Newsletter

Next Residents Association Meeting

on Wednesday, 27th February, 7:30pm

at the Rivergate Centre, Minter Road

All Welcome

 

Agenda

Guest Speaker : Rowan Mackay from Architect Sans Frontiers on creating a Citizens Charter
Service Charge
Heating and Hot water
Parking
Blocks Sub-Committees
Any Other Business

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Also in this newsletter :

* Robert Lewis House - Heating, hot water and lift

* Service Charge Accounts - officers' visit to Pinnacle head office
* Service Charge - Pinnacle & Legal funds update
* RMG - Coverage map and updates
* Leslie Hitchcock House - 82K related heating bill
* Parking update & Link Parking
* Rat infestation - Victory Court

Meeting Minutes for :
* BRRA residents meeting  11/2018
* BRRA residents meeting  12/2018
* BRRA residents meeting  01/2019
* BRRA meeting with BRL, L&Q & Pinnacle 12/2018

*** Others :
* Abolish Leasehold
* Crossness Road - Potholes
* Sustrans - Thames Ward Greenway
* TWCP - Thames Ward Growth Summit - ASF workshop

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Robert Lewis House - Heating, hot water & Lift

Following recent reports from residents at Robert Lewis House about the failure of hot water and heating, broken lift and the lack of response from London & Quadrant (L&Q), the residents association wrote to L&Q Head of estate renewal, the MP and the Councillors as below:   

On Wednesday, 23 January 2019, Barking Riverside <barkingriversideresidents@gmail.com wrote:

Hi Pat, Councillors and Margaret,

I hope you are all well. 

Please see the below email from one of the residents at Robert Lewis House  at Barking Riverside with her terrible experience of having to deal with the lack of no hot water or heating at the coldest time of the winter months. Several other residents have also been complaining about the same issue in the Barking Reach / Riverside Facebook groups and other social media channels.

X subsequently received a response from Jade with a job number that an engineer would be on-site the day after (21st January). However, the residents’ association would like to bring this to your attention so that you are aware of how dissatisfied residents are with L&Q services.

In addition, residents are also frustrated by the lack of response from L&Q. Several residents mentioned that if only ‘one’ resident reports an issue, this will be ignored unless there are more than one resident raising the same issue. Is there any particular reason why L&Q would require a number of residents to raise the same issue within a block of flats when a caretaker should be on-site to investigate, and arrange for an engineer to fix the issue should it require specialists to do so? What happens if the issue is only happening for ‘one’ particular resident?

Subsequently, Laura Cravitz from L&Q has approached the residents association yesterday morning with a note to faster inform residents of what L&Q is doing and how to reach her (please see attached email from Laura). I think it is necessary that a full inspection of Robert Lewis House heating system is carried out and that the final report is shared with the residents and the association for clarity of events, since this unacceptable problem happens almost every single year.

On another issue, X who lives in Flat X mentioned that one of the lifts in her block has not been working since August 2018. The residents’ association wrote to Laura and received a response that the parts for the current lifts had to be ordered and shipped over from Spain which is a reason for the delay.  These lifts are only about 4 years old and for it to have failed and left unfixed for 6 months just shows the incompetence of L&Q services. Laura responded in October 2018 that a decision for the long-term maintenance will be made and this would be shared with the residents. The residents’ association followed up in November but have not had any response. Residents have also not been given any updates regarding this issue as promised by L&Q.

Residents are unhappy not just with the lack of response but also with the lack of communication from L&Q to keep residents updated with the issues and maintenance within their blocks. 

The residents’ association would urge that you look into this matter seriously and appreciate your response.

Regards,
Nuno Amorim
Secretary
Barking Reach Residents Association

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Laura's email on Tuesday, 22 January 2019 as below:

Dear TRA
 
I was hoping for a favour, we are experiencing issues with the heating and hot water at Robert Lewis House, texts are being sent to Residents but I want to communicate with residents in any way I can and was hoping you could post a message from me on your residents page.
 
I would firstly like to send my apologies for the disruption in service, I promise I am doing everything in my power to try and get this resolved.
 
I know lots of residents want to speak with me however my first priority is coordinating contractors and the L&Q Energy Team to fix the issue I will then try and return all the calls and emails within the next few days.
 
I have a member of the L&Q energy team on there way to site and we are waiting for a report from the contractors.
 
We will also be requesting a full independent investigation into what has happened to try and ensure that this does not happen again in the future.
 
