Another scam I have just picked up on

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dewaltdisney
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Another scam I have just picked up on

Post by dewaltdisney »

In the amended words of Edwin Starr 'Councils, huh, yeah, What are they good for?...Absolutely nothing, uh-huh, uh-huh' Councils, in the main, exist just to empty the bins and feed the egos of petty bureaucrats who trouser expenses and make poor decisions.

I have just picked up that with all the new builds going on Councils are failing to adopt these new estates and developers are having to set up management groups to levy service charges on the residents for the upkeep of common areas. So the w*nker councils specify all the green space, play areas and the like in the planning process plus they also 'tax' a Community Infrastructure Levy, basically a chunk of money that they will spunk on some woke shite or vote-winning appeasement.

A relative of mine is on one of these new estates and they have included the whole of a parking area, serving six properties, on her deeds with the upkeep down to her. She was worried about the landscaping shrubbery and I told not to bother as there are no laws that say you have to trim anything back, but I did think it was a bloody liberty.

My thoughts are that there could be lots of problems in the future when the roads, pavements and kerbing need repairing, gulleys cleared and street lighting repaired and I can see these service charges escalating. Back in the past roads were not adopted if the built infrastructure did not meet standards but in the main they did and the councils took them over. Houses used to get advertised with 'no road charges' but we have gone a full circle now and we have these big estates left to their own maintenance and repair responsibilities of common areas.

Has anyone got a better understanding of this as I might be wrong?

DWD
Dave54
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Another scam I have just picked up on

Post by Dave54 »

Sounds about like the sort of thing that councils would do.
After all's said and done, we pay the council tax to empty the bins, and keep the council in a job don't we?
I reckon this has been going on for some time though. I was talking to a bloke who lives in a new build fairly locally. The grass outside is supposedly a common area, there are some housing association places, and some privately owned. The council only cuts the grass in front of the housing association places. Or something like that anyway, it's been a while ago and it was a random conversation. I couldn't see that it made sense if they've got the mower there, but it's typical council stuff.
ETA Just thinking about it I think the point was that the council makes an extra charge for cutting the "private" parts of the common grass. It all sounded too bloody complicated to me!
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Argyll
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Another scam I have just picked up on

Post by Argyll »

I work in this field in Scotland.

Councils adopt roads and infrastructure around a year after the development has been built as long as it meets strict standards. If it doesn't them they don't. It's common sense. You wouldn't buy a house if it were not up to your standards. Why should the council?

I assume homeowners are aware of the yearly charges by developers before buying the property. They have no right to complain and this has nothing to do with Local authorities.

I don't understand your complaint?
dewaltdisney
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Another scam I have just picked up on

Post by dewaltdisney »

I have not got a complaint, I just like having a go at councils. I read up a bit on this now and a Section 38 agreement is made between the developer and the authority. As you say if the road meets standards set and it has maintained for a year then the adoption progresses. How the decision on the Section 38 agreement is arrived at I do not know so the householders on these estates, who I accept would have been made aware of the service charges, may or may not have their estate roads adopted in due course. I was concerned that council tax contains an element for roads maintenance and these people would be losing out if the roads do not get adopted. I was thinking it would be usual for councils to duck their responsibility but still take the money.

DWD
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Argyll
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Another scam I have just picked up on

Post by Argyll »

It really should be road tax that pays for road maintenance but that's another issue.

It's Section 75 here in Scotland. It's not the first time a developer and the LA have agreed Section 75 conditions and the developer has then reneged on the agreement after the development has been built. Then the LA takes it up with the government who then appoint an inquiry who decide in the developer's favour! It's so frustrating but there are many devious developers out there.

Many people like council bashing but many don't know how the system works. Let me give you an example:

A few years ago a popular cheap supermarket wanted to build in my local area. They wanted to build beside Tesco. Tesco of course weren't happy but couldn't do anything about it. They wanted to use the same access as Tesco but the elected councillors decided not to and build a separate access, resulting in two sets of traffic lights instead of one. This obviously caused more traffic hold-ups. In the next local elections, the two same councillors who opted to have separate access made complaints as to why there wasn't shared access!!!

