24th April 2013

Minutes of a meeting of the Garrison Residents’ Association Committee held on 24th April 2013 at The Guard House. 

Present

John Dowell (Chairman)

Chris Coomber (Hon Treasurer)

Adrian Walker (Hon Secretary)

Barry Spinks

Ian Dally

Michael Kennedy

Matthew Brittain

Jonathan Hunnibal

Apologies

Clive Austin

Jamie Robinson

John Dowell opened the meeting at 7.35pm by welcoming the members

Minutes

Minutes of meeting held at The Clockhouse on 7th March 2013 were approved.

Matters arising

Road cleaning/Care Group/Cory/SBC

Nationspaces has finally confirmed the remaining road cleaning schedule for 2013: April 24th; June 26th, August 19th, October 21st.

Garrison Leisure Complex

There is no further news on this matter and following Greg Ketteridge’s departure from C&M there is currently no one at the company in a position to advise us.

Gunnery Drill Shed

Before his departure, GK had sent Ralph Syme the relevant RICS documents to enable Nationspaces to calculate estate charges to be paid by B2C; the company has paid no charges since taking over the premises. Mr Syme has since disclosed that he does not feel able to interpret the documents competently, so the GRA will need to go back to C&M for further advice.

Outstanding service/estate charges

The current level of arrears is approximately £40k and Nationspaces are continuing their efforts to recoup them.

Gunners Park car park

At the time of the meeting, no progress had been made on the erection of a barrier at the entrance. Since then, Mike Assenheim has been assured by the contractors that this will be done w/c 29th April.

West Gate

This issue is now in the hands of C&M, SBC and Nationspaces.

Meeting between GRA Officers and Mr. Colin Lewis, Group CEO Gladedale Group

Mr Lewis has been appointed to take over the responsibilities of Greg Ketteridge, who has left the company and a meeting has been arranged between Mr. Lewis and the GRA for May 13th.  In preparation for this, John Dowell asked Nationspaces for an update on the status of the schedule 20 notices waiting to be sent to residents with regard to outstanding maintenance works to leasehold properties, for which a schedule of works was recently prepared. Ralph Syme said that Colin Lewis of C&M had instructed him to put these notices on hold. Mr. Syme told JD that the works on 55 leasehold properties would cost upwards of £115k plus VAT. This work should have been completed five years ago so there has been a degree of inflation, for which the committee felt residents should not be held responsible.

Colin Lewis of C&M has asked JD to produce an agenda for the meeting, but JD feels it should be sufficient to provide CL with an update of existing records and these should provide enough information for him to get a picture of the current state of affairs. JD will also provide copies of correspondence between him and Mr. Neil Fitzsimmons, CEO of Gladedale Group, to whom Mr. Lewis reports. Messrs Fitzsimmons and Lewis are both main board directors. JD pointed out that we were already beyond the deadlines set for action on the Fitness Centre, sea wall defences, and the Heritage Centre start date (see website for minutes of last meeting).

It was agreed JD should send this information directly to CL

Treasurer’s report and membership update

Chris Coomer said there had been no change in the GRA accounts and the total balance stood at £622.55. 

Heritage Centre

Jonathan Hunnibal, a member of the committee with professional experience of site management, said he had examined the council’s reply to JD’s letter of concern about the Centre. JH said he was not happy with a number of points in the reply. 

1.The proposed car park at its present size and format does not meet policy requirements and could not accommodate the planned number of vehicles.

2.There was no mention of the traffic ‘pinch point’ at the junction of Warrior Square Road and Magazine Road.

3.There appears to be no provision for coach drop-off , pick-up and turning points.

4. The council’s response failed to deal with residents’ concerns over the increased volume of traffic using un-adopted roads.

5.JH believes the planning notices are invalid since they appear to be undated..

6. The Shoebury Society has applied to use the Centre twice a month up to 10.30 pm and this is likely to lead to inconvenience and nuisance to residents of adjacent properties.

JH suggested the GRA approach local councillors and SBC officers and this was agreed. The matter will also be raised with Colin Lewis at the meeting on May 13th.

Sainsbury’s

JD said he felt the proposal to convert one of the commercial buildings in New Garrison Road to a Sainsbury’s mini-supermarket could prove to be a problem of some magnitude: 

1.The project would require a change of use and a change of location: the original use was not designated as retail premises; in the 106 (2004) retail use was originally confined to the other side of New Garrison Road, towards Deejay’s pharmacy. This location would have significantly less impact on an already busy section of the Garrison.

2.7 day opening till 11pm.

3.The premises will be licensed to sell alcohol till 11pm.

4.The site access is opposite the new school with the main entrance only a metre or two from an unmanned pedestrian crossing.

5.Parking is limited to 16 cars and adjacent roads have double yellow lines. This is likely to result in cars and delivery vehicles being parked on adjacent public garrison and public roads, the former are un-adopted and maintained at the expense of all garrison residents.

Barry Spinks said a meeting had been arranged between governors of Hinguar School and representatives of Sainsbury’s but pointed out that in matters such as this, schools were obliged to remain impartial.

It was agreed the GRA should notify SBC planning department of the above concerns. 

There being no further business, the meeting closed at 9.30pm.