re still buildings.
During the construction process, the director of this “management company” was usually the director of the development company – in this case the heads of Miller and Redrow. They hire a management agency – in this case, the Residential Management Group (RMG) – to take care of all the maintenance work for them.
But once the plantations were completed, the developers intended to transfer the land from their own hands to the hands of the “management company” and resign as directors of the company, of which local residents were directors and could employ them. own contractor for local maintenance work.
A land transfer at Langley Country Park has yet to happen. That was meant to be months ago, but uncertainty about which piece of land actually belongs to the developer is hindering the process.
As a result, citizens still do not have the strength to solve their own problems. RMG’s management agents had neglected the estate, they said – and refused residents’ requests to complete it themselves through contractors they solicited individual bids for.
What’s worse is the fact that each of the 514 homeowners or renters was charged an annual service fee – a common feature in new estates – on top of their council tax.
A spokesperson for Redrow and Miller Homes, said: “A land transfer is currently ongoing with the Land Registry. We expect this process to be completed within the next three months, at which point we will manage to hand over control to the residents of Langley Country Park.
“Meanwhile, its development is being managed by a designated management agency, RMG. We will be following up to ensure any concerns regarding its maintenance are addressed.”
A spokesperson for RMG said: “While land transfer is a legal process that must be followed, all parties want to leave the running of the scheme up to the residents. Until we can get to that point, we are taking council feedback from residents through our 24/7 customer contact team and Managers. Property on our premises.”
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