Hi, I'm Abby's husband Mike and I wanted to post about how I think Miller Homes, the developer of our estate, seem to have forgotten what their responsibility is to keeping our estate tidy.
This all started a couple of weeks ago when we noticed the grass on the strip in front of the railway fence hadn't been cut for a long time. In the past, this has been cut fairly regularly by Miller Homes and included the grass around the play area but it's getting long and starting to look pretty untidy and neither of us could remember when we last noticed it had been mown.
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| The grass strip |
Abby contacted Chorley Council who told her it was still Miller Homes responsibility to mow the grass. After a short e-mail exchange with Kath Almond from the Parish Council Kath asked to meet up and look at the common areas on the estate as she has already
been in touch with Miller Homes about the state of the 'landscaped 'area
on the right of Jubilee Way as you enter the road and wanted to see if
there were other areas that they had stopped maintaining and that they
needed to look at.
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| The grass strip |
So, I met up with Kath last Wednesday and we started by looking at the
area at the entrance of the estate which is looking pretty shabby. It's
full of weeds and litter and really needs some attention. As far as we
can tell it's a common area and the responsibility of Miller Homes to keep this area tidy
and apart from the weeds I cleared away last year when I installed the
grit bin behind the pillar I don't think it's had much attention over
the last 10 years. It's not a great view of our estate as it's probably
the first thing you see as you drive into, or past, Jubilee Way.
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| The 'landscaped' area at the entrance of the estate |
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| Another view of the 'landscaped' area - spot the missing bricks! | |
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We walked around the estate and it wasn't hard to spot more examples of
where Miller have not kept the common areas of the estate in good
condition over the years. From bricks missing in the wall adjacent to
the parking area behind Moor Road to missing or dislodged pillar caps on the wall next to the grass strip.
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| Missing pillar cap - Miller were told about this 6 years ago |
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| Dislodged pillar cap |
We also spotted missing railings and fencing boards next to the playground - the latter being a real danger to kids playing in the area as they could squeeze through and get onto the railway.
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| Missing railing - it's fallen off and is behind the wall |
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| Missing fence board beside the railway |
The grass next to the playground is above knee height and is as untidy as the grass strip beside the railway.
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| The grassed area beside the playground |
So I wanted to use the blog to let you know that we're in the process of trying to find out who is responsible for the estate. Once this is sorted out I'd like to give them a list of jobs they need to look a on behalf of all the residents and I'd really like to know if you've spotted something that you think should be included or if you've been in touch with Miller Homes or Chorley Council about the state of the estate. This will be really useful to show that I'm not a lone voice on this issue (of course, if you disagree with what I've said about the estate feel free to say so!)
You can add a reply with any information you have as a comment to this post but if if you do please don't do it anonymously as I may need to get in touch to ask you for more details.
Mike
The state of our estate, Some of the defects are a result of kids vandalising ie the fencing boards, these were replaced quite recently and once again the kids have destroyed some of them,and of course this a potentisl danger from the railway line, plus broken pieces of wood which suround the litter bin. You kids know who you are.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering if the Nhbc would be responsible for the structural side of the estate, ie missing bricks, and coping stones? I know that 'mortar' is covered by the Nhbc on ones personal bricks and mortar!
If Millar homes have been cutting the grass in the past why have they stopped.?
Hi Kath, see tonight's update on Miller owning up to still being responsible for the estate. When I spoke to Miller they were pretty vague about why the grass cutting has stopped (and I didn't press them). The important thing is they have accepted they need to do this and are in the process of doing something about it.
DeleteMike
I live in the far corner of Coronation Court (to the left). We have numbered parking car park under the flat entrance. I have lived there since built. We have never had anybody mow the grass area that is attached to the carpark or tidy up. The fence is broken several places as kids have vandalised. The car park has a large crack from one side to the other, now with weeds growing through. The floor guttering is all smashed to pieces and the drain has never been cleaned and overflows everytime it rains.
ReplyDeleteHi Lee, could you email me at abbykillen@hotmail.com with some photographs of this issue and let me know what number I can contact you on .. would like to see if this can be added to the list of things Miller need to deal with.
DeleteMike
when i first moved here there was 2 kids hell bent on vandalism, thank god they moved, a lot of what you see today was their work, and when i bought the house it was fairclogh homes, we went all through that who cuts the grass, who emptys the bin on the park stuff then, fairclough blamed the council and the council blamed faircloughs ..... good luck
ReplyDeleteWe have rung chorley council who stated they could send someone around to have a look and they stated they will contact me but I am still waiting after 3weeks
ReplyDeleteHi, can you remember who you spoke to and what dates you got in touch with the Council. Sorting this problem out hasn't been helped by Chorley not actually knowing what they are responsible for maintaining!
DeleteMike
I've called the council twice, the first time they were adamant that it had been done that week, the second said they would get someone round this week...
ReplyDeleteI'm sure there always used to be guys coming round on a driveable mower up until about 6 months ago, who was doing it, and why have they stopped?
Did Millers by out Faircloughs, cos I think Fairclough went bankrupt. We also checked with the 'ground rent' company but they seem to do nothing at all!!
We could do with knowing who's responsible for stuff also because the bottom part of the field behind the little playground flooded in last weeks bad rain.
As for the weeds in the landscapes, we've been doing our bit pulling up the dandelions cos our guinea pigs love them!!
Hi Gina, your guinea pigs will be the size of cows by the time they finish eating all the grass outside your house! Not sure what happened to Fairclough ... the ground rent just covers the land your house is actually built on and not maintaining the common areas.
DeleteMike
p.s, the little path that runs down the front of our houses (37) and up to the bend on jubilee way opp no 6, we need to do something with the sloping paving stone. I broke my ankle on it last summer, and still have not yet found ANYONE who will take responsibility for replacing it (with a step maybe)
ReplyDeleteI'm young and it was my ankle, with an older person it could be a hip, back etc that breaks
Gina...I'll ask Miller if they can tell me which parts of the estate they maintain and which are private property or belong to Lancs Council.
ReplyDeleteMike
dont ask do they do it or someone else, they love to pass the buck, chorley council soon find you if you owe them money :(
Deletewell done mike for all your hard work, i was under the impression that the council took over the adopted site 12 mnths after the site was finished .
ReplyDeleteNow that the grass has been cut on the park we have plenty of youths playing football. Last night they asked me to move my car so it wouldn’t be damaged, and on this occasion I did so because it was possible to park it elsewhere (This isn’t normally the case). I asked them why they weren’t playing nearer the fence and away from the entrance to the park and they told me that they had been warned by the police that if the ball hit the fence it would damage it. So now we are back to the youths hitting parked cars and on three occasions in 5 minutes last night my house and the day before my lounge window. I have had a number of cars parked outside my house on Jubilee Way damaged by footballs over the years and obviously would prefer this not to happen again; frankly playing against the fence seems a far more reasonable and sensible action than up at the top end of the park where there are small children often on the park itself as well as parked cars and houses to hit.
ReplyDeleteIdeally all ball games should be banned completely and the youths redirected either to the rec or the football field at Twin Lakes. Alternatively a small fence needs erecting around the park to stop as many balls as possible from leaving the park grounds and causing damage.
I must also point out that the youths involved were all very polite in this instance
Does anyone know what the yellow lines by the parking bay near the playground are there for?
ReplyDelete