00:00Spring Head Park. On the surface it may seem like the perfect place to raise a family but for some this North Fleet Estate is far from paradise.
00:13There's litter and dog mess that's not being collected in the parks. There's smashed apparatus, broken swings which haven't been fixed for over a year now.
00:25At the start of this year they sprung on us a maintenance adjustment which meant that we all were surprised with a £600 maintenance fee where we had a month to pay it just before Christmas and it's just slowly got worse and worse and we're paying more and more money for what seems to be less work and it just doesn't make you very proud to go into the park.
00:50We avoided going into these parks now.
00:52The maintenance of the estate is managed by First Port on behalf of developer Vistry but having been charged thousands of pounds over the last three years they've lived here, the couple are now working with the local MP to take matters into their own hands.
01:17First Port have been plaguing communities and new housing communities across the country and again this comes back to a lack of care and management for the residents.
01:28Now under right to manage which is where you need 50% of the residents on this estate to agree to, this is hence why there's a petition, this means that the residents will have the right to decide how that money is spent and will be able to choose their own management company to upkeep the area.
01:47But the survey being spearheaded by the MP is complicated by the fact that different sections of the estate are run by different developers.
01:59This makes it difficult to work out how many people they need on board.
02:06Developer Vistry has been contacted for comment, while a spokesperson for First Port say they share estimated maintenance budgets with homeowners in advance, assuring that service charges are not a revenue stream but are allocated to ensure the smooth running of the property.
02:30There is no specific end date for when the petition needs to be submitted.
02:36Until then, homeowners here will be left to pay the price, whatever that may be.
