Minutes of the Annual General Meeting 28th November 2016

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Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of The Garrison Residents' Association held at Hinguar School on 28th November 2016

Present

  • Chris Coomber (Hon Treasurer)
  • Daniel Puddick
  • Phil Coombe
  • Cliff Marshall
  • Pamela Deakin
  • Richard Spence( prospective SGMCL Director)
  • Katy Low

Apologies.

  • Linda Tilbury
  • Darren Munsey

Chris Coomber, who had agreed to Chair the meeting, opened by welcoming guests: Councillors Mike Assenheim, Roger Hadley and Nick Ward; Inspector Potter and Sergeant Knight from Southend Police Force; Andrew Armstrong, Essex Wildlife Trust Ranger; Robert Fowler and Michael Stiers of Fowler and Spenceley.

2. Minutes of the 2015 AGM. The minutes of the 2015 AGM were agreedand seconded as correct.

3. Approve Constitution . It was agreed that the Garrison Resident 's Association will abide by the existing Constitution .

4. Committee' s Report. Report was given regarding the activities during the year. A vast amount of work was put into trying to stop planning permission being givenfor houses to be built on the flood plain off New Barge Pier road, which unfortunately was not successful. The committee monitors planning applications that would affect the Garrison, and this year have posted on the web site an easy route for residents to view andcontact the council. Liaison takes place with the organisers of external events, e.g the Haven' s Hospice Half Marathon, who use the estate roads. These meetings have ensured there is maximum awareness of and minimum inconvenience to residents. The committee continues to have input into the coastal community team on areas that affect the Garrison, possibilities for usage of the Cart and Wagon Shed( previously known as The Heritage Centre.) Garrison Church possible usage. Additional information and minutes of all meetings are posted on the web site.

On a community theme a residents' party was organised to celebrate the Queen's 90th Birthday, which despite the inclement weather was a great success

5. Honourable Treasurer's Report. Chris Coomber gave his report stating that the account standsat £262.91. A contribution is needed to pay web site fees.

6. Future of GRA and Status update on handover to Shoebury Garrison Management Company Ltd. Richard Spence, prospective SGMCL Director, gave an update from Avant Homes regarding the handover. There is still no definite date, the main issues are the transfer of various parcels of land, the major hold up is the sea wall, the council will not takeresponsibility until the repairs areof a satisfactory standard, which at present they are not deemed to be. Before handover to SGMCLis completeda huge amount of due diligence work needs to be carried out.

7. Election of Chairperson, Officers and Committee Members.

  • Chris Coomber agreed to be Temporary Chairperson for 3 months
  • Pamela Deakin agreed to be Secretary
  • Phil Coombe agreed to be Treasurer.
  • Cliff Marshall and Daniel Puddick agreed to remain as a committee members.

The following people had agreed to stand on the committee and were elected;

Rob Smith; Alexandra Monte; Helen Parke; Ann Hawley; Simon Wright; Jason Britchford; Peter Farrington; Susan McNab.

8. Management Agents (Fowler and Spenceley) Report.

Robert Fowler and Michael Stiers gave the following report.

It’s been a very busy 12 months since we took over the management of the Garrison from Nationspaces.  It’s been a very busy time and whilst I don’t propose to bore you with details of all that we have undertaken, but focus more on the key areas in which we have been involved.

Inspections – we continue to carrying out weekly visits to the Garrison.  We aim to proactively identify repair and housekeeping issues in the early stages and ensure they are dealt with as quickly as possible.  That’s not to say that residents shouldn’t contact us directly if they see issues affecting the communal spaces.  We have also used these visits as an opportunity to meet residents who have raised particular concerns or issues and fully intend to continue this practice.  As such if you do have any issue of concerns then please contact us.

Contractors – continue to monitor the performance of contractors engaged on your behalf at the Garrison to ensure value for money.  In particular we have been working with the landscapers as following discussions with a number of residents and from our own observations we had identified a number of areas which were not being adequately maintained, some isolated and forgotten, others not so.  We agreed with the landscapers that they would increase their attendance to bring these areas back up to scratch without charging for any additional visits.

You will recall last year we brought Flowline onto the Garrison to carry out twice yearly gully clearance and road sweeping both of the unadopted roads and, during their last visit, those gullys within the communal courtyards.  We had originally programmed the next such clearance for last week, however the mild weather we have been experiencing meant that many of the leaves had not fallen.  As such the decision was taken to defer this work which has now been scheduled for 12th and 13th December.  We will be putting up the usual notices a few days beforehand in the hope the roads will be left clear.

Parking Problems – From the correspondence received and discussions held it is clear that inconsiderate parking remains one of the most frustrating issues for many of you. This may be driveways being obstructed, parking in circulation spaces rather than designated spaces, parking of large commercial vehicles so as to obstruct neighbours' views.  A good proportion of the problem stems from commuter parking, however some is certainly the fault of residents.

