WATERWAYS MANAGEMENT COMPANY
Minutes of the MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE MEETING NO 97
held at 5.30 pm on Wednesday 6 July 2022
in the Waterways Community Room, Clearwater Place
Present: Adrian Olsen (Chair), Kate Lack, Adrian Mourby, Nicholas Orme, Paula Reynolds, Louise
Robertson, Brian Shine, Hilary Sorensen, Mary Tovey
In attendance: David Hone, FirstPort Property Services
Minute taker: Imogen Olsen
1 Apologies for absence
1.1 Tao Tao Chou, Ann Hall, Raquel Stremme, Liz Wheater
2 Approval of the minutes of meeting 96 held on 10 May 2022
2.1 The minutes were approved.
3 Matters arising from the minutes
3.1 (4.2) The car-park marking in Complins Close was now complete and a new No Parking
sign had been installed.
3.2 (4.5) The fences in Complins Close which had been damaged in recent storms were now
all repaired.
3.3 (5.1) The lead director reported on progress regarding the two proposed experiments in
installing electric vehicle charging points:
At the 115-141 Frenchay Road block. FirstPort had still not confirmed reallocation of the
two relevant parking spaces as only one of the owners had so far given written
permission. FirstPort would pursue the other one.
The intention is to install an electric vehicle charging point in the car park of the terraced
houses on the east side of Frenchay Road but no progress has been made as yet.
It was pointed out that WMC would be acting as unpaid consultants rather than taking
responsibility for initiating or contracting any installations. As this is becoming an
important issue, FirstPort as a company intend to keep abreast of developments and will
help and advise where possible. Some owners of private houses were already installing
chargers without seeking permission to run cables underneath WMC paths. There was
some discussion of the legal problems involved, although installers are legally obliged to
observe all safety requirements.
3.4 (6.1) There was no progress to report on negotiations with Berkeley Homes over the
transfer of the estate freehold, which is clearly not a priority for them.
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3.5 (9.1) The lock had been changed on the third bollard by the EJW mini roundabout and
Evergreen now has access.
4 Sub-Committee Reports
4.1 Apartment Blocks Sub-Committee
4.1.1 FirstPort reported progress on the lift renovation programme. The works at 44-60
Frenchay Road are being prepared and the works at 95-113 Frenchay Road can proceed
subject to FirstPort checking the reserve budget situation. Hemsworth were proving
excellent at managing this project and will probably save WMC money in the long term.
4.1.2 The broken lift at 115-141 Frenchay Road, now repaired, had revealed problems
regarding both maintenance and communication. Reports had gone to the old
contractor instead of the new one. FirstPort had carried out an inspection that morning
and discovered that two further lifts on the estate were still displaying out-of-date
information for the old contractor. This matter would be swiftly remedied.
Concept, the new contractor, would be asked to check whether full refurbishment of the
lift at 115-141 Frenchay Road could safely be delayed for two years until there was more
money in the block’s reserve budget.
4.1.3 Cracks to the render of 2-32 EJW and Complins Close had been repaired but not
satisfactorily. Not only were the repairs in the wrong colour, but they were already
starting to crack again. FirstPort had summoned the contractors to return with a render
specialist.
4.1.4 The ABSC had scheduled an inspection for August to decide on redecoration priorities.
4.2 Gardening Sub-Committee
4.2.1 The felling of the very large ivy-covered tree by the Frog Lane ditch to the rear of a Stone
Meadow house had been scheduled for 22 August. Although this job would have been
better done in the winter, it was so difficult and deemed so urgent by the tree specialist
that compromise had been necessary. Because of the extremely difficult site, a large
crane will be necessary to be placed on the green at the end of Stone Meadow. FirstPort
will order the felling at the same time of another tree on the edge of this green. The
owners of the neighbouring house will be informed.
4.2.2 Berkeley Homes had still not responded regarding the allocation of car-parking spaces in
Cox’s Ground. A director said that she would chase this up personally.
4.2.3 The lead director reported on progress with silt clearance works. The new contractor
OnSite had attended as scheduled but realised they had inaccurately estimated the
amount of silt, and were only able to do about a quarter of the work planned in the three
days they were booked in for at a cost of c. £8600. Furthermore, water had continued to
flow in despite the dams they had constructed. They had removed 17 tonnes of silt, of
which about 80 per cent was water.
