New Developments: Unadopted Roads and Public Amenities

Leigh Ingham Excerpts

Wednesday 13th May 2026 Commons Chamber

[Leigh Ingham (Stafford) (Lab)]

I thank my genuinely honourable Friend the Member for Hitchin (Alistair Strathern), for securing this debate. He has been a tireless campaigner for leaseholders as long as I have known him.

Having a safe, well-maintained neighbourhood and a home to call your own should be in reach for everyone, which is why I have backed this Government’s mission to build more homes, albeit the right homes in the right places and with the right infrastructure. It is the job of government to give families, couples and individuals their homes, and it is one that I am proud to support. My first home was on a new build estate, like many of the ones we are talking about, and it meant the world to me to get my foot on the property ladder. I was proud and I felt as though I had really achieved a dream. But living on an unadopted new build estate, as I did, the reality was very different from what I had pictured.

The nature of unadopted estates means that residents are paying for a service that many people get through their council tax, meaning that simple maintenance is often just not done. It can result in unsafe paths, roads and parks. I have one constituent at Sancerre Grange in Eccleshall who uses a wheelchair. The footpaths on the estate were so badly maintained and uneven that she fell and was unable to move for 20 minutes until a passer-by found her. She now has to pay for taxis to get to and from appointments that she should be able to reach independently. That is a basic failure of accessibility, and it should not be happening in 2026. On The Crossings, residents have been waiting nearly 20 years for their roads to be adopted, which tells us everything about how slowly this system is working. We must take action now to fix the historical problems and give those families the safe neighbourhoods that they deserve.

I am proud to support this Government’s draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill, which is a huge step forward for homeowners and shows real progress in fixing an outdated system. I support my hon. Friend’s ten-minute rule Bill—the things it would deliver sound excellent—but I also ask the Ministers what more the Government can do to protect those in fleecehold situations and to make sure that their roads, paths and parks are safe and fit for purpose.