District Matters

Public Open Spaces

March 2025

Historically, amenities such as public open spaces and communal facilities on new estates were adopted and maintained by either a parish, district or county council. However, the legislation was discretionary and there has been an increasing practice in recent years of councils not adopting these amenities with private management companies being brought in to do the work.

This became the practice at Stratford-on-Avon District Council after the adoption of Supplementary Planning Guidance on the Provision of Open Space in 2005 that encouraged private maintenance arrangements[1]. Subsequent documents continued this trend.

The residents of The Pastures Estate in Kinwarton, Alcester were affected. They had problems with the management of their open spaces, and, with my support, they came to the District Council on 23 October 2019 to ask a public question about estate management charges, the standard of management services they received and their significant efforts to try to achieve satisfactory outcomes. A further question confirmed the District Council’s position on private management companies at that time.

After this meeting a review was undertaken which led to a change in policy for new estates with the Adoption of Open Space Supplementary Planning Document on 22 April 2024. However, the Council could not address retrospective arrangements, which requires Government legislative change, so some residents are still experiencing problems in 2025.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) looked at private management of public amenities in 2023 with a final report published in 2024[2]. They found a growing trend by developers to build estates with privately managed public amenities. These are amenities that are available for wider public use (i.e. not for the exclusive use of households on the estate), which are increasingly not being adopted by councils. In total, 80% of new homes sold by the eleven biggest builders in 2021 to 2022 were subject to estate management charges.

A number of the concerns they raised included that some unadopted amenities may not be constructed to an acceptable quality or may not be maintained to a satisfactory standard by the management company. It may also be unclear who is responsible for maintenance. Bills can be large, with future bills unpredictable and potentially very high as amenities degrade over time.

The CMA report said it was not equitable for the residents of a development to have to pay for the ongoing maintenance of community assets that benefit the entire community (while also paying standard council tax). Also, that ‘existing consumer protection arrangements do not go far enough to adequately address this issue’, that ‘it is often very difficult for households to switch management companies’ and, in some cases, ‘there appears to be no feasible way for them to do this’.

Residents of the Pastures and many other estates across the District are still experiencing problems with Public Open Space, Sustainable Urban Drainage and other amenities. They recently met their MP about how to change the practice of private company management on estates and address the problems raised by the CMA. To reverse past decisions requires Government legislation to change. So, it is time for the CMA recommendations to be fully considered in Parliament, including the option to support the adoption of public amenities on estates currently under private management arrangements.

[1] Provision of Open Space SPG March 2005 para 6.2
[2] CMA market study final report into housebuilding 26^th February 2024