WATERWAYS MANAGEMENT COMPANY MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE MEETING NO 60 7.30 pm, Tuesday 12 January 2016 Present:
Adrian Olsen (Chair), Greg Barnes, Sally Duncan, Ann Hall, Imogen Olsen, Nicholas Orme, Paula Reynolds, Louise Robertson, Hilary Sorensen, Raquel Stremme
In attendance:
Rebecca Burt (née Hill), FirstPort Property Services Minute taker:
Imogen Olsen 1 Apologies for absence 1.1 Tao Tao Chou, Adrian Mourby, Sowon Park, Mary Tovey 2 Minutes Approval of the minutes from meeting 58, 6 October 2015, and meeting 59, 17
November 2015 2.1 The minutes were approved as an accurate record. 3 Matters arising from the minutes 3.1 Ratification of recommended actions made at meeting 59 which was not quorate: (i) Pending: FirstPort (RB) will clarify whether a second opinion is necessary on the problematic lift at Complins Close; (ii) Ratified: Approval was given for the continued unavailability at meetings of
a Director on personal grounds. 4 New arrangements with FirstPort for property managers 4.1 Several Directors had met Rebecca Burt and Rachel Dolacinski on 5 January 2016 to
discuss the new arrangements. There will now be two property managers for The
Waterways. RB will be the main contact point and attend meetings, while RD will deal
with day-‐to-‐day queries and site inspections. There will be regular update meetings
between RB and RD. Emails should be sent to RB and copied to RD. This new system will
be monitored before being further discussed at the WMC meeting in July.
FirstPort have also introduced a new system for dealing with customer complaints.
There is now one co-‐ordinator with a small group of advisers specifically allocated to
The Waterways. 5 Welcome to The Waterways booklet 5.1 A draft is expected by the end of January, when it will be circulated among Directors. A
Director is to produce a map of the estate. FirstPort will print the booklet. 2 6 Railway line developments 6.1 Further to the discharge of condition 19 for section I/1, the City Council’s West Area
Planning Committee are meeting on 9 February 2016 and may discuss Network Rail’s noise and vibration mitigation proposals then. The deadline for comments about noise
was 7 January, and forty comments appeared on the council website. St John’s College
(which owns three houses on the estate) have submitted a technical report from an
independent company. The deadline for comments about vibration is 21 January. A Director will chase up our MP Nicola Blackwood regarding the discussion she planned
to have with Claire Perry. 7 Health and safety 7.1 The two-‐yearly health and safety/fire risk assessment will be carried out on 29 July 2016
by Quantum Risk Management. 8 Sub-‐committee news round-‐up 8.1 Finance Sub-‐Committee 8.1.1 It was confirmed that in future FirstPort would be preparing figures on a quarterly basis
for internal administrative purposes and this should make the production of the annual
accounts easier and quicker. 8.2 Apartment Blocks Sub-‐Committee 8.2.1 There were no further developments to report on short-‐term lettings of apartments. 8.2.2 The roof of 115-‐141 Frenchay Road has developed a new leak. This will be dealt with
separately from the Section 20 flat roof replacement at the same block. 8.2.3 Plans are now going ahead for three blocks in Frenchay Road to have replacement
carpets, probably in March 2016. 8.2.4 Nothing more has been heard from Estates & Management regarding a possible loft
conversion at 131 Frenchay Road. The matter is therefore closed unless there are
further developments. 8.3 Gardening Sub-‐Committee 8.3.1 There had been no further response from Thames Water regarding the pollution
incidents and the subsequent meeting with them in October. A Director would follow
this up. 8.3.2 Silt clearance was completed by Aquatic Solutions in early December from the T-‐ junction to the Trap Grounds. It now seems that the watercourse may be blocked
further down, by Navigation Way or beyond, as the water level in the wildlife corridor
and the Trap Grounds is high. We will investigate with the Trap Grounds representatives
and Waterside residents the need for further silt clearance in these areas. The Trap
Grounds are using Aquatic Solutions for silt clearance on 25 January. 3 A report on silt and water testing is expected from Curt Lamberth by the end of
January. The Chair will chase this up if necessary. FirstPort (RB) will chase up Paul at Metrorod regarding the proposed survey of the
underground section of the swale. The Canal & River Trust licence was terminated on 15 January and payments stopped
after a satisfactory inspection of the blocked-‐up overflow into the canal. The swale behind Clearwater Place needs to be levelled as water is pooling and not
draining quickly. It was agreed that Metrorod would compare the current profile of the
swale with the original design, and that it should be professionally reconfigured if
necessary. FirstPort (RB) would ask Evergreen to clear blockages by the grille at the
entrance to the Bainton Road cycle path culvert. 8.3.3 Progress has been made on the idea of painting murals under the canal bridges. The
