Published: Wednesday, 28th January, 2009 12:30pm

Residents say land maintenance deal is a waste

by Hamish Hutchinson

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RESIDENTS on a Tullibody housing estate are demanding action from land maintenance group Greenbelt.

Home owners at Delph Wynd say that very little work has been carried out by Greenbelt despite residents having to pay a monthly fee to the company.

The Tullibody residents are the latest group to lock horns with the company after similar complaints from residents on a Menstrie housing estate, which led to a petition to oust Greenbelt from their estate.

Eddie Hughes, a resident at Delph Wynd, told the Advertiser, 'I moved in to the estate four years ago with my wife and daughter and when we bought the house we were told that we would have to pay a one-off up front fee for planting and landscaping for the common ground.

'There was absolutely no mention of Greenbelt or having to pay a monthly fee.

'The estate was finished three years ago and nothing has happened from start to finish.

'The area which we were told would be landscaped is just being left to go wild and people are dumping things on it. My neighbour said he saw a three piece suite the other week.

'All the residents are fed up with it and it has got to the stage where people are withholding payments.

'I don"t think anyone would mind paying if the work was actually getting done but it"s not.'

Gordon Banks MP, who is heading up a Land Maintenance Group at Westminster, has also given his support to the Tullibody residents.

Mr Banks is calling for tighter regulation of land maintenance companies so residents receive value for money.

He said, 'I have been involved in land maintenance issues for two years now and I was aware of the dissatisfaction at Delph Wynd. I made contact with seven or eight residents who came to see me.

'It is an ever-growing issue throughout the UK as a good proportion of residents don"t know they have to pay a land maintenance company when they buy their property.

'There is also a lack of clarity over what land maintenance companies are supposed to do and to what standard.

'The fact is people aren"t getting value for money and in some cases paying money but getting virtually no services.'

Mr Banks went on, 'The real solution is for land maintenance companies to work in conjunction with residents to deliver the level of service they are entitled to. This may sound simple but it is proving much more difficult to achieve than it sounds.'

However, Greenbelt told the Advertiser that they have had very few complaints about the service provided at Delph Wynd.

John Beveridge, head of customer services, said, 'We are concerned to hear of any unhappiness with our service at Delph Wynd, and will certainly investigate any specific issues raised with us.

'We provide a full management service and a regular maintenance programme for Delph Wynd. Since we took responsibility for the development in 2004 and up to October last year, our contractors have made 99 visits for routine maintenance. In addition there are visits by the contractor"s supervisors and also by our own staff.

'We received only seven enquiries about the development for the whole of 2008 - three were regarding maintenance, two were about payment issues, one was a change of owner and one was a complaint about receiving a debt recovery letter for non-payment.

'There were no major issues, and all have been satisfactorily dealt with and we have not received any request for a meeting.

'Of course we would prefer not to have any customer issues, but three enquiries about maintenance from a development of 94 households in a year does not seem to support the concerns expressed to you.

'We have a considerable sized area planted up as a young woodland and this is managed in accordance with horticultural best practice.

'The young trees will take up to 10 years to achieve canopy closure - when the branches between adjoining trees touch - and this area has a maintenance regime specific to young woodland.'