We will be keeping residents informed via text, if anyone wishes to speak with a member of L&Q staff please can they call the L&Q customer services team on 0300 456 9998.
 
Kind Regards
 
Laura Cravitz
L&Q

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Subsequently, MP Margaret Hodge forwarded a response from Pat Lee on  Wednesday, 23 January 2019 as below:
 

Dear Margaret Hodge MP

 

I’m writing to let you have an update on recent heating and hot water issues at Robert Lewis House, Barking Riverside.

 

Unfortunately we’ve experienced a breakdown of the central heating system. My team became aware of the problem this morning. We have been keeping residents updated by text message throughout the day. An engineer has attended and has got the system operational again although it’s not currently operating to full capacity. The manufacturers are due to attend tomorrow to get the system fully operational. We’ll continue to keep residents informed.

 

I just wanted to let you know in case you are contacted by concerned residents. Please feel free to pass on the above information and to advise them to contact LQ Direct on 0300 456 9996 should they have any questions.

 

If you have any concerns about individual residents or if you have any questions at all please let me know.

 

Best wishes

 

Pat

Pat Lee

L&Q

Barking Riverside.
 

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On Tuesday, 5 February 2019, MP Margaret Hodge forwarded a letter received from L&Q in regards to the situation with the heating and hot water.  Please click here or the link below to view the letter:

Robert Lewis House - Hot water and heating - MP Letter M Hodge - 4 February

Pat of L&Q responded to the Association the next day with the details as per the above letter. 

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Following further concerns from residents at Robert Lewis House about the broken lift, the residents' association wrote to the L&Q Head of estate renewal, the MP and the Councillors as below:   

On Wednesday, 13 February 2019, Barking Riverside <barkingriversideresidents@gmail.com wrote:

Hi Pat, Margaret and Councillors,

I am forwarding this email to you just so that you are aware of the frustration of a resident from Robert Lewis House on the Barking Riverside estate. This is just one of many residents who have raised this issue previously. Residents are generally dissatisfied not just with the lack of basic services such as heating and hot water, but also the broken lift on one of the blocks on that particular house.

The Residents Association has also queried this, since residents are paying the maintenance of such lift through their service charges, and has not had further updates on this issue. 

Please can you provide us and the residents with an explanation as to why it is taking so long (8 weeks) to service this particular lift?

Regards,
Nuno Amorim
Secretary
Barking Reach Residents Association 

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Pat, the Head of L&Q responded on Friday, 15 February as follows :

 

Dear Nuno, Councillors & Margaret

 
Many thanks for your recent email and for highlighting some resident concerns at Robert Lewis House. Your email is timely as there are quite a few things happening at this block which I’d like to tell you about. 
 
Firstly, I would like to clear up any confusion about the planned lift works. All 6 lifts are actually going to be replaced with brand new models from a different manufacturer. These new appliances will be paid for by L&Q at no cost to our residents. The work will begin soon and we will inform our residents once a confirmed start date has been agreed with the contractor. These new lifts will increase reliability and usability for all our residents. Parts will also be locally available for these new lifts meaning repairs (if needed) will be a lot quicker in future.
 
As I’m sure you will understand, work to replace 6 lifts will be a major project. We anticipate that it will take 8 weeks or so to replace all of the lifts.  However most of the lifts will remain in operation for this period as we gradually replace the other lifts (i.e. it will be a stage by stage project). This is to keep disruption to a minimum for our residents. The contractors and L&Q staff will be on hand to ensure the project goes as smoothly as possible. I’m sure you will agree that this is great news for residents at Robert Lewis House.
 
Security Upgrades: I am pleased to confirm that security upgrade works at Robert Lewis House are nearing completion, the final part is the replacement and repairs of the bin room and carpark doors. L&Q contractors are currently on site and this work should be completed within a week or so. The aim of this work is to make the blocks and people’s homes more secure as access for non residents will no longer be available through the bin stores onto the car park and communal areas. This work is being done at no cost to our residents. 
 
Emergency Access: The issue of people blocking the emergency access at Robert Lewis House is obviously a high priority for L&Q. This area provides an entrance for ambulances and fire appliances to get into the block and I’m sure you would agree that keeping this area clear is of vital importance. In addition we need to ensure that the safety bollards are not tampered with as these are in place to protect small children and families using the communal play/grassed area. To help us keep this area clear L&Q has just installed CCTV cameras to cover this area at no cost to residents. The cameras will record any vehicles passing the bollards or blocking the emergency access or anyone tampering with the security bollards. This could mean action being taken against those driving these vehicles or for damaging the bollards which I’m sure will be welcomed by residents at Robert Lewis House.
 
