The opening of Channels Park, which is part of site-wide communal land that is gradually being opened up for use, has raised a number of questions in recent weeks and has prompted correspondence both to CCMC Ltd directors and the site wide management company.
Channels Park formed part of the original Planning Consent back in December 2012 (which can be found on the Chelmsford City Council Planning Portal). The image below is the Red Line outline for the planning consent that clearly shows the park area. The Skate Park and the Play Area were also part of the original Planning Consent.
The Deeds of sale for every home at Channels include a requirement to contribute towards the maintenance of site wide open space and provision for this is included in the planning consent.
The provision of open space maintenance through a service charge has become the norm for large developments in the last 10 years for several reasons, not least that historically Councils have been poor at maintaining such space, leading to very poor quality public domain space and indeed most Councils don’t want the responsibility.
All of the developers should have made it clear to their buyers that there was a service charge which included site wide elements and additionally solicitors should also have made this clear to buyers.
We have collated some further information on the Service Charges page for your reference that explains the obligations on owners and where the requirement to contribute to site wide open space is documented.
Directors are working closely with Remus and the site-wide management company to better understand future costs and how ongoing decisions in relation to site-wide communal land are made.
The site-wide elements will continue to be collected via the Service Charge however as previously notified, no further monies will be released to the site-wide management company until there is clarity on these matters.
Channels (Chelmsford) Management Company Ltd 