Greenbelt – FAQ’s

Please find below a series of frequently asked questions that we are collating in relation to Greenbelt and the Annual Management Charge.

Billing Questions:

1. What is ‘Account Filing’?
a. Greenbelt Response – “ This is a management cost which refers to any audits that
are carried out”.

2. What are ‘Company Secretarial & AGM Services’?
a. Greenbelt Response – “This cost relates to the secretarial & the AGM to represent
any meetings held between Bannerbrook, the Action group and Greenbelt”.

3. What is the ‘Public Liability Insurance’ for?
a. Greenbelt Response – This cost covers any legal action or any claims that are carried
out.

4. What are ‘Search Fees’?
a. Greenbelt Response – “Any mail that is returned, searches need to be carried out &
there is a fee for this service”
b. In short this means that if any mail gets returned, for example as ‘not known at this
address’ Greenbelt carry out Land Registry searches in order to identify the lawful
owner of the property. These charges are then equally spread between all the
members of the BMC (Bannerbrook Management Company).

General Maintenance Questions:

1. How many houses are part of the BMC (Bannerbrook Management Company) and are liable
to pay the maintenance charge?
a. Only the houses on the North Side of the estate (Astoria Drive side) pay the
maintenance charge and there a total of 352 properties on this side of the estate.

2. Why does only the North Side of the estate pay the maintenance charge?
a. This is because it was not included in the purchase agreements when the original
estate was built (South Side), the North Side was planned to be a trading estate and
it is our guess that Persimmon had planned to get the businesses to pay for the
maintenance of the entire estate through their rent or purchase. The south side
have had all their green space transferred to Coventry City Council.

3. We have heard people mention a SUDS area, what is this it and where is it?
a. SuDS are defined as ‘Sustainable drainage systems (SuDS for short) encompass a
range of techniques for holistically managing water runoff onsite to reduce the
quantity, and increase the quality, of surface water that drains into sewers from a
development. A general SuDS definition is that it mimics natural systems, and differs
from traditional drainage in aiming to manage rain close to where it falls. Not only
do these sustainable drainage systems reduce the burden on our sewerage system,
they can also help wildlife to thrive in urban areas, with many of the drainage
systems being intrinsically wildlife friendly.’

4. Who is responsible for the strop of land just off Broad Lane on the right hand side of Astoria Drive as you enter the estate?
a. It is split into two. Greenbelt look after the largest part which is 2 metres away from the footpath on Astoria Drive and we believe that Persimmon are responsible for the 2 metre strip running along the footpath.

5. Who is responsible for the maintenance of the grass verges / bricked paths / planted areas / street lights along Astoria Drive and roads directly off of it on the northern side of the estate?
a. Persimmon are responsible until the roads are adopted by the council.

6. Why are the roads on the estate not yet adopted?
a. This is an interesting question and one which the Residents Association are working on with our local councillors. A petition was taken round the estate by Peter Male (local councillor) and one of the residents along with the online petition. We are awaiting news on that in the meantime. However, Jefferson Way and Summerhill Drive are the only adopted roads on the estate to allow access to the fields at the back of Bannerbrook Park.

7. Why does the Greenbelt map keep changing?
a. This is because we have argued with Greenbelt / Persimmon that certain areas should not apply. This then meant the actual Maintenance Charge was reduced for all northern side residents. For instance, the path and land from the end of Delta Close to the new roundabout at Banner Lane/Broad Lane was included on the map previously, however this was subject to SuDS / Section 38 agreement that Persimmon had previously agreed with the council.