Landscaping:  As well as the lift replacement I’m also pleased to tell you that L&Q is planning to improve the communal gardens in the centre of the blocks as well as the planted areas along Minter Road and Mallards Road. This will make this area more attractive and welcoming for our residents. There are a number of improvements planned including upgrading the footpaths, replanting grassed areas, planting new trees, improving fencing, replanting hedges, flower and plant beds and making the gabions more secure. This is an exciting piece of work and again is all being done at no cost to our residents. We anticipate that this work will start before the end of March 2019 in time for Spring.
 
Best wishes
 
Pat 
Pat Lee
Head of Estate Renewal – Barking Riverside 

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The RA replied to Pat's email on Monday, 18 February 2019 as follows : 
 Dear Pat, 

 

You will recall that wrote to you on the 23 January highlighting our resident X who had contacted us because she has never had heating in her flat in Robert Lewis House since she moved in on the 4th March 2015 with a baby. 

 

X's child is now five year old and she is 7 months pregnant. She suffers from health issues that have been exacerbated by the cold flat.

 

 It is incredible to record that a month has passed since we last wrote and X still has no heating in the depth of winter once again.

 

X has correspondence showing that she written at least 14 times to L&Q regarding this issue since 2015, with appointments, but no resolution to the issue. It is unacceptable. 

 

When we last contacted you, X had been informed that an engineer would attend on the 21st January 2019. This was not successful. A number of efforts were subsequently made to discover the cause of her problems, which involved removing sections of her ceiling to reveal pipes that were not lagged. 

 

An engineer now has parts on order and believes he has got to the bottom of the issue. 

 

But today X has reported to us that Laura was forced to cancel a meeting that was planned to take place today (18 February 2015) between X, herself and the senior engineer from L&Q and rearrange it for Friday. 

 

This has caused me some concern because this seems to indicate that the issue is not being taken as seriously as it should be. Even worse, I fear that it might indicate that further delays are possible. The replacement heaters supplied are extremely costly. 

 

Can we be assured that the parts ordered will arrive promptly? 

 

What is the expected time frame for the work to be completed? 

 

We are also unclear as to what compensation will be offered, taking into consideration the extraordinary circumstances and the exorbitant cost of the temporary heaters. 

 

X is completing the necessary forms and we will follow this closely. 

 

Can we be assured by L&Q that this issue will be treated as urgent? 

 

Yours sincerely,

Pete Mason, 

Chair, 

Barking Reach Residents Association
 

--------------------The RA have not received any response from L&Q but prior to this have setup a 'RLH whatsapp' group.  This is so that residents can discuss their issues where it can be reported collectively to L&Q and BRL and any parties that may be involved.  Robert Lewis House residents who wish to join the group can email the contact name, number and block address to barkingriversideresidents@gmail.com.

Service Charge Accounts - officers' visit to Pinnacle head office

On 5th February, the Barking Reach Residents Association officers visited the managing agent Pinnacle Places head office to investigate the service charge accounts and how they were billed for the estate.  Here's a report from the officers:  

Visit to Pinnacle HQ
Yesterday, the Barking Reach Residents Association visited the headquarters of Pinnacle Places, to find out how our money, paid either through service charges or as part of your rent, was being spent on maintaining the Barking Riverside estate.

Just being granted permission to visit, to represent residents, was quite a victory. For the association’s committee (Chair Pete Mason, Secretary Nuno Amorim, and Treasurer Venilia Amorim), it was a first, exploratory visit to Pinnacle’s plush offices on St. Andrew Street in Holborn, for just one hour, which the committee squeezed in after a day’s work. There were few surprises this time, but there’s a lot more work to do.

Having a say in how things are run
Why did the association go? Residents want to have a say in how their estate is run, and part of that is gaining control over how the money is spent maintaining it. Both Pinnacle and RMG, which recently replaced Pinnacle in the Adriatic/Homeground run part of the estate, have now pledged to work with the residents association and with teams of residents from the estate on the coming summers’ setting of budgets for the blocks of flats and the maintenance of the grounds of the estate which RMG and Pinnacle manage. This vital aspect of resident control is yet to be established and residents must ensure it is seen though.