We continue to take steps to try and address the problem:

• Identifying ‘hot spots’ and contacting residents in that particular area to remind them of the estate covenants regarding parking

• Contacting individual owners causing an obstruction on the unadopted roadways which are the responsibility of SGMCL.

We have also met with representatives of a number of parking control companies to look at what options would be available should it be decided to go down the route of parking control.  Such would require a holistic approach, to include discussion with local authorities as we would not wish to see a problem be pushed from one part of the garrison to another.

Resident consultation would also, I am sure, be carried out as I understand this was something that was considered previously, however the majority of residents did not support such an initiative.

Horseshoe Crescent S20 Redecoration Works – As many of you will be aware, at the time of our appointment there was a long running issue concerning the external redecoration of a number of the leasehold blocks around the Horseshoe Crescent.  Concerns had been expressed by owners at both the cost of the work and that no local contractors had been asked to tender. 

We arranged for the works to be retendered using a number of local contractors and work was undertaken in March of this year.  The project was successfully completed and further savings made by careful management of the contingency sums allowed for.

We are now embarking on internal and external redecoration projects on a number of the remaining leasehold blocks, again asking local contractors to quote.

Pumping Station – The Garrison is served by 3 pumping stations in respect of surface water and sewerage.  Two are under the control of Anglian Water, whereas one, located behind the Warrior Square Road properties is maintainable at the expense of the 19 properties which benefit from it.  We are currently in discussions with Anglian Water regarding them taking over responsibility and maintaining the service at their expense.

Other initiatives for 2017 – We are looking into the feasibility of replacing streetlamps on the unadopted roadways with LED lamps, which are more cost effective to run with both lower consumption and 60% longer lifespan.  The estimated cost per lamp is slightly more expensive than the existing lamps and modifications to the existing columns will increase the cost of the initial installation to around £135.00 per lamp against £35.00 to replace with the existing.  We are currently looking at the cost vs benefit of making the switch.

On a related note we are looking at the condition of the lamp columns and street furniture on the unadopted roads with a view to having the same repainted.  We are seeking quotations following which we will consider whether this should be tackled as a one off project or, as I suspect will be the case, whether it should be phased over 2 – 3 years.

We are also looking to introduce a credit and debit card payment facility for 2017 via World pay.  Whilst this offers a convenient way to pay there are transaction charges which would need to be passed on to the person making the payment. 

We are also looking at allowing all freehold and leasehold owners online access to their account to enable them to check payments, download copy payment requests, insurance information and other related documents.  There would be a small cost attached to this facility and as such we would be interested to know whether people feel such a facility would be useful?

 That is really just a snapshot of some of the projects with which we have involved ourselves over the last 12 months.  We will continue to look at other issues as and when they arise and are always happy to discuss with residents other areas of concern.  Our brief as agents of the SGMCL is to some extent limited by virtue of the obligations set out in the various property titles and leases, however if an issue is raised concerning an area outside of our remit we will always try and direct you to the most appropriate person or organisation who can possibly assist you.  We have a very good working relationship with the GRA and will continue to work with them on a number of initiatives for the wider benefit of the Garrison.

9. Southend Community Policing Team. Inspector Potter and Sgt. Knights attended. They reported on the difficulties that the police are now experiencing with the significant budget cuts that they have received. In May the PCSO budget was cut by 50% . The resources between 5pm and 2 am are very stretched. They are trying to meet demand but it seems that in the borough various wards take a greater proportion of police time, on average they get six call outs to York Road a day! On the positive side there was 25% less burglary than last year , 16% less vehicle crime,  violent crime is up by 19%.  On the Garrison they have had some success with the anti social behaviour and have issued injunctions to some boy racers. They are also carrying out patrols when they can.

It is important to continue to report any anti social behaviour to the police.

10. Primary Care Update from Katy Low. Katy Low clarified that the site chosen is the Garrison New Build site which is situated opposite the present Health Centre where the current soil dump is. Southend Clinical Commissioning Group is going to try to bring services back to Shoeburyness. They have informed Katy that they will involve the Garrison until completion. The time frame is unknown.

11. Essex Wildlife Trust. Andrew Armstrong, Gunners' Park Ranger reported that on the whole things were going well in the park. With the exception of the swans, who seem to have left following incidents with dogs, the wildlife in the park seems to be doing well, therehas been a rare damsel fly [1] sighted. The meadows have been cut to provide food for Barn owls. The various activities that have taken part this year have been successful and hope to be repeated in 2017, details to be posted on the web site.

12. Q and A with local Councillors . Questions were asked regarding possible traffic calming in New Barge Pier Road and general traffic issues on the roads within the Garrison managed by the council. These are under consideration.  Councillor Hadley informed us that there was a Residents Parking permit only scheme under consideration from Campfield Road to Elm Road, if this goes ahead it will have a consequential impact on Garrison Parking.

The meeting closed at approximately 9.30 pm