AGM Minuted 28th November 2022
/Annual General Meeting.
28th November 2022 at 7.30pm
Present:
Cliff Marshall Acting Chairman
Pamela Deakin Hon. Secretary
Pam Dewey
Richard Spence
Michael Stiers
Robert Fowler
Andrew Armstrong` Gunners Park Ranger
John Budge Shoebury Coastal CIC
Peter Lovett Shoebury Residents’ Association
31 Resident Members
The start of the meeting was delayed due to a failure of communication between caretaking and cleaning staff regarding availability of entry access cards to hirers.
Apologies
Councillor Nick Ward; Councillor David Moyies, Councilor Stephen Wakefield were unable to attend due to other Council business.
Apologies were received from Chris Coomber, Daniel Puddick, Peter Farrington, Jonathan Hunnibal, Damion Beech, PC Nicola Drake
Minutes of 2021 Meeting
The minutes of the 2021 were accepted as correct by Cliff Marshall, seconded by Richard Spence.
Matters Arising
There were no matters arising
4 Chairman’s report
Acting Chairman Cliff Marshall welcomed the participants to the Association’s 14th AGM.
2022 had been a difficult year for the GRA Committee. Management control was transferred to Prittlewell Consulting Company Ltd as an interim step towards full handover to resident directors of Shoebury Garrison Management Company Limited. Various longer-term members of the Committee left the Garrison or resigned due to ill-health. Your Committee has maintained close contact with the Managing Agent regarding estate management and with the Borough Council regarding adopted roads, cricket field, planning and other matters.
Key achievements were redecoration of the cricket pavilion, removal of trees from the corner of Warrior Square Road for safety reasons and yellow and white lining of roads.
The Cart & Wagon Shed has now opened, and seems to be popular.
The Chairman has issued a more detailed report which is available on the Garrison website.
5 Treasurer’s Report
Due to changes to the Committee, a formal handover of Treasurer responsibilities has not been possible following the resignation of Phil Coombe, who has moved away from The Garrison.
Chris Coomber, your former Chair, is currently monitoring the accounts and reports that the current balance of the Association’s Santander bank account is £600.78. The balance of the Association’s PayPal account is £154.32 Total funds available are £755.10.
There are no outstanding liabilities.
Accounts will be published by 31 December 2022.
6 Update on S 106 handover
Robert Fowler reported that Prittlewell Consulting Company Ltd – an associate of Fowler & Spenceley - had adopted responsibility for the Management Company in a temporary director role and will proceed with the establishment of a new Board comprising owners of properties on the Garrison. This will be followed by issue of replacement shares giving owners voting rights within the company.
7 Election of Officers and Committee
There were no nominations for Officers. Cliff Marshall, Pam Dewey and Daniel Puddick agreed to remain on the Committee. Chris Coomber has resigned as Chairman, but will remain as a Committee member.
8 Report from Fowler & Spenceley
Fowler And Spenceley has issued a more detailed report which is available on the Garrison website
Robert Fowler delivered the report of the Managing Agents.
Working closely with landscapers, general maintenance and annual replanting programmes have continued. Specific concern were very dry lawns, due to continuous dry weather: external consultants have been engaged and a programme of treatment is in place
The work recommended by the annual arboricultural survey is scheduled in December and will be completed before mechanical sweeping of unadopted roads and associated clearance of gullies, which will take place on 1/2 December.
Many of the Garrison’s trees are subject to Preservation Orders, requiring local authority approval before any maintenance work is undertaken.
Overall costs have been well controlled this year, and the spend is expected to be close to the annual budget. Next year, modest inflationary increases are expected: the Reserve Contribution will be reviewed. Some blocks required additional work, resulting in extra expenditure: residents have been made aware of the extra work and of the increased expenditure required.
External decoration work of 4 Horseshoe Crescent and Chapel Road blocks continues. External Surveyors are involved in assuring the quality of finish. The other 2 blocks, where tenders were considered to be disproportionately high, will be competed in separate project in Spring 2023.
External decorations to Willow Court and Gunners House are in the second stage of consultation.
The agent has responded to queries throughout the year, covering neighbour disputes, noise complaints, planning issues, property sales, insurance matters and building repairs.
Once again, parking issues have generated concern. Consultations continue to receive mixed responses, and this will become a key issue for the new board. Residents are reminded that estate covenants prohibit vehicles from obstructing Garrison roadways, and restrict parking of private motor vehicles; the parking of commercial vehicles, caravans, trailers and the like is not permitted even on private driveways..
9 Other Reports
Report from Gunners Park Ranger
The meeting expressed thanks to Andrew for delivering his report across the entry problems delay.
Andrew Armstrong, the Gunners Park ranger, submitted a very informative report, listing considerable achievements in attracting rare and common species. The presence of new nesting families and endangered species - water rails, kingfisher - was noted. The local team now has a qualified tagging expert, who is training new volunteers. This is a major advance, as there are few bird taggers in England. He highlighted an unfortunate increase in electric scooters and motorised boards, which cause damage and disturb wildlife and asked residents to alert the authorities if they are seen.
Report from Shoebury Coastal CIC
John Budge submitted a status report on the Cart & Wagon Shed.
The Garrison project started in 1987. In 2016 the Cart & Wagon Shed project was adopted by the Coastal Community Team. After a long planning process, the Coastal Innovation Company (CIC) signed a 5-year lease. The CIC sublet the café, which opened on 12th September 2022. Currently it seems to be very vibrant, though there are some problems with utilities. Arrangements to house sections of the Royal Engineers archive are progressing: if further grants are obtained a display of artefacts will be possible. Community rentals appear to be increasing.
Report from Shoebury Residents’ Association / Planning and Development
Peter Lovett reported on the proposed development on New Barge Pier Road.
The site has been acquired by Bellway Homes. (GRA had invited a representative of Bellway Homes to attend the AGM: Bellway did not respond). While initial building plans were approved, there is huge concern regarding amendments, which include large scale land fill and five-storey residential blocks. The land fill programme requires import of massive quantities of non-local spoil, which will involve movement of 200 40-ton commercial vehicles per day on major Southend road routes, with tipping off Barge Pier Road every 3 minutes. It appears that the plans were approved without consideration of environmental impact studies.
This major movement and reprofiling exercise appears to be a speculative experiment, as does the absence of attention to the operation of the Grade 3 Flood Plain. Southend City Council, the lead Flood Authority, has failed to report any instances of fluvial flooding to the Environmental Agency.
Cliff Marshall thanked all present for attending the meeting, which closed at 9.15 pm