1 earlier: Philip Hollobone I am happy to give those points further impetus, but the main message that the hon. Gentleman and I wish to convey is that the Government need to take the matter away, and the appropriate Ministers in the appropriate Departments need to consider amending, for example, the estate agents' code and the solicitors' code, and examine whether there needs to be a change in the law to protect the hon. Gentleman's constituents and mine from what can be very large charges.
The Under-Secretary of State for Transport rounds off his helpful letter by saying:
"Mr. Sanders raises some interesting issues, but these would require primary legislation and at present there is no suitable opportunity to do this."
That is a great shame. It might be a late bid, but perhaps the hon. Gentleman could persuade his colleagues to put something in the Queen's Speech next week. Whether by this Government or an alternative, these issues certainly need to be taken up and addressed in future.
An individual in my constituency who has been heavily involved in this matter is Councillor Jim Harker, who is the leader of Northamptonshire county council and, as it happens, councillor for the Kettering rural division that includes the village of Mawsley. He has been working extremely closely with councillors Jim Hakewill and Victoria Perry, who are the borough councillors representing the Slade ward, which includes the village.
In correspondence with constituents on this issue, Councillor Harker said:
"As you know, most of the roads in Mawsley are unadopted and there are no Section 38 agreements in place. It is, of course, our intention to adopt the roads but under the current"
arrangement
"with the developers, there is no mechanism to force them to accelerate this process or a cut-off deadline for adoption. The County Council currently hold in excess of £4m bonds to be used in the event that individual developers are unable to make the roads up to adoptable standard and, consequently, we have to step in to resolve matters...The terms of the original planning permission make it difficult, but it seems that given the length of time that has elapsed since the commencement of people taking up residency, we do need to make every reasonable effort to get the roads adopted as soon as possible, rather than leave it to the developers, who we would have thought would be keen to see their bonds returned."
He goes on to state that
"it is not a question of"
the county council not
"putting enough pressure on the developers. Although we have the bond, we cannot use it without their agreement and they could withhold this unless we can negotiate it sensibly. This will take some time. Otherwise we will be left with the status quo negotiations by"
Kettering borough council "in the original" section
"106 agreement, which means that adoption will not take place until the development is complete."
Therefore, the default position is that county councils can apply very little effective pressure to get developers of new residential housing development to comply, meaning that roads, highways and street lighting will not, in many cases, be brought up to adoptable standards until the entire development is complete. For many large-scale housing developments, that could take five, 10 or 15 years. Effectively, the ineffectiveness of the legislation is condemning hundreds of thousands of people in new houses up and down the country to live with substandard roads, pavements and street lighting.
I have had a lot of correspondence from Mawsley residents on the issue. One e-mail came from Emma Brown who, in her own time, voluntarily edits the newsletter that goes around the village. She states:
"As well as editing the village newsletter, I am also a childminder in Mawsley. I complete the school run by foot twice a day with up to 8 children at a time. My concern is that the crossings on unadopted roads seem to mean very little to motorists. In my opinion, they feel that a zebra crossing on an unadopted road has no significance. Everyday I stand with my children waiting for the traffic to stop — they can see us but do not feel the need to let us cross...I understand that this is equally a matter of the motorists' respect for pedestrians, but I think it is important to make the point that, if the roads are completed and 'proper' crossings are put in place, the motorists will take the crossings more seriously...It is only a matter of time before an accident happens."
Another resident of Mawsley, Clare Farthing, sent me an e-mail saying:
"Basically we are a very young but growing village, as you are well aware, and we have a vibrant community, full of young families with children. The roads are beginning to become a real issue, not only for pedestrians (because of badly constructed curbs and potholes), but also for cyclists and cars. Without a robust infrastructure in place, it will become more of an issue. People are already falling over and injuries have been caused.
This is going to be an ongoing concern not only for Mawsley Village but for other new developments across the UK. There has to be a systematic approach to road adoption and developers need to be called to account before contracts are signed."
