Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:37 pm on 22 October 2019.
I'd like to emphasise the importance of this report for my constituents. Freehold residents in Cwm Calon in Ystrad Mynach are currently paying upwards of £150 a year for maintenance work on their estate, carried out by an estate management company. There is currently no cap on how high those charges can go, and residents cannot sell their properties until they've paid those charges, and, if they don't pay them, they're subject to county court judgments. And they're on top of their council tax. The fact that any maintenance work is going on at this estate at all is a testament to the work of the voluntary, estate-based Cwm Calon liaison group, which was set up by residents to liaise with the estate management company to get them to do the work. There is no power to make them do the work, but they managed to work with that company to make them do it. I'm currently trying to get a meeting between Redrow, the estate management company, and the council together, and currently I'm having a nightmare getting Redrow to respond to me. We're desperate to get this meeting together. We need regulation to enforce the work that is going on here, and we need regulations to enforce the power of residents in these circumstances. In particular, Welsh Government must support local authorities in adopting green spaces, so that they don't have to pay these charges, and, from a trading standards perspective, residents feel that they have been missold their properties. Can the First Minister, therefore, take these comments on board? This is residents speaking to me out of desperation. Can the First Minister take these comments on board, and please can we proceed to regulation as quickly as possible?