MINUTES OF A COMMITTEE MEETING OF COLDEAST DRIVE RESIDENTS’ ASSOCIATION
HELD ON FRIDAY 1ST OCTOBER 2021 AT 54 ROTHSCHILD DRIVE
PRESENT: Allan Duncan (Chair), Diana Hindle, Tony Amber and Stuart Kimber
APOLOGIES: Apologies were received from tom Middleditch
MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING: The Minutes of the Meeting held on 27th August 2021 were reviewed and approved.
SERVICE CHARGE: Tom is still finalising his report on his correspondence with ERMC. Allan reported that, as a Shadow Director of ManCo he has been sent initial details of the planned Service Charge and would be challenging some of the figures provided.
COMMUNAL GARDENING: Stuart reported that the gardening on Nightingales appears to be improving, but there are still problems with some areas of AW2.
It was agreed that the cause of many of the problems is the fact that the Rangers are based on IOW and, therefore, their time on site is reduced quite considerably. Allan reported that ERMC had indicated that this situation was due to change – he agreed to follow this matter up and report back.
It was noted that the Rangers had strimmed all the Wild Areas but had left all the strimmed grass just lying. This would cause many problems and Allan was asked to chase ERMC to arrange for the residue to be collected up and cleared.
Allan reported that he had communicated to ERMC that the ‘fringes’ of the Wild Areas must be cut back at least 1 metre. ERMC had said that they had planned to cut back just one mower’s width – the Committee agreed that this was totally unacceptable, Stuart also reported that the vast majority of residents living around the areas expected a 1 metre cutting.
Stuart reported that the map given to him by Laura of ERMC showed the areas to be treated as Wild Areas quite clearly, but that the Rangers were not adhering to this information. As an example, he reported that the area leading to the electricity sub-station should be cultivated and it has been totally ignored by the Rangers.
It was agreed that Stuart and Tony would lead the actions and communications on all aspects of gardening on the Estate. Allan would communicate this decision to ERMC and state that a face-to-face meeting with them and Stuart and Tony was essential to ensure that the agreed standards are met.
Allan reported that ERMC are hoping to hold a poll of residents’ views and will be carrying this out by use of their Portal, email, and letters. The Committee look forward to seeing this happen.
Stuart and Tony agreed to keep a ‘watching brief’ on the planned replanting programme and the development of the bidding process for the 2022 Gardening Contract.
ADOPTION OF COLDEAST DRIVE: Allan reported that he was still awaiting an update from HCC Highways, who had indicated that there were only a couple of issues to resolve before the adoption process could start. He would chase up a response.
MAINTENANCE OF COLDEAST DRIVE: Allan reported that ERMC had been asked to quote for the work of clearing the weeds etc from Coldeast Drive. He would follow this up and update the Committee.
COLDEAST MANSION: It was noted that The Mansion is due to become operational within the next week. Allan would re-establish his communication with the owners.
SOCIAL: Diana reported that over 20 residents had booked for the Social Event on Monday 4th October. Her concern was that Strawberry Fields had replaced the 50% Off Offer with a 2 for 1 – which might turn some people off.
It was agreed that Allan would arrange for Diana to get in direct contact with the owners of The Mansion to enable her to discuss all future social Events.
ERMC COMMUNICATIONS: Allan reported that, overall, the communication with and from ERMC was starting to improve.
It was agreed that the ERMC Portal was totally ineffective as a means of communication. Allan was asked to remind ERMC he had requested that the current Residents’ Association Page be removed as it was completely out of date.
It was decided that Diana and Stuart would fully investigate the opportunities for us to have a website and a linked Facebook Page, giving the Committee even more opportunities to communicate directly with all our members.
Stuart agreed to find out if the previous Yahoo email address for the Committee was still operational.
NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH: Diana reported that she had sent out an email to all NHW Members checking to ensure that they were still living in the area and wanted to continue to receive communications. She felt that the various options for receiving Alerts were too confusing.
NEXT MEETING: It was agreed to hold the next Committee Meeting on Friday 5th November at 44 Rothschild Drive, commencing 3 p.m.
