GREEN open spaces and ground rents controlled by Preston CityCouncil

could be handed to the company due to take over the authority's housing

stock later this year.

Deepdale councillor Terry Cartwright is so concerned that new homes

could be built on open spaces and that ground rents could rise

dramatically that he has gone public about the confidential plans.

He claims that the 150 people who bought their homes under the right to

buy scheme and may be paying a peppercorn rent of about A35 a year have

not been consulted on transferring their leases to Community Gateway, a

not-for-proft company.

"It could be a time bomb with too many people living on the estates if

more houses were crammed in," he said.

"I want guarantees that the open spaces are going to be retained. I also

want a guarantee that ground rents will not be sold on by Gateway and

that the charges will not rise."

He added all councillors were given access to the plans prior to a

meeting of the full council on February 24.

The Community Gateway is due to take over the council's 7,000 homes in

October after 81 per cent of tenants voted 'yes' for the transfer in

December.

Tony Essien from Lease, the national leasehold advisory service, said

Gateway might be able to levy a "reasonable" service charge to cover the

costs of collecting the rent only if there is a provision in the

original lease agreement.

The council currently holds around 350 leaseholds, for which it collects

about A35 each a year.

Peter Deacon, lead consultant for Gateway, says the leases for homes

bought under the right to buy scheme are definitely going to be

transferred to Gateway and the council are in talks with the

leaseholders.

As for the remaining 200 which are held on houses also bought under

right to buy he claimed a decision had not been made.

He added: "Negotiations are taking place with the city council to

determine what parcels of land will transfer to Community Gateway.

"Until those negotiations are concluded and agreements reached, we are

unable to give policy statements about the future of sites that we don't

know we've even got.

"However, Community Gateway is fully committed to improving the

environment of local neighbourhoods and does not have any present plans

to build or develop valuable green space."