Ashby councillors have expressed their disappointment at the Town Council voting down a motion from Labour's Avril Wilson, the newly elected councillor for Holywell ward.

Cllr Wilson's motion drew attention to the failure of Davidsons, the developer of the Holywell Spring Avenue estate, to comply with a planning condition requiring the children's play area and public open space landscaping to be installed before the first house in phase 2 was occupied.

At a Planning Committee meeting last night (Monday), the Conservative majority of Ashby Town Councillors voted down the motion.

Cllr Wilson told Nub News that the first phase 2 house was occupied well over a year ago and yet the play area had not been installed, nor the landscaping begun.

She said: "This play area is intended for the use of children from the whole Spring Avenue estate.

"Some of the residents have been living there for three years now and they are still without the play area and equipment that the developer is required to provide and maintain.

"Remarkably, in the very week that my motion to the council was published, Davidsons marked out the area for the play equipment with wooden posts, apparently to indicate that they were about to start the work."

Cllr. Roger Bayliss, the Conservative District and Town Councillor for the ward, opposed the motion on the basis that Davidsons had now promised to begin work on the landscaping next week and install the play equipment during the week commencing March 28.

Cllr Wilson's Labour colleague, Dave Bigby, told the meeting that he had first raised the issue with the District Council's Planning Enforcement team last November, and it had taken over three months for the developer to take any action.

He said: "We shouldn't just sit back and accept Davidsons' word that it's all going to happen now."

He later told Nub News, "By passing this motion, we would have signalled to the developer and Planning Enforcement that we are watching them closely.

"The District Council's Enforcement Department is currently overworked and understaffed.

"They don't have the resources to ensure developers comply with their obligations and commitments in a timely manner."

Independent Councillor, Barbara Kneale and previous Ashby Mayor, and past chairman of North West Leicestershire Conservative association, Graham Allman, supported Cllr. Wilson's motion and have added their expressions of extreme disappointment to those of Cllrs. Wilson and Bigby.