Chairman's Report 2020

GRA AGM 30th November 2020

Ladies and Gentlemen welcome to this the twelfth Annual General Meeting of the Garrison Residents’ Association (GRA).

Before moving on it might be helpful to mention a little more about the role of the association. In 2008 the GRA was formed to advance the interests of all Garrison residents both owners and tenants who were dissatisfied with the lack of engagement of the developer and the apathy of their appointed managing agents at the time.  Over the years the association has played an active role in dealing with the developers, their management company SGMCL and the current managing agents Fowler & Spenceley Property Management who were appointed following a competitive process in which the GRA participated. 

In the intervening years the association has been involved in a wide range of issues including leasehold property maintenance, service and estate charges, parking, adoption of roads by Southend Borough Council (SBC), garden and general site maintenance and last but not least for ensuring that the developer deposited sufficient funds for the upkeep and maintenance of the Garrison infrastructure. We maintain contact with SBC planning and parks departments both directly and through ward councillors and with other agencies such as Essex Police and English Heritage.

In what has been an extraordinary year your committee have been actively involved with the appointed managing agents Fowler & Spenceley in ensuring that the Garrison site and infrastructure continue, within the budgetary constraints, to be maintained and where possible, improved. 

This activity has included monthly inspections of the Garrison area to identify any problem issues such as landscaping where there is a continuing challenge given the extensive common areas and courtyards. Despite restrictions you may have noticed that there has been a significant improvement of the grassed areas where the managing agents have worked closely with landscape contractors seeking to improve these and other areas about which I am sure you will hear more later.

Development

As you will have seen, the last year has been one of continued development. Lidl’s is almost complete, and work is well under way on the site adjoining Sainsburys. Concerns regarding the movement of traffic in the vicinity of these remain. Both the GRA and Shoebury Residents Association raised these concerns during the planning application and will be actively monitoring and where necessary reporting to ensure that our roads remain safe. 

With planning applications having been submitted for a new trade park and residential complex the open spaces which many of us prized when purchasing our homes is diminishing at an alarming rate and the prospect, however remote, of a Marina swallowing up a third of the remaining green space is, I believe, a step too far.

There remains of course ‘the elephant in the room’. As most of the current and proposed development is within an area which has traditionally been regarded as a ‘flood plain’, and there is ‘local’ memory of storm water flooding having taken place in this area for 25 years that has never been recorded by the lead flood engineers (Southend Council) or passed onto the Environment Agency. Where does responsibility sit if flooding of properties occurs due to these permitted developments?

Handover of Shoebury Garrison Management Company Ltd.

After so many false alarms I am glad to report that the final handover of Shoebury Garrison Management Company Ltd (SGMCL) to the control of resident’s is imminent. In preparation for this property owner’s will have received a letter seeking expressions of interest to become a director. The role of Director is a voluntary but important position. In essence they are the guardians of the Garrison and will meet periodically to discuss, decide, and direct the activities of SGMCL within the confines of the company Memorandum and Articles of Association (Mem & Arts). Importantly they will direct the activities of the managing agents and I am therefore glad to report that there have been substantial expressions of interest which will be progressed in due course. 

Progress towards this handover has been a long and tedious process requiring repetitive correspondence and I again would like to record my thanks to committee member Richard Spence and Robert Fowler (FSPM) for their perseverance in bringing about a positive outcome.

That said the work of the GRA is not complete. The board of Directors for SGMCL can only be drawn from owner shareholders however the population of Garrison properties is diverse with many people renting their homes. They too need a voice in how the Garrison develops and to lobby on their behalf ward councillors, Southend Borough Council, and other organisations. That voice is the GRA. All residents are automatically members and although donations are gratefully accepted there is no membership fee. Further information can be found within the pages of our website at: https://www.shoeburygarrison.com

Cart & Wagon Shed – aka Heritage Centre

Previously the Shoeburyness Coastal Community Team whose membership includes members of your committee set up a Community Interest Company as part of an ongoing plan to improve Shoeburyness. The CIC then began negotiations to lease the Cart & Wagon Shed. After much effort and having secured significant funding, earlier this year builders AW Hardy & Co Ltd; were appointed and began the refurbishment of the building. Unfortunately, this was interrupted by ‘lockdown’ and consequently refurbishment has taken longer than anticipated. I am glad to report that it is now completed and internally the building is much improved, we look forward to it being opened to the public. 

The current target date for the CIC take over the building is 1st February and provided this is achieved the café, community rooms and some of the archives will open for the general public on or about the 1st March. 

As part of the Cart & Wagon project, work has been ongoing to facilitate the installation of a Royal Artillery Archive within the building. Originally founded by the late Major Tony Hill, the archive will for the first time be accessible to the public as a fitting tribute to the history of the regiment in its ancestral setting.

Other Matters

At our last AGM I mentioned the Estuary Festival which should have been running in the second and third quarter of 2020. I am glad to say that having been postponed the festival mounted by the artistic company Metal – who work from buildings of historic significance supporting artists from the UK and overseas, working in all disciplines - has now received funding and should be able to go ahead in Gunners Park and in other venues in Essex and Kent commencing in May/June 2021. 

In addition to the Cart and Wagon Shed, the festival will make use of four other buildings within Gunners Park for which surveys and plans have been drawn up seeking to develop the spaces to display pieces of artwork.

It is to be hoped that the festival will increase funding opportunities to further develop the Cart and Wagon Shed as a community venue.

Finally, I would like to thank my committee colleagues for their time and energy throughout the year with a particular thank you to our secretary Pam Deakin without whom there would be no record of our enterprise. That completes my report for the year.