The association also believes that the London and Quadrant housing association, L&Q, should also accept that the Barking Riverside Community Interest Company or CIC, of which L&Q owns a 51% share, and which runs the development as a whole, including the appointment of Pinnacle and Link Parking, should have a majority of elected residents on the board of directors, so that decisions could be made at the top level about improving the reliability of heating and hot water in the flats, parking, and the tidiness of the estate, and so forth, in the interests of residents. This resident majority is written into the CIC constitution, so it ought to be acted on as the estate develops.

Inspect the Service Charge
So being able to inspect the service charge accounts is only the beginning. Yet the association has had to fight long and hard for recognition by Pinnacle, which originally tried to set up an alternative “forum” and wouldn’t allow the residents association chair to speak at, or even in one instance to attend, the residents’ meetings they arranged. All this has changed.

The association only really won through, in our view, when last year the patience of our long-suffering residents ran out and the association raised a £1,000+ legal fund in a matter of days from residents’ small donations, to take challenges to the service charge through the courts. At the same time, the association’s push for “Right to Manage” proceedings to remove Pinnacle from the Samuel Garside House block of flats, in fact resulted in the landlord, Adriatic, removing Pinnacle from a whole number of blocks of flats and houses across a large section of the estate. Houses and flats on the south side of Galleons Drive from Mallards Road to Samuel Garside House, those at the south end of Crossness Road, and those on Minter Road, are now managed by RMG. Resident discontent was cited as one of the reasons. Then suddenly everything changed.

Pinnacle are still the estate managers though. Pinnacle still maintains the parks and lakes, streets and street lighting, and the Rivergate Centre, to mention just a few things. So residents would think it irresponsible if the association didn’t take up Pinnacle’s new offer to engage and see whether they had truly changed their spots after many changes of personnel, and also to begin to clarify residents questions on the service charge accounts. Negotiation is always better than legal action where possible. The new staff at Pinnacle headquarters were very helpful and eager to please and the association thanked them for their cooperation.

Just the beginning
The association knew that this visit was just the beginning of our investigation, so we wanted to start with the accounting year 2014-15 because it was right back in 2014 that a whole number of house-owning residents, the original residents who live in the areas from which Pinnacle has now been replaced by RMG, became alarmed when they were sent a whole list of items on their service charge breakdown for which they were not supposed to be charged at all. Their biggest expense seemed to be lifts. They complained: “We don’t have lifts in our houses!” It appeared that residents were being charged for the significant costs of maintaining the flats. This was very misleading.

Wrong breakdown – Court action necessary?
There is nothing more infuriating than being threatened with penalties for not paying an invoice which looks like someone else’s bill and residents felt that their queries were not answered when they approached the previous staff. We needed to get to the bottom of this.

On the visit, it was clear that the breakdown for what was actually being charged to those frustrated residents was entirely missing for that year. The service charge breakdown was not for them at all. It was misleading and lacking in the right information. The association has asserted this already as a fact to Pinnacle, and they have replied that they think the service charge documentation was sufficient if unclear.

So, after the visit, it looks like the association now has no option but to seek legal advice as to whether these residents need pay the balancing charge levied in 2017 for the year 2014-15. In technical terms, the association will seek advice as to whether the final balancing invoice or the section 20b notice was served correctly for these residents and if not, challenge Pinnacle using the funds raised by the association.

Calculations
The association asked how the percentage which is used to calculate residents’ charges was arrived at. This is something like the total cost of the estate management for that year as shown on the schedule supplied, divided by the number of habitable rooms in each zone. This figure will then be multiplied by the number of habitable rooms in a house or flat plus one, to give a final percentage which appears on each bill. Apply this percentage to the total zone costs to see your bill. But while the committee knew that much already, Pinnacle’s staff were unable to provide more accurate information. So the committee is still enquiring about this.

Zones
The association asked to see a map of the zones, hoping to be able to see whether this might be the reason why residents who live close by each other sometimes have very different bills. Other reasons the committee can investigate is if the wrong number of habitable rooms for your property has been entered in your bill, or the percentage is wrong. Obviously, balances are likely to be different depending on how much has been paid by different individuals, so this is a separate issue. In any case, we are still looking at this.

Exploratory Visit
This was very much an initial, exploratory visit, to begin the process of examining the accounts. The association asked to see a whole range of supplier invoices, picked from the complete breakdown of costs provided to us, and were surprised when the staff explained that they did not have them to hand. They told the committee that the year 2014-15 had been archived as Pinnacle had no room to store them. Any other year was available. The association had only given a day or two’s notice but the staff didn’t seem aware of this, and had only been briefed on the day. It clearly wasn’t their fault.

