What is The Trust responsible for?

The Trust was established to manage and oversee the community and environmental areas and facilities of the development.

 

The Trust is responsible for some of the obligations which might otherwise been the remit of the local District Council.

 

Once all development has been completed and the Trust has formally adopted all public open spaces, the Trust will control and manage such space and any facilities or assets owned by the members of The Trust, including:

 

  • All hard landscaping on the development
  • The ponds and wildlife ponds to the south of Elsea Park
  • Grass verges throughout the development
  • The play areas and the equipment therein
  • The community centre (which is expected be completed towards the end of 2010)

In time the members will wholly control the Trust; it is envisaged that The Trust will ultimately be in profit, and should the members so desire, further amenities and facilities could be provided.

 

Although the Community Centre will be built at the developer's cost, it will not be equipped, so sizeable expenditure will be required to provide the furnishings and equipment that will be required.

 

With regards to the open public space and grass verges etc, The Trust will only adopt areas that have been brought up to a suitable standard by the developer and formally transferred over to The Trust.  Until that legal transfer takes place, the developer remains wholly responsible for such areas.

 

The Trust employs a full time groundsman, Peter Ellis, to maintain the adopted areas and provides all the plant and equipment to enable him to carry out the work.

 

To improve the appearance of the site for residents, and as an interim measure, Peter maintains some of the areas that have not yet been handed over, and the cost of this maintenance is "billed back" to the developer.  There are, however, several areas on Elsea Park that are not in a suitable condition for Peter to maintain under these interim arrangements. 

 

The Trust also employs a full time administrator, Melanie Hart, to carry out the legal work relating to property transfers, deal with all correspondence, oversee the collection of the annual fee and maintain the accounts and records.