Canal & River Trust are keen to promote the plan with a competition for designs, to be
judged
at the Canal Festival on 25 June. They have submitted a sponsorship bid to Tesco
for several thousand pounds. A Director has organised a meeting to be held on 22
January which will be attended by the Canal & River Trust, WMC Directors, Cllr Liz
Wade, Cllr John Howson, the local community police officer, a representative from the
Trap Grounds, and a member of the boating community. 8.3.4 Extensive tree works were carried out on 12 January, including cutting back the alders
on Frenchay Road. FirstPort (RB) will chase up the residents who own the remaining
alders to get permission to cut those back too. There is a problem concerning one tree
by the balancing pond, which FirstPort (RB) will contact Evergreen about. Tree works behind Stone Meadow and Cox’s Ground have been held up by the lack of
response from Network Rail. The Chair contacted Network Rail and as a result MBS were
due to meet a representative onsite just before Christmas . FirstPort (RB) will chase up
MBS for an update. 8.3.5 The latest bike cull will be carried out on 25 January. There has been no response from
GreenSquare regarding the offer to remove bikes from their areas. 8.3.6 There was a good response from residents to the County Council’s informal consultation
on parking proposals for Elizabeth Jennings Way and Frenchay Road, with a large
majority in favour. Once the formal consultation is announced, the Chair will reply
formally on behalf of the Committee, confirming approval of the plans. FirstPort (RB) will chase up the proposed double yellow lines at the entrance to
Clearwater Place and re-‐marking the parking bays at 1-‐25 Stone Meadow. It was noted that only one cone remains of the three provided by the police in Elizabeth
Jennings Way. A Director will request replacement cones from the community police
officer. 8.3.7 Two residents had requested the installation of after-‐dark lights in the area of the lower
bridge and also mentioned the danger of bikes speeding round the corner by 41 4 Frenchay Road. The Chair had replied rejecting the request for more lights in this area but said that the committee would consider installing a sign
warning cyclists to slow
down. After some discussion it was decided that a sign would be ineffective as many
cyclists would ignore it. 8.3.8 Grass cuttings had still not been removed in the swale between Cox’s Ground and
Complins Close. FirstPort (RB) will chase up Evergreen. 8.3.9 It was noted that someone had
reduced the height of a section of saplings and
undergrowth by the lake, opposite the houses in Elizabeth Jennings Way, leaving an
unsightly gap. This was without authority and was presumably to create a better view of
the lake from some of these houses. It was decided not to write to all the Crescent residents, pointing out that this work went against a decision at an AGM to preserve the
line and thickness of this vegetation for safety reasons, as it will grow back eventually,
even if untidily. The height of the vegetation screening the lake will be considered at the
next GSC walk-‐around. 8.4 Scrutiny Sub-‐Committee 8.4.1 A response from FirstPort is still awaited on the WMC amendments to the new
management agreement with FirstPort:
9 Feedback 9.1 Several responses were received to the new parking proposals, all but three in favour. 10 WRACIC 10.1 A list of costs for 2015 had been received and the requested grant of £1500 was agreed.
10.2 A Director stated that WRACIC hoped to put on more events this year, for example to
coincide with the Canal Festival in June. There is currently no date for the next issue of
Waterways World. 11 Managing agent
11.1 The inspection for the access ramp proposals behind the Crescent is to take place on 27
January. FirstPort (RB) will ask the inspector to report on health and safety issues by the
lakeside at the same time. Directors were invited to attend this meeting. 12 Any other business 12.1 Complaints had been received about the difficulty in identifying blocks of apartments
from the street. New signage was discussed, and FirstPort (RB) agreed to investigate the
possibility of using larger signs, perhaps made of clear glass. Also Directors were asked
to think about ways in which such signage could be improved. 12.2 It was agreed that FirstPort (RB) would ask the residents in the apartment block in Stone
Meadow which had changed to weekly cleaning if they wished to revert to fortnightly
cleaning at the end of the current contract in April. 5 12.3 Condolences were extended by the committee to a Director who had recently been
bereaved. 12.4 The committee expressed their thanks to Miles and Emma Thompson for all their hard
work and dedication to the WMC over the years, and wished them good luck for the
future. 13 Date, time and location of future meetings 13.1 The next committee meeting will be on 15 March 2016 at 7.30 pm in the Community
Room. 13.2 The Baptist Church has now been booked for the AGM on 21 April
- FirstPort (RB)
will ask the Company Secretary to start organising the necessary documents. The Chair will start to prepare a draft agenda.