Estate Visit Report 17th May 2016
Sarah Wareham from First Port was accompanied by 2 Resident Association committee members, Paul Johnson and John Saunders, for the site visit 17 May.
Sarah had the following 2 issues she wished to discuss/investigate:
Flooding in the back garden 21 Coglan – The residence was visited but nobody was in and therefore no access to view the problem. Paul will return tonight and speak to the resident and provide photographs to Sarah. The Gardeners have already responded to a request from Sarah and will be commissioned to improve the drainage on the other side of the fence line.
Remove all trees and saplings less than 20 years old – A request from a resident whose identity Sarah was not prepared to divulge. The reason for this request was the belief that this would reduce maintenance costs in the longer term. The line from both First Port and the Tree Surgeons is that this is unethical on a number of grounds and will not be contemplated. To be discussed at the next residents committee meeting.
There were 5 issues that the committee members wished to address with Sarah:
Overhanging branch, possibly diseased, in the back garden of 31 WPG. Branch inspected and considered not a threat, Tree survey last year provided a clean bill of health for all Corsican Pines bordering this part of the estate. John will discuss with the resident post site visit.
Piles of dead timber on the estate side of the boundary with No 19 Harrison Rd. It would appear that the hedge on our side of the boundary has been cut back to the fence height at No 19. Sarah will check to ensure that our gardeners were not responsible and if that is the case as they cannot be sighted from the estate no further action.
Ivy intruding into the garden from estate side of boundary wall at 23 Poyner. The hedge precludes access to the wall as it does on most of the estate with a wall. These hedges have grown in width and a possible solution would be a dramatic reduction in width. This will be a considerable cost and not viable until the reserves have been built up if that is an agreed course of action. A ROM costs will be sought from the gardeners to inform the debate and it is probably a subject that needs to be aired at the more open forum of the AGM. Returning to the issue of the Ivy, this is an estate wide problem and First Port would not like to take responsibility for what could be a potentially costly and ongoing problem. If individuals require the gardeners to improve access to the boundary wall for individual residents to cope with the problem all reasonable requests will be dealt with.
Fence panel damaged at boundary and garage of No 1 WPG. The Fence panel has been repaired by a resident, thank you, and no further action required.
Fire damage to boundary hedge with Harrison Rd. The insurance company need to be informed in the event of subsequent claims as a result of this damage.
There were 2 other observations during the site visit:
3 galvanised straps on the hitching post opposite No 5 WPG are badly corroded, these will be replaced.
Litter on the estate. The estate is in generally good repair but would benefit from a litter sweep along the lines conducted 2 years ago by the residents. To be raised at the next committee meeting.
