Summer residents meeting 2022
Summary
Summer residents meeting
Wednesday 27th July 2022
Attended by:
Residents
John O’Reilly (Keats Estate), Seayma, Sean Richardson, Isabelle Birbal, A Nathan, Ricky, Ian Leader, Nell Greenhill, Roma, Abi, Amanda, Keisha Hollands, Debbie, Margaret Greer, Rich Holman
Southern Housing
Billy Blankson - Home Services Manager
Review and Updates since last meeting
Last meeting 28th April, since then two meeting with Lisa, one focused on costs the other a general catch-up on on outstanding issues (all taken from the Main Points listing)
Costs
Water updates and charges - discussed with Lisa the breakdown of these:
3 legionnaires water tests per year
Other costs that could be incurred are tank cleaning – this is taking place this year at George Downing tower blocks.
The towers also have pumps that could require maintenance.
Tap repair - was leaking underneath, huge room underneath houses
Bottom tap looking to get unlocked
Rent
Shared ownership rent has gone up - in line with government costs 2.7% per annum , 1.7 + 1%
Large works - asked about things like 5 yearly decoration, what’s the process
If not covered by ongoing contracts then will ask for a quote - then will get further quotes as per procurement law - due diligence - this can take time
Indicated we want to feedback more on large works for example a walk around with residents after the job
Insurance costs (doubled)
Paulina asked who set out the charges for home owners and the increase in building insurance - Calculation has changed, flat rate across all properties, now charged based on value per property so more expensive to rebuild etc. Basically We got a better deal previously
Fire safety equipment maintenance contract.
Have been assured we only get charged for the equipment in the blocks
Acknowledged the letter was confusing
Repairs and issues
Tower block entrance doors (rust)
This has been raised with surveyor
Perpetually broken wall
Raised idea of just tidying it up - not keep on fixing
Bollard at end of wall?
Mopeds - disabled, prams - slow them down? Fence, other solutions bug concrete block / planter - forcing the moped to turn
SH will continue to look at potential solutions
Communal Lighting
Paulina has made arrangement to visit the block with UL’s lead electrician and test every single lighting for fault. I am not aware of an ongoing issue with the lighting so it’s difficult to provide further comment until a full survey is done.
Entrance gate broken - Cazenove
Issue raised this with SH
Gardening
Growing interest in gardening and greening of the estate, lots of different things going one. Indicated to Lisa there is interest overall in this area
Planned works
Parking bays
New parking bays / motorbike storage clamps/anchors
Planters - quotes requested with the aim of having them across the entire stretch of parking bays - from a social good fund without cost on residents
Rubbish removal / Gates (fly tipping)
Potentially new gates looking at funding and waiting for quotes - what they like us to do is discuss on how to do gates - residents consultation - what do we want - we can discuss this later
Ongoing and misc
Parking Enforcement
Lisa contacted DVLA about unmarked van - why are tickets not working, is there anything else they can do? People parking up, anti-social behaviour - deterrents - parking enforcement to be asked why not escalating enforcement
CCTV
100k+ Hackney monitored less if not monitored if more reported (online) if not reported then no action
Service centre performance
Paulina shared with the surveyor that residents were not happy with the service from united living and that the service from Southern Housing Group had declined in the last four years
Boiler House (is the disturbance from external hiring is still an issue, can residents provide specific detail)
Outstanding Jobs
Indicated we would like jobs raised report - potentially quarterly - Estate care team does inspection every 6-8 weeks, reports repairs. Via something called Housework (app) - pictures of the issues, copy sent to Home Services manager
Meeting notes
Discussion around flytyping / dog mess and general anti-social behaviour.
Gates discussed as a potential option but a concern over costs and access when locked for deliveries as well as general access to the estate (e.g. Boiler House, Cazenove Road, Alkham Road for non residents).
Bill Blankson discussed many good ideas around potential low cost, high impact solutions such as signage (clearer signage closer to road using working such as Private Estate). Shrubbery and planting to obstruct visibility of open areas and bins. The introduction of which would discourage not all but many people. Positive reaction from group and keen to investigate these options further.
Parking enforcement - need to discuss further with Parking teams why further action is not taken to repeat offenders, problem is likely to get worse when new parking bays are introduced on main part of the estate.
Reminded group that Anti-social behaviour should be reported to police if any action is to be taken. Police will not introduce additional capacity if only a few complaints. Amanda reminded the group that various low effort methods can be used to report issues, Twitter, Web. Intention to include this information on something like a newsletter so people know.
Discussion around Estate gardening in general and the potential for using some estate space for more gardening. Increasing interest in this, from residents groups to Boiler House gardening initiatives. Potential for Southern Housing to maybe supply some funding for this like top soil and planters.
Reminder of event - Gardening Course - at Boiler House August 28/29
Reminder for people to email info@n16boilerhouse.com if there are noise complaints, important to register issues formally rather than WhatsApp (although WhatsApp is going to be faster for important direct issues).
Cleaning - various issues raised on cleaning issues, stairs (low blocks), food (Cazenove Tower block), excessive breaks from some staff. Billy underlined the importance to understand from the Estate Care Team what the responsibilities are of the team members, once we understand those we can raise specific concerns if those responsibilities are not being met.
Gardening - various issues raised gardens in low-rose blocks in particular, some are very unkempt. Margaret Greer raised concerns that people were not keeping the gardens as per stated in lease, and as such why is no action being taken. Other issues raised about Gardening and some parts of the estate that look appear threadbare, whilst overs are very overgrown (gardens, some bushes around block 67). As per cleaning, Billy re-iterated the need to understand the responsibilities of the garden teams so specific issues can be raised. As per leases and process the group strongly wanted action taken on the garden situation if residents are not performing agreed duties as per gardening. Believe that many are letting and as such landlords are not performing their duties.
Lighting, still a problem, especially to the north of the estate. Lights often not working near Northern end of the low-rise blocks towards Cazenove Road.
Timelines - need to start to record timelines around repairs, understand when first reported so we can track and prioritise.
Notes and new issues since meeting
Flat 125 (Alkham road block) light broken in communal area
Intercom Floors 11 & 12 broken for 6 months - no timeline for repair
Door magnet 88-135 broken
Front door for 67 is broken and can’t be locked
Why Parking spaces were reduced to 5 on this side instead of the seven that were in the plan and they got planning permission with?
Leaks on roofs of tower blocks - request for inspection
Lights. Indication that there is a quote submitted to SH from contractors to fix issue that hasn’t been actioned. What’s the status of this?
Actions:
Door broken - 67 - status?
Door broken - 88-135 - status?
Intercom Floors 11 & 12 broken - status?
Flat 125 Light broken - status?
Shrubs/signage - investigate
Parking enforcement - follow up with company, why no enforcement
Lighting, what’s the plan
Leases (low-rise) - Gardening responsibilities - clarification
Gardening duties - clarification
Cleaning duties - clarification
Keats locked gate raised by John, wanted an update on this - general representation requested within GDRA