Instead, the staff took down a long list of invoices to send to us and the committee will send them a reminder of what is required and a request that it be expedited within 21 days. When the committee visit to see year 2015-16, we will give more notice of what is being requested and require explicitly that the 2014-15 and 2015-16 year’s invoices are present. And the association will gather more questions from residents to look into. Then our time ran out. The lack of time meant the committee was not able to look at any service charge invoices for the flats and this omission must be corrected next time.

The association is yet to examine the invoices for the year in question, the first full year of service charge accounts for the estate, and who knows if there will be surprises that will lead to further investigations, but we have established what we hope will be a small step forward in gaining resident control over their own estate.

Service Charge - Pinnacle & legal funds update

Subsequent to the officers' visit, the residents' association wrote to Oliver Miller-Head of Housing for Pinnacle Places on Thursday, 14 February 2019 as below:
 

Dear Ollie,

I hope you are well.

As you know, the Residents Association committee visited the Pinnacle HQ to view the invoices on the 6th February.

Unfortunately, the invoices for the year 2014-15 that we requested to see in our email of the 4th February, were not available for inspection.

Similarly, point four of our email of the 4th February was that we needed to discover how the percentage, which is applied to the sum of the schedule of costs, is calculated, and how this is related to the zones within the Barking Riverside estate.

This information was also not available, so it was not possible to chase a service charge bill through from the supplier invoices to the final bill as residents had requested.

Your staff informed us that the invoices for that year were archived and that they needed some time to retrieve them. As for the percentages, while they explained that they could not show the personal information of residents (e.g the number of habitable rooms each resident has), the committee made clear that all we request is that the formula is set down clearly so we can explain it to residents—and even better, suppose the formula to be the sum shown on the schedule divided by x number of habitable rooms, and multiplied by the number of rooms of the relevant residence (plus one?)—then it would be useful to know what x is for each zone/schedule, whether zones apply in each case, and so forth.

Your staff promised to retrieve a list of invoices which we supplied to them and send them to us, and supply the zone and calculation information.

These include the following from the service charge transaction listing:

1.    AUDIT (Audit Fee):
a.    23703/2 for £2,377.44
b.    23703/3 for £2,377.44

2.    CLEANSP (Specialist Clean): 8270/2/1 for £576.00

3.    GARDNR (Gardeners): 7669/5/4 for £1,625.40

4.    GATES (Car Park Entrance Gates):
a.    7365/2/1 for £172.80
b.    8892/1/1 for £463.20

5.    GENERAL (General Expenses): 8668/8/1 for £822.00

6.    GROUNDM (Grounds Maintenance):
a.    5894/2/1 for £625.35
b.    5940/1/1 for £960.00
c.    6625/1/1 for £960.00
d.    6625/4/1 for £5,962.09
e.    7365/1/1 for £897.00
f.    7775/3/1 for £770.00
g.    7775/5/1 for £2,814
h.    8668/3/1 for £6,423.90
i.    8668/7/1 for £3,190.04
j.    9759/6/1 for £612.00
k.    11701/3/1 for £3,300
l.    11701/4/1 for £2,640
m.    23703/4 for £2,493.66
n.    23703/5 for £2,271.06
o.    23709/2 for £1,049.32

7.    MAIN (General Maintenance):
a.    7856/2/1 for £2,192.40
b.    9032/4/1 for £875.00

8.    MANF (Management Fee):
a.    6291/4/1 for £2,380
b.    7775/2/1 for £2,295.97
c.    7914/3/1 for £2,856
d.    7914/4/1 for £328.00
e.    8363/1/1 for £2,856
f.    8363/2/1 for £328.00
g.    8668/9/1 for £1,640
h.    8668/10/1 for £1,640
i.    8668/11/1 for £328.00
j.    8668/13/1 for £2,856
k.    9032/1/1 for £4,824
l.    9502/1/1 for £1,640
m.    9502/5/1 for £4,824
n.    23703/9 for £4,224

9.    PORTER (Porter(s)):
a.    12955/16 for £88,910.37
b.    12955/18 for £43,395.99
c.    23703/6 for £11,736.46
d.    23703/7 for £13,136.53

10.    REPORTS (External Reports):
a.    6981/6/1 for £588.00
b.    8668/5/1 for £600.00

11.    SALARIES (Salaries): 12955/15 for £88,910.37

12.    YEAR END (Year End Adjustments): 23709/7 for £7,664.92

Emma and Amina were very friendly and tried their best to be helpful in the circumstances they found themselves in.

