Minutes of Committee Meeting held on Wednesday 2nd November 2016
PRICES LODGE RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION 2006
The meeting was held at 33 William Price Gardens at 8.00pm. Those present were: Paul Johnson, Deana Tarrant, Ray Marsh, Madeleine Lindsell, Steve Lindsell, Wendy Brown, & Rebecca Adlem.
Minutes of last meeting held on 24.08.2016
Minutes of meeting proposed acceptance by Steve Lindsell and seconded by Wendy Brown, Minutes adopted.
Matters arising
Paul has confirmed article on the web site on burglar alarms has got the right email address – action closed.
John secured Harrison Rd School for the AGM for end of September – action closed.
Sarah Wareham has left FirstPort, Replacement is Hannah Forrest – Property Manager.
Paul has pursued the issue of the audit fees imposed by FirstPort. He has written a letter, requesting them to take action to reduce the fees or hold Solitaire to look for savings and offer value for money, no reply has been received. 2 chasing letters sent, including to their Customer Services email address. Not heard from Hannah regarding future site visits.
Action: Paul to send an email requesting a reply within 2 weeks otherwise we will take further action, write to Solitaire re a better deal, with a spec etc, to find an Agent.
Paul put the AGM minutes from last year on the website, under ‘ notification to residents’ action closed.
Ray provided the Annual Treasury Report for the AGM Agenda, unfortunately they were not uploaded on to the website prior to the AGM – action closed.
Treasurer’s Report
Balance to date £1869.40
£8.99 petty cash
+ £1.00 cash in hand
Action: Paul – Balance sheet to be placed on the website
John has claimed expenses for the bark chippings – action closed.
Change of signatures on the bank account
Signatories will need to be changed, Rebecca to be added, Johns Saunders to be removed. Ray had been to the Bank to request how signatures can be changed on the bank account, we need to do this on-line. Michelle Barnett – Business Specialist at HSBC is our contact.
Action: Paul to view details on line and advise what action is to be taken.
Welcome to Rebecca Adlem – as Vice Chair, Rebecca’s first committee meeting.
School Hire
With ref to the booking fee for the hire of the school hall for the AGM. Ray advised that in the past the Resident Association had paid £25.00 for a Tuesday night, when Brownies paid for caretaker and RA fee was a donation to the school. As the AGM was booked on a Weds this year, as we were non sharing with the Brownies, thus £25.00 payable for caretaker and no donation. For future revert to Tuesday nights. This time we had contributed £40.00 as our meeting was booked on a Wednesday and non sharing thus we had to pay £25.00 for caretaker and £15 donation.
It was decided that next year RA would pay a total of £50.00. ( £25 hire of hall and provide £25 as a donation. )
The school advised they would put the £15 donation received this year towards xmas activities.
Parking Restrictions survey
John Saunders had provided a spreadsheet of the survey of residents on the Prices Lodge Estate so far. The majority of WPG apart from one were in favour of permit parking. Poyner Close only 1 yes response, Coghlan Close, a few ‘yes’ vote and 4 ‘No’ votes. The Survey needs to be completed.
Paul had a response from Chris Oldham – Traffic and Design Mgr at FBC regarding our request for a resident parking scheme and had been informed at present it is FBC policy not to have any further residents parking schemes. Chris advised that it is not a policy, rather a political decision, and apologised that he had misunderstood this and used the wrong phraseology.
The Planning & Dev Policy Dev and Review Panel considered this matter in September 2015 and concluded that Residential Parking Zones do not represent a financially viable solution outside the Town Centre, there are no plans to amend the existing scheme. They are costly scheme for the authority to introduce. FBC do not feel able to use public funding to introduce any further schemes at this time.
A discussion took place around if we should continue with the survey for permit parking. It was commented on that near-by streets restrictions were M-F 10am – 4pm and weekends did not apply, therefore the permit parking may be a waste of time.
As the ‘Resolution’ at the AGM was for the RA to be authorised to campaign for introduction of stricter parking controls on Prices Lodge Estate, whether these controls would be residents Parking permits or intro of double yellow lines in certain locations.
If the Prices Lodge Estate voted as a majority ‘yes’, this would provide a mandate to negotiate something if not permit scheme but adopt double yellow lines, or extend the existing restrictions notices, we should request from FBC to find out what options are available as a solution. Residents could be asked their preference at the same time as collecting the subscription fees.
Action: Paul to reply to Chris Oldham to enquire what options are available as a solution.
Hedge Cutting
A Quote had been received from Hannah regarding the ROM costs to thin and de-crown the hedges. At the AGM there was an advisory vote not to thin the hedges, instead discuss with the Gardner how best to ensure the hedges, particularly the tops are properly cut in the future. Hannah has been advised, but no response has been received.
Subscription Collections
It was decided to postpone the collection of subscription until we have lighter evenings.
Ray advised there are new residents on the Prices Lodge Estate, maybe an introduction letter welcoming new residents to the Residents Association would be a good idea.
Action: Paul to write an RA introduction letter to welcome new residents.
A.O.B
Steve highlighted that a house for sale in Poyner Close was advertised by Pearsons Estate Agents, with Private estate land – boundary all around equally owned by all residents. An Annual fee payable for maint of land. This is totally misleading to potential buyers.
A Prices Lodge Residents Association 2006 logo has been created with the crest of a lion, should this now be used for formal letterhead.
Action: Paul to provide a soft copy of the new logo – made into a Template letterhead.
Deana advised that she now has the grafitti remover cleaning substance.
Action: Deana to update the contacts list and circulate to all committee members.
Date of Next Meeting
Wednesday 14th December 2016 at 8.00pm at 14 WPG
Meeting closed at 09.00pm
Thank you to Paul for your hospitality for this meeting.
