Posted inCONSULTATION GLERA SHARED SPACES

our open spaces

14/08/2019

Residents are increasingly concerned about non-resident use of the open spaces on the Estate. These issues were discussed at GLERA’s drop in at the Christmas Market 2018 and at the Community Conversation about Anti Social Behaviour in February 2019.

This lead to a resolution being passed at the annual Wardmote in March 2019:

That the City of London Corporation commission a study, reporting in no more than one year, regarding pedestrian flows through the Golden Lane Estate (GLE) resulting from current and anticipated property developments in the vicinity of the GLE and consult with GLE residents regarding the current “private” status of the GLE as a result of which residents pay for the maintenance of areas of the GLE that are in practice open to the public.

This is a really important issue for us all who live and work on Golden Lane Estate and it’s essential that as a community we understand what our options may be, the implications, the barriers, the burden of proof required to show that there are problems. Foot traffic will increase with new residential neighbours, Crossrail and Culture Mile and ultimately, we want to help shape this consultation.

community conversation

In June 2019 as a joint initiative the Estate Office and GLERA hosted the first of what will be a number of Community Conversations to discuss the contradictory private status but public nature of our estate and the resulting implications.

The aim of the first meeting was to hear (and document) people’s concerns and experiences with a view to creating a structured series of further Conversations. The conversation was attended by over 20 residents and four of our local Councillors.

The resulting report (click button or cover image below) aims to do the following:

  • give an overview of the points and concerns that were raised at the Community Conversation
  • detail information required so residents can be better informed as we move towards some creative suggestions and solutions
  • outline what we can do as residents to make our lived experience of anti-social behaviour more visible ie embrace Big Data to record incidents of concern
  • report back on the City’s response to the resolution to date and the reaction of our Common Councillors
OUR OPEN SPACES

update

Since the report was published, Vernon Ashford GLERA Treasurer, has researched status of footpath and roads on the Estate:

I have been carrying out some more research into the status of the footpaths and roads on the Estate.  It was decided conclusively that there are no rights of way across the Estate following litigation in 1987 and this was confirmed by the Comptroller and City Solicitor in 1998. This would apply to the whole of the Estate as shown in the plan attaching to the lease, as the lease itself was part of the documentation submitted for the litigation.

The litigation defining the position on rights of way across the Estate results from proceedings brought in the County Court in 1987 by the Corporation against the resident of 48 Cullum Welch House. The resident was in dispute with the Corporation regarding outstanding service charges and the basis of their apportionment and calculation. The Judge actually visited the Estate before making his decision that the footpaths and roads in the Estate are not Public Highways.

The issue was again raised in the review of the service charges leading to the variation of the service charge provisions in the Leases approved in the Mayors and City of London Court dated 24th February 1998. This granted a series of abatements on Estate wide costs based on the total of non-residential premises’ (i.e. the shops and public house) rateable values as a percentage of the whole Estate’s rateable value. There was an attempt to obtain a further abatement by arguing that the footpaths and roads were Public Highways and following some correspondence on this between GLERA and the Corporation, the Comptroller and City Solicitor confirmed “that the Golden lane Estate is a private estate and although members of the public are allowed to walk across the estate, the present notices prevent them from obtaining a Right of Way, regardless of how many years or times they have actually walked through it”.

GLERA Treasurer, September 2019

The City have revised their response (read initial response).

A follow up Community Conversation about our Open Spaces was held in the Community Centre on 24 October 7-9pm. Report of the key discussions will be posted shortly.

Useful info: