Cheshire East is still looking into how much privately-owned green space it has been maintaining at the council tax payers' expense – but says a report is due next month.

At the beginning of October last year, the council's environment and communities committee was told the authority had been maintaining 547 parcels of land not registered as being owned by the council.

It was six sites in Sandbach, and the work of a Sandbach Town Councillor which sparked the initial interest. A review was ordered to look into the matter.

This month the Local Democracy Reporting Service asked the council for an update – including how much this had cost the council tax payer.

The matter was first brought to light in October 2022. (Image - CC 2.0 bit.ly/3ydPwUN Unchanged Cheshire East Council)

Committee chair Cllr Mick Warren (Ind) issued a statement to say: "This work is ongoing and a report will be presented at the council's environment and communities committee in September."

The matter first came to light last year in relation to parcels of open space on a residential estate in Sandbach.

The then director of environment and neighbourhood services told the October meeting: "There are around 50 parcels of amenity green space dotted throughout this estate open to the public that, at some point in time, were included on the predecessor council's (Congleton borough) schedule for grounds maintenance and has since continued to be maintained by the predecessor council and now Cheshire East Council."

He said Cheshire East became aware that some of the green spaces were up for sale and decided to withdraw maintenance from six parcels of land on the estate.

"However, it was subsequently established the council did not own any of the green spaces on this estate – the lands had been retained by the developer rather than transferred to council and later sold on to a third party," the officer told the committee.

This finding resulted in a broader exercise to review land registered in the council's ownership against land it maintains and this revealed there were 547 parcels of land Cheshire East maintains which it is not registered as owning.

The committee was told this doesn't mean all 547 are not owned by the authority, but further investigation was needed.

The next meeting of the environment and communities committee, when this is due to be discussed, takes place on September 28.