So the committee is requesting such invoices and zone calculation information to reach us within the next 21 days.

Many thanks,
Pete Mason

Chair

Barking Reach Residents Association

 

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Service Charge Legal Fund Donation Update

 

The Residents Association(RA) would like to express our thanks to residents who have donated to the Service Charge legal fund. 

The fund's value so far as of 14 February 2019 at 14:07 has reached a net amount of  £1,374.68. 
 

Residents who wish to contribute to help us build up a legal fund to investigate the legality of the Pinnacle Places's Service charge can use the below link to do so.
 
Click the PayPal link below to donate :

DONATE 

Your contribution is very important and will help the Association seek legal advice to challenge the Service Charge. 

The RA are currently in negotiation with the Solicitor about intervening in the issues that have been highlighted on the service charge, as the RA get more precise information from Pinnacle about the situation. 

 

 

 

RMG - Coverage map and updates

On November 2018, RMG (Residential Management Group) were officially appointed as managing agent by Adriatic, which acts through Homeground.  RMG replaced Pinnacle for the management of the blocks of flats and houses that Adriatic Land own. Pinnacle remains in charge of the Riverside estate. RMG took over the following blocks in Barking Riverside: 
* Leslie Hitchcock House
* John Miller House
* Ernest Websdale House
* Samuel Garside House
* Stephen Tuckwell House
* George Wheeler House

Residents who own houses where their landlord is Adriatic Land were initially surprised to receive letters from RMG claiming that they were the new managing agent. The RA wrote to RMG on 5 November 2018 for clarification and received a response from Denise of RMG as below.

As can be seen from the maps Denise sent, (links below), Adriatic owns the land on which houses stretching from Mallards Road to De Pass Gardens are situated, including Drake Close, Davey Gardens, a section of Galleons Drive, Chillworth Place and Harlequin Close.  This solved a number of service charge mysteries. These houses will still be liable for their proportion of the estate service charge - the upkeep of the estate, including running the Rivergate Centre. 

Dear Mr Mason,
 
Michelle is currently on annual leave, but I have a good working knowledge of the development in her absence.
 
In response to the question raised below by Ms X, I can confirm that Pinnacle Places are still managing the Barking Riverside Estate.
 
RMG are actively managing Leslie Hitchcock, John Miller, Ernest Websdale, Samuel Garside, Stephen Tuckwell and George Miller House.
 
I hope this answers the residents question
 
Kind regards
 
Denise

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Denise subsequently sent the below coverage map on the blocks they manage:

* Samuel Garside House
* Stephen Tuckwell and George Wheeler House
* John Miller and Leslie Hitchcock House 1
* John Miller and Leslie Hitchcock House 2
* Ernest Websdale House 
 RMG Updates 

Since the takeover from RMG, the RA received numerous reports from Samuel Garside House residents regarding the cleanliness of the block.  This is mainly the refuse bins not being emptied and the poor state of cleaning in the block.  Subsequently, Treasurer Venilia and committee member Nishma met Michelle Ivemy, the Regional Manager of RMG and Zoe Pickering, the Estate Manager of RMG on 6 December 2018.  Please click here or the link below for the minutes of the meeting.

Committee meet with RMG - 06.12.2018

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RMG arranged to meet with residents at the Rivergate Centre on 24 January.  The RA also invited RMG as the guest speaker at the last RA meeting on 30 January.  For further details, please click here to view the minutes or click on the BRRA residents meeting 01/2019 on the Minutes section. 

Leslie Hitchcock House - 82K related heating bill

On Wednesday 14 November 2018, the RA wrote to Matt Carpen of BRL, Pat Lee of L&Q, Jonathan Cooke of Pinnacle, the Councillors and MP Margaret Hodge, regarding an 82K Scottish Power letter that a resident had received.  Please see email below:

Hi Pat / Matt / Jonathan,

May I raise three important things with you?

Scottish Power £82K bill – Please see attached a Scottish Power bill for the amount of £82K received by a resident from Leslie Hitchcock House.  These came as a complete shock to residents as it says that ‘if there is no single point of contact, all residents are equally responsible for the amount’.   We believe that ultimately BRL is in fact responsible for this bill and we would like to discuss this with you. We are ccing Margaret Hodge in to this email because she has already had a meeting with you on this subject but this outstanding bill, which must date back to when the Green Electrical company was operational, has not been part of the conversation. I think it should definitely be part of the conversation. Our residents are outraged to say the least.

