Report: Adrian Owens

'I and Cllr Davis have tabled a motion on Leasehold Reform for Wednesday’s Full Council meeting.

This is a matter which is affecting West Lancashire residents who find among other dubious practices:
· Freeholds sold without their knowledge and without the right of first refusal
· Threatening demands for back payments of ground rents not previously collected by the builder when freeholder
· “Reasonable charges” by the new freehold title holder for permission to e.g. build an extension increased ten-fold overnight from £150 to £1500
· Difficulty communicating with the new freeholder and excessive prices being offered to sell the freehold

The motion mirrors one passed in another local council. The northwest of England seems to have been particularly plagued by these rogue practices in recent years.

There is an All Party Parliamentary Group on this matter and they have an excellent website with much more information https://www.leaseholdknowledge.com/

Sooner or later authorities are going to have to come to terms with the fact Town Centres, not just Ormskirk, but right across the country are no longer viable! Shopping habits have and will continue to change, another and more imaginative use has to be found for these buildings.

Instead of developing valuable Green belt land, better use of Council time would be to produce a long term plan to make the town habitable for young families and converting many of these obsolete shops and business premises into living accommodation and revitalise the town this way, there will always be a need for a few specialist shops but not on the scale as was!

The Town cannot be sustained by flooding it with none tax paying student landlords nor is using highly productive greenbelt land to developing huge amounts of houses with no idea on how or where the occupants will find the work adding too the burden on taxpaying residents who already subsidise student Landlord to the tunes of Millions every year and the continuing demise of the Town of Ormskirk!