Shipley MP demands better treatment of residents by local Bingley property manager

Anna Dixon MP for Shipley, today stood up for her constituents and strongly questioned representatives from the property management company FirstPort about their troubling treatment of local residents. 

During a meeting in Westminster, the Member of Parliament inquired with FirstPort's Managing Director, Martin King, about concerns regarding rising charges, subpar service standards, and inadequate communication with residents. 

FirstPort, which manages over 100 properties within the Shipley constituency, came to Ms. Dixon’s attention shortly after her election to Parliament in July, as several local residents reached out to her with concerns about the company's shoddy standards of service. 

In November, Anna Dixon, along with 34 other MPs, called for representatives of the company to come to Parliament and answer questions about their actions. 

During today's meeting, the Labour MP highlighted the case of an elderly resident living at Aire Valley Court in Bingley, a property managed by FirstPort. Like many other residents there, he has experienced significant increases in service charges that exceed inflation since moving in. Despite this, he told Ms Dixon that he had received a poor standard of maintenance, faced incorrect billing, been overcharged, and encountered unexpected charges without justification. 

Anna Dixon added that, due to the difficulty of reselling flats, the Bingley constituent feared his daughter would be stuck paying FirstPort fees even after his death.  

Speaking after the meeting, The Shipley MP said: “I would like to thank the representatives from FirstPort for attending Parliament and addressing our questions today.  

“While it was encouraging to hear that they acknowledge their failures in serving residents in the Shipley constituency and across the country and that they are making changes, they still have a significant amount of work ahead of them. 

“In recent months, I have been in contact with several local residents living in FirstPort properties, and the conditions and services they have experienced have been entirely unacceptable. 

“Today’s meeting was only the first step toward resolving this issue. I will continue to apply pressure on FirstPort until they can demonstrate that they have genuinely improved their services for the people of my constituency.”