Allocation of disabled bays - Just a follow up to find out about the allocation of the disabled bays, particularly in Davey gardens, that BRL is investigating.   Please can you let me know of progress? 

Appointment to meet – We would like to suggest our next meeting with BRL and L&Q on [date&time] at the BRL office.  Please let us know your availability.


Thanks and regards,
Pete Mason
Chair
Barking Reach Residents Association

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Matt of BRL responded the next day as follows : 

Dear Pete.
 
Regarding the Scottish Power letter I am disappointed at this latest development which is unacceptable.  My view is that it falls into the same pool of issues as the block heat supply arrangements from the Landlord/Bellway where the obligation sits.  I have therefore written to Adriatic and Bellway and spoken to them again today requesting they investigate and update residents, Councillors, Margaret and BRL in writing urgently. 
 
I will ask Pat to respond on the specifics of the parking.
 
Yes I can meet [date&time] at BRL office, although I do not think Jonathan will be able to make that and I think he probably needs to be present to discuss some of the items.  I will ask him to communicate back to you directly off line if we need another date.
 
Matt

Parking update & Link Parking

On Thursday 17 January 2019, residents of Samuel Garside and Ernest Websdale House who received their visitors permits were confused by the visitor's permit number being marked as the exact same number of their designated bays.  Further confusion arose when the letter from Link Parking indicated that if there were bay numbers, the permit may only be used on the designated bay.  The RA wrote to Pat of L&Q for clarification as follows: 
 

Dear Pat,

Thanks for your last email.

I'm writing urgently, firstly because Link Parking have sent out, to the residents in Samuel Garside house and Ernest Websdale house specifically, and possibly elsewhere, (but not everywhere) permits specifically marked with the resident's bay numbers, whilst stating in their accompanying letter, that the permit may only be used for their designated bay in these circumstances.

Link Parking must urgently send out a second letter stating that this is a mistake, and that any permit issued by Link Parking /  BRL to local residents, whether showing a bay number or not, will be recognised when parking in the visitor bays.

This will overcome the need to issue a replacement permit and at the same time,  allow any resident whose car has been displaced by someone parking in their space to park in a visitor bay between 12 and 2 without getting a ticket.

The second issue is the single yellow lines on McAllister Grove, Gatward Place and Middleton Grove.

These roads are too narrow to park on, without blocking traffic entirely, unless the car is partly or fully on the pavement. In discussions on this, Matt made clear to me that these roads are pedestrianised and so the issue of parking on the pavement, hence forcing pedestrians into the road, is not an issue. The lack of through traffic, and the drop kerbs on these specific streets, allow wheelchairs and pushchairs to go from pavement to road and back again with ease.

However it has been reported that Link Parking have issued tickets for cars that were using the single yellow lines as intended.

Signage needs to be placed on these roads indicating that parking half or (in the case of McAllister and Middleton Grove)  fully on the pavement, is allowed,  and it would be useful for Link Parking or yourselves to advise this publicly.

Otherwise the single yellow lines are unusable.

The signage should be in place, and any further issues resolved, before Link Parking recommences its ticketing.

Incidentally Link Parking's permits have adhesive on, once again demonstrating they have no clue as to the purpose of these visitor permits and demonstrating their incompetence and that they are unsuitable for the job.

Finally, could we ask for, for instance, at least two weeks notice of the next drop in session regarding the retendering of parking management contracts and requirements.

Regards,

Pete Mason

ChairBarking Reach Residents Association

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The RA followed up on Tuesday 29 January 2019 for a response.  Pat responded the next day as follows : 

Dear Pete
 
Thank you for your email.
 
I have asked Link Parking to write to these residents to clarify. The numbers on the new visitor permits are for office use only to keep a record of which permit was sent to which address.
 
I am investigating with Link Parking in relation to the reports of tickets being issued on Gatward Place, McAllister Grove and Middleton Grove.  If you have details please can you send these to me.   As you discussed previously with BRL, the intention is to ensure that during the day, those areas are completely clear, but during the evening this could be relaxed.
 
The permits provided by Link are a standard format so can be displayed on the windscreen or swapped from vehicle to vehicle in the case of visitor use and displayed on the dashboard (as many residents already do with their resident permits).
 
Lastly the next BRL event is at the Rivergate Centre on 9 February from 10am to 1pm and we anticipate that we will be talking to residents about the parking arrangements and the tendering process for parking enforcement going forward.   Hopefully you will be able to join at some point.
 
