MINUTES OF A COMMITTEE MEETING OF COLDEAST DRIVE RESIDENTS’ ASSOCIATION
HELD ON FRIDAY 1ST JULY 2022 AT 44 ROTHSCHILD DRIVE AT 3.30 P.M.
PRESENT: Allan Duncan (Chair), Diana Hindle, Tony Amber, Stuart Kimber, and Tom Middleditch
APOLOGIES: Apologies were received from Sue
MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING: The previous Minutes were approved
SOCIAL: Diana was thanked by all the Committee and residents for organising a very successful Jubilee Party. She reported that she had thanked The Mansion for providing the site and was going to continue to discuss a possible RA Meal with them for 19th September.
THE MANSION: The Committee felt that the management of The Mansion need to be made aware of the problems caused by parking of cars of people attending the various functions (e.g., The Open-Air Cinema) resulting in ‘blockages’ in both Coldeast Drive and Rothschild Drive. As Cllr Simon Martin and mentioned some of the problems – including noise – on Facebook, Allan was asked to write to him asking him to highlight the problems when he meets with The Mansion staff. It was also agreed to keep a watching brief on future events.
COMMUNAL GARDENING: Stuart gave a detailed report on the actions he had taken to ensure that the tendering for the gardening contract was fair and open. He had shown one of the tendering companies around the estate and had remained in contact. The latest information he had was that ERMC said that there were two tenders that were being considered as they were both very close on price. He would continue to chase ERMC for a full and detailed result. The Committee felt that ERMC were trying to ensure that their company - The Rangers - were giving he contract again, so were grateful for Stuart following the process.
COMMUNICATION WITH ERMC: The Committee all agreed that, yet again, ERMC were trying to keep them out of the communication loop. To help overcome this problem, the Committee agreed on the following actions:
- We would set up our own Survey Monkey site to allow all residents in CDRA to express their opinion on such items as the state of the gardening, the Service Charge, etc. Diana offered to set this up.
- Allan was meeting Sean Woodward to get advice on establishing our own Management Company; he would also do further investigations of his own. He was also meeting a representative from Guinness Homes to agree a method of allowing their residents to receive all communications which they presently do not receive.
- Allan would contact Ian to establish how much information he had on the formation of a Management Company and what more details he had about ERMC and their finances.
- The Committee would try to contact anyone on the Estate who had the legal experience to advise us.
It was also agreed that we need to keep the pressure on ERMC to ensure we get full details of the Service Charge in addition to the work Stuart is carrying out on the gardening contract.
NEXT MEETING: It was agreed to hold the next meeting on Friday 29th July at 54 Rothschild, commencing 4.30 p.m.