Council/planners bonds

mrwhite2

Does anyone know much about bonds that developers were supposed to leave with councils until developments were finished according to planning. Namely

1 how can you get council to use bond once developer is bust. 5 years later council still say it's complicated

2. If the council didn't collect the whole bond are they liable for the portion that they didn't collect

3. If the bond isn't enough to finish an estate/development is there an argument that the council were negligent in not asking for enough of a bond.

As with most of these things there is a very strong opinion that the planners and councilors were far too close

markpb

In my experience, they're a waste of time. Most of the time, there's no actual bond, just an insurance policy which has long expired. When there is a bond, the council either won't want the hassle of releasing it (who do they release it to, who oversees the work, who checks that the work is done, etc) or there isn't enough cash to do the work anyway.

You may be right that the planners were negligent but I doubt you'd be able to do anything about it.

mrwhite2

Surely the planners/council have some legal responsibility. A bond in my simple mind is enough money to complete the infrastructure if the developer fails to do so or what's the point. Is it possible to sue planners/council for negligence in their failure to follow expected practice