My questions are as follows:
1. Playground near school
- The installed playground was never fit for purpose, with poor-quality, poorly chosen equipment that has inevitably broken/ become difficult to maintain. The developer should be rectifying this. There needs to be more equipment suitable for under-10s, particularly for the 5-8 age group, who are the most ardent users.
- The playground is frequently left unsafe. Recently, the metal posts of the temporary fence around the removed roundabout were falling off, leaving metal stakes scattered across the ground.
- There is no soft landing near the weird circular climbing item. The ground is frequently muddy, leaving the play item covered and increasing the risk of injury.
2. General responsiveness
- If I report an issue, I get no acknowledgement or update from Remus.
- What is the process and SLA for raising an issue?
3. Path by school fields
- An example of a development plan that is not working in practice. This green path is unavailable for 9 months of the year; during the 6 weeks when it is available, the school is closed. It would significantly help walking to school if this path were all-weather and usable year-round.
4. Lack of safe crossings
- Homington Avenue is dangerous to cross, especially with children and buggies. The speed and the parking mean there is no safe crossing anywhere.
5. Advertising signs on shared land
- Do persimmon pay rent to put their large advertising signs on land managed by the management company and is it enough to justify it?
- Who will be responsible for the removal of signs and rectifying damage to the ground?
- Are there plans to subsidise the management charge by accepting other advertising signs? Do these need planning permission?
6. Polesdon Avenue green area/stones area
- Another example of a development plan that is not working for residents.
- This has left a space with no useful purpose.
- I would like to see barriers installed to prevent children from running from this green area onto Homington Avenue, and some small play equipment added, similar to the willow house, snail, and sheep between Ashcombe and Ilford Close. My boy loves these items, and they add character to the estate. We could add additional animals here to create an animal search challenge.
- I highly suspect the same applies to the green area at the bend of Homington Avenue and also the one near Bushton Close.
- An example of a development plan with no logic. Stops where logically no one would wait have shelters. Other very popular stops lack shelters (e.g., Coate Village and Rainscombe Road).
- There is no path or hardstanding next to the Rainscombe Road bus stop, so people have to step into slippery mud in inclement weather.
8. Resident directors
- When to appoint them? What support will be provided? Based on current experience, I would not expect many takers.
9. Subsidence
- Several roads within the estate have cracks, ridges, and slopes. The developer should resolve this. If in areas already adopted, then I would challenge the adoption quality process, which appeared to exclude residents who refused even to share the list of defects.
10. Suds and sound barriers
- There are items that I would not expect to fall under a management arrangement, are not listed as items, and appear to lack clear ownership. This is unacceptable as a risk to the residents and needs to be sorted.
11. Litter bins next to benches
- Another example of where the development plan does not work in practical terms. Having the bins so close to the benches can make the benches unusable due to odours and insects attracted by the bins.
12. Slopes by water courses
- Some of these worry me. I don’t like my 5-year-old getting too close to them. e.g., the one on Biddestone Avenue near the Lordswood bus stop.
- What risk assessment has been done? Some water areas have warning signs; some don’t, and only 1-2 have life rings. Why the inconsistency? Are the life rings situated at the riskiest water courses, or is it just random? (It looks random.
13. Broken fencing in Wilbury Close
- This feels like a design flaw, as it seems as if the wood is rotting away from the metal supports
- This is the third one to break in a few years.
14. Trees
- We still have dead trees around the estate. The handover did not appear to take this into account or replace them with low-quality trees without a plan to water them.
15. Very few flower beds
- It would be nice to have more colour in the development, with daffodils or other bright flowers.