Did you hear that your road’s up for sale?
Shocked and puzzled residents on Thorpe Acre housing estate
RESIDENTS on a Loughborough housing estate have been have been left puzzled, after finding out that the very roads outside their houses are up for sale by auction.
One resident, who didn’t want to be named, contacted the Echo saying they thought the situation was both strange and a little worrying: “You think the roads would be owned by the council, they are the ones who look after them.
“People are wondering what is happening.”
The Thorpe Acre roads included in the sale appear partly to be in what was once known as the Woodlands Estate, developed by Wimpey Homes in the late 1960s.
In fact it was 50 years ago that the houses first came on to the market.
The auction, being held by property consultant Allsop is on Thursday July 19. There is no reserve price on the lot.
The details state that the sale is of freehold land and roadways extending to a total site area of approxi- mately 2.33 hectares (5.757 acres).
The website image supplied for the auction lot of the roads for sale includes; Cleeve Mount, Midenhall Road, Prestbury Road, Coe Avenue, Rosehill and parts of Althorpe Drive and Kenilworth Avenue.
The sale was stated to be by “Order of Carillion Construction Ltd (in liq- uidation) acting by the official receiver and special managers.”
Carillion Construction Ltd, the second largest such company in the UK went into liquidation back in January, with a debt of a reported £1.5bn.
The theory is that the company had taken over ownership of the old Wimpey site at some point and was now having to sell its assets.
But just who would want to buy the roads, and for what purpose, is not clear at this time.
The resident, who didn’t want to be named, told the Echo they were concerned that whoever buys the roads, might want to form some kind of estate management organisation and start to charge residents for upkeep of the grass and highways.
However a spokesperson for Leicestershire County Council has tried to allay these fears and told the
Echo: “We are aware that a property and roads in the Thorpe Acre development, Loughborough, are being auctioned by a firm on behalf of Carillion.
“The roads included are adopted and as the highways authority we are responsible for maintaining them and will continue to do so if the lot is purchased.”
Regardless of who owns the land, if the roads are classed as a public highway they will remain as a public highway.
The Echo has contacted Allsop for more details on the issue but there was no reply as we went to press.
The Government’s UK Insolvency service is also dealing with Carillion matters but was unable to get back to the paper with a comment before the deadline.