She also says:
"This village is now the home of nearly 2,000 residents, most with young children and the risk to their safety is now becoming more and more prevalent. In fact a number of people are wondering whether to begin to start putting forward injury claims for slips and trips caused by uneven road surfaces, minor accidents caused by lack of road signs, traffic islands being put in unsuitable areas, the list goes on."
3 earlier: Philip Hollobone I know that my hon. Friend has a huge problem with the Planning Inspectorate in Bristol with regard to the proposed development of 3,000 homes to the east of Wellingborough in his constituency. Clearly, local residents did not want that number of houses built in the proximity of their town, and despite his best endeavours and those of his colleagues on the local borough council, their views, although made very strongly, were effectively ignored and overruled by the Planning Inspectorate in Bristol.
One of the big problems with new housing developments is that roads are not being built to a suitable standard. If the Government's mechanism for that—section 38 of the Highways Act 1980—is already failing, my hon. Friend and I cannot expect it to work in the case of the large new estates that are being proposed in his constituency, in mine and across the country. That adds to local people's anxiety about the proper infrastructure not being in place when those new housing developments are constructed.
I am most grateful to the hon. Member for Northampton, North and my hon. Friend the Member for Wellingborough (Mr. Bone) for highlighting specific examples of the problem. In my constituency, the main communities affected are Mawsley, a new, model village that has been under construction for some years now; the Grange estate, which is being built to the north of Desborough; and the Poppyfields development, which is still in the course of being constructed next to the railway line on Rothwell road in Kettering.
The problem is that Northamptonshire county council, despite its best endeavours, can effectively adopt land as highway land only if the developer wants it to do so. It has no power to require developers to hand over land for adoption, and it rightly takes the view that it will adopt land only if the developer has brought it up to the right standard. It surprises me that developers seem reluctant to bring their highways up to a sufficient standard, because one would have thought that one of the best ways to sell properties on new estates was to have the highways, pavements and lighting sorted out, which would attract new purchasers. It is a genuine problem, especially for Mawsley village.
Mr. Sanders from Mawsley has been a key figure in highlighting the problem. I wrote to the Minister for Housing at the Department for Communities and Local Government in August on behalf of Mr. Sanders. I had contacted the wrong Department, and I got a reply from the Under-Secretary of State for Transport, the hon. Member for Ipswich (Chris Mole). That was extremely helpful. He told me:
"The local authority, as the highway authority, is responsible for maintaining those streets that have been adopted by it, or its predecessor authorities. If the street has not been adopted, the responsibility for maintenance rests with the owner, or"—
as the hon. Member for Ealing, North (Stephen Pound) highlighted—
"more usually the frontagers, who are the owners of the properties that fronts, or abuts, the streets concerned. Those purchasing a property in an unadopted street should be advised of its status and the implications by their solicitor.
There are two ways for the developer of a new estate to provide for the street to be adopted either by using section 38 of the Highways Act 1980 or by use of the Advance Payment Code provisions in Part XI of the same Act.
Section 38 of the Highways Act 1980 allows a developer to enter into an agreement with a highway authority for the adoption of a new estate road... once it has been completed to a satisfactory standard. This is a matter for the local authority and the developer. An adoption agreement allows a developer to complete the street certain that it will be adopted subject to an inspection to confirm that it has been built in accordance with the appropriate standard.
Alternatively, a developer may use the Advance Payment Code (APC), if building property on land fronting a private street."
I imagine that that is the point of law that is of particular interest to the hon. Member for Ealing, North.
The letter continues:
"The landowner (usually the developer or builder) must deposit with the appropriate local authority a sum sufficient to meet the authority's estimate for the cost of it making up the street for adoption and apportion the expenses incurred between the owners of premises fronting the street. The code removes the liability for the subsequent owners of properties on a newly developed street that they would otherwise have had to meet to bring the road up to adoptable standards.
Without an agreement under section 38 or use of an Advance Payment Code under the private street works code, then those owning property adjacent to an unadopted street are liable for both the maintenance of the street and for the cost of any works necessary to bring it up to the standard for adoption. Those buying a house on a new estate should be informed whether the street is subject to a section 38 agreement or APC and what stage this has reached. The impact of this should be explained to them by their solicitor when purchasing the property."