I know this deviates from your points but those two councillors obviously knew that 99% of the electorate are clueless and wouldn't know it was them who decided on the separate access. A bit like the 184 Labour MP's who abstained in the Welfare Bill and now bark on about school meals and child poverty.

What many don't understand is it's not LA Planners who make the final decisions it's the elected Councillors. Many love to council bash but don't understand how it works.

My colleague must get at least ten calls a week about potholes in the motorway which is the responsibility of Transport Scotland (Highways Agency in England) not the council but they don't seem to listen and demand the council do something about it.

Another thing people don't realise is every time a new development is built that puts additional strain on schools, doctors and roads dep to name but a few. But their budget doesn't increase. If the council didn't adopt a road it must be sub-standard. That's all I can think of. But again your solicitor would make you aware of any yearly charges.

I once pulled out of a house sale in Chester Le Street on the day of signing when I was told it was half owned-half leased. I went ape sh*t at the Solicitor because it's the first thing he should have looked at, not left it to the final day. I demanded my fees back which he wouldn't do so I took him to the Law Society and won :thumbright:
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dewaltdisney
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Another scam I have just picked up on

Post by dewaltdisney »

I served 10 years as a Parish Councillor so I know my way fairly well around most Council things. This Section 38 was new to me but I have a better understanding of it now. We were all serving unpaid volunteers and put a lot of work in both administrative and physical tasks like repairs and maintenance, all to save money. I used to get arsey with the holier than thou attitude the Local Authority councillors used to take and how hard it was to get them to do simple tasks for us that they were responsible for. Most were obstructive and made dog in the manger decisions. This stupidity was often most seen at planning and an example was an old cottage in the village that was refurbished and a kitchen extension added. The extra square footage added exceeded the original volume plus the 15% permitted extra for that zone. The bloody LA councillors were trying to get an enforcement order so I discussed it with the owner and I suggested adding a false wall in front of one of the existing walls to reduce the volume to meet the requirement, as a cheap solution, which he did. Some stupid t*at councillor accused me at a follow-up meeting of cheating until I pointed out the volume measurement was now correct and the planning officers agreed it now complied. I said it was not a game and he should get a grip on reality. He was spitting feathers, especially as others laughed at him, and he ignored me forever thereafter.

DWD
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Argyll
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Another scam I have just picked up on

Post by Argyll »

My local councillor is a t*at. You only ever hear from him just before local elections. If people heard the way he carries on during planning committees they'd never vote for him again but people don't get involved or have no interest in what he actually does. They only vote for him because in 1976 their granny needed her grass cutting and they made a phone call and got it sorted.

“The worst illiterate is the political illiterate, he doesn’t hear, doesn’t speak, nor participates in the political events. He doesn’t know the cost of life, the price of the bean, of the fish, of the flour, of the rent, of the shoes and of the medicine, all depends on political decisions. The political illiterate is so stupid that he is proud and swells his chest saying that he hates politics. The imbecile doesn’t know that, from his political ignorance is born the prostitute, the abandoned child, and the worst thieves of all, the bad politician, corrupted and flunky of the national and multinational companies.”

Bertolt Brecht
dewaltdisney
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Post by dewaltdisney »

We can agree then, they are all tw*ts :lol:

DWD
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Post by Argyll »

dewaltdisney wrote: Tue Apr 06, 2021 5:02 pm We can agree then, they are all tw*ts :lol:

DWD
No, they're not all tw*ts only some of them :-)

Planning officers are there to offer guidance and recommendations but ultimately it's the elected councillors who make the final decision. It's so frustrating when you've had years of training and some elected official with zero training thinks they know more than you.
dewaltdisney
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Another scam I have just picked up on

Post by dewaltdisney »

I saw the frustration of officers spending hours on reports only to see most of it ignored by the councillors. From what I saw the moderate councillors were clearly following the party whip instructions and were often lead by the senior councillors that seemed to hold all the sway. It was not much of a democratic process.

DWD
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