OnSite had now provided a new estimate of £21,700 for ten days’ work to clear the
remaining areas, which had been done inadequately by Lanes, including the culvert
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under Frenchay Road, which had not been done for six years. However, it may not take
as long as ten days. They would return on 25 July with a pump and hose so that they can
pump incoming water further downstream. They would also bring a robot machine with
a camera to examine the culvert. OnSite will be paid 50% in advance and the remainder
when we know how may days the work actually takes. Once OnSite have finished we will
re-assess how often all these areas need to be cleared
Dave Stickland of Thames Water had promised to carry out a thorough inspection of
their system in order to discover the source of the mysterious continual flow during dry
weather, which could possibly be due to springs leaking into pipe joints or to some
problem with the siphon under canal.
The rest of the watercourse, namely the wildlife corridor, was also in need of clearing. A
contractor has visited and is due to quote for using a 5-tonne digger to clear the silt, but
concerns were expressed about the damage such a heavy machine might cause to the
grass. Also, it is not known if the two bridges could take this weight and the contractor
would take no responsibility for damage to the bridges, so it was agreed that we could
not take this risk if the bridges had to be used. Therefore, we are considering using
Aquatic Solutions again, as they had done a good job previously and who did not need a
5-tonne digger but would use their much lighter 1.4-ton Truxor machine and leave the
silt on the banks. They were due to attend on 14 July to give a quote.
4.2.4 The County Council had denied responsibility for the railings next to the EJW
roundabout. It was agreed to schedule a walkabout to inspect all railings on the estate
and draw up a rolling programme for repairs and repainting.
4.2.5 Evergreen would replace the wooden boundary posts put in by GreenHatch with more
permanent markers when they had more time this winter. FirstPort would chase
GreenHatch for a revised plan including the area in the north west of Cox’s Ground.
4.2.6 Himalayan Balsam had returned to the north of Hook Meadow. The Chair, along with
Howard Buss and Catherine Robinson of the Trap Grounds, had already pulled a lot of it
out, and a further working party was scheduled for 9 July. The wooded area immediately
north of Cox’s Ground and the areas next to the railway line had very little balsam.
The Chair agreed to write a piece for the next edition of Waterways World reminding
parents not to let their children play in Hook Meadow beyond our boundary posts as
they would be trespassing on land owned by St Edward’s School.
4.2.7 The bulbs planted last autumn had not been entirely successful. The new daffodils by the
lake were probably too tall and many bulbs on the Green had proved to be blind.
However, the anemones were good. It was agreed that Evergreen should order more
bulbs for this autumn, and to rethink the Green area and any other areas for planting.
4.2.8 FirstPort had received complaints from residents on the opposite side of the lake
regarding WMC’s recent tree felling work, which they claimed had destroyed their views.
DH had attended and mollified them. Since then, the trees have grown back quickly as
expected and the area no longer looks bare. DH also complimented Evergreen on their
excellent work, far superior to other gardening work he had seen in FirstPort properties.
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4.2.9 A director had seen two young boys digging a hole on the Green. She had remonstrated
with them and they had stopped, but Evergreen should be asked to look.
4.2.10 Three silver birches outside Clearwater Place next to the sculpture need to be felled as
their roots were badly uplifting the paved area there. They will be replaced by more
suitable trees or shrubs, perhaps Cotinus.
4.3 Finance
4.3.1 A director had experienced problems while negotiating with OnSite for the silt clearance.
Their credit department had done a search on FirstPort which showed a large loss and a
poor payment record. We had therefore had to pay their invoice in advance. We needed
proof that WMC funds are held on trust in a separate client account and are therefore
safe. The Chair and the Treasurer claimed that we have in the past seen such evidence,
but FirstPort agreed to clarify. Meanwhile it had been agreed that for the next OnSite job
we would pay half in advance.
4.4 Scrutiny Sub-Committee
4.4.1 It was agreed to take this item off the agenda for the time being.
5 Feedback
5.1 Nothing to report.
6 Managing Agent
6.1 FirstPort had introduced a new system for the payment of direct debits which seemed to
have caused several problems. Monthly payments had not been taken and a new annual
charge of £24 had been introduced. The changes had been badly organised and some
accounts were now in arears. FirstPort agreed to report this messy situation to the
relevant department and to sort it out.
7 WRACIC
7.1 The Platinum Jubilee event on the Green had been a success and was much enjoyed
8 Any other business
8.1 The Secretary to the Committee asked for a volunteer to take over this position as she
was so busy with silt clearance and other things. Duties were not onerous, mainly
sending out the minutes and agenda before meetings, uploading the approved minutes
to the WMC web page, and booking the hall for the AGM. Full instructions and assistance
would be given to any volunteer.
9 Dates of next meetings
2022: 6 September, 15 November
2023: 10 January, 14 March (all at 5.30 pm until further notice)
AGM: 1 November 2022