Regards
 
Pat
Pat Lee
Head of Estate Renewal
L&Q

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On Friday 8 February 2019 the RA wrote to Pat of L&Q requesting Link Parking to hold off ticketing on Sedge Gardens as follows : 
 

Dear Pat,

 

I hope you are well. Could I draw your attention to a couple of things?

 

Residents on Sedge Gardens have let us know that work is not completed on their street and in the meantime Link Parking is ticketing them, several residents having got tickets. 

 

Could we ask link parking to hold off until completion of the works on that street?

 

Also just a follow up as to whether Link Parking will clarify the confusion over those visitor permits that have bays in them?

 

I'm sorry I can’t make the meeting tomorrow but Nuno or Venilia will be there.  I hope all goes well. 

 

Cheers

Pete
 

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The RA have not received any response regarding the above and will follow up. 

Rat infestation - Victory Court

On Friday 30 November 2018, the RA wrote to Kamal of Countrywide to report about the poorly maintained Victory Court bin store as follows: 

Dear Kamal,

 

Re: Health and safety at Victory Court, Atlantis Close, IG11 0GP - Great Fleete estate in Barking

 

Thank you for taking my call today. It was good to talk to you. 

 

I thought it important to set down, for all parties concerned, the issues we discussed so that there is no misunderstanding, and attach a few pictures showing the state of the bin store. For this reason I have cc’d those we have discussed this issue with until now. 

 

I would be grateful for your response. 

 

As I explained, rats have spread from a broken drain cover under the Victory Court bin store adjacent to Marine Drive three years ago and established themselves in the adjacent properties of Riverdale Close managed by Southern Housing. 

 

Southern Housing report that the drain cover has been mended and they are now carrying out a programme of pest control and proofing to the affected properties.

 

However residents are concerned that the bin stores are very poorly maintained and have complained to the environmental health. We understand the council wishes in the first instance to see if Countrywide are willing to improve the situation before intervening. 

 

My observations, backed up with daily photographs, show that no regular cleansing is carried out of the bin store, with the result that rubbish of all kinds builds up together with some flytipping of which you are aware. In early October the bin stores were given a clean, but my pictures show that subsequently the same rubbish lies undisturbed.

 

I emphasised to you that while the flytipping is an ongoing problem of which you are well aware, general hygiene, tidiness, requiring no more than a few minutes a day from your cleaners, will hugely improve the situation as far as health and safety is concerned. 

 

I hope you can report some progress on this matter. 

 

Regards,

Pete Mason

Chair

Barking Reach Residents Association

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On Tuesday 29 January 2019, the RA wrote to Debbie of Southern Housing as follows :

 Hi Debbie, 

I just spoke to the residents X riverdale close today and they requested a report on progress as we expect the pest control people are finished, but the traps are still present. Do they report success? 

 

I'd be very grateful for feedback. 

 

Number X reported the terrible smell of a dead rat in a downstairs partition wall two weeks ago for a few days. 

 

Most importantly,  currently the communal bin area in Victory court is relatively clean.  I did ask countrywide for daily attention to the area from their cleaners, but this has not happened. I'd like to see at least weekly cleaning, but I'm not optimistic as they were being cleaned no more than once in a few months previously.

 

Anyway, happy new year. People say Riverdale Close is looking very nice so I'm grateful for the work you've put in. 

 

Cheers

Pete
 

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Debbie responded on Monday 4 February 2019 and forwarded a response from the pest control team confirming that the works had been completed unless they received further complains from tenants.  The pest control team added that the external baits are there for monitoring purposes in case the rat infestation returns.  

The RA are still monitoring the bins at Victory Court closely and have noted that they appear to be being cleaned more regularly.  This is the source of the problem. 

Minutes for : 

Click on the below links to view the minutes : 

* BRRA meeting November 2018
* BRRA meeting December 2018
* BRRA meeting January 2019

* BRRA meeting with BRL, L&Q & Pinnacle December 2018

Others :

Abolish Leasehold

Please support the National Leasehold Campaign and click on the  link below to sign the petition to abolish leasehold.  

Abolish Leasehold - Petition

Crossness Road - Potholes

On Thursday 3 January 2019, the residents' association(RA) reported the potholes at Crossness Road via London Borough of Barking and Dagenham (LBBD) online.  The RA received the reference numbers of 2085841 and 2085849 from LBBD road and pavement defects team where the email stated that the defect would be inspected within 28 working days and the repair of the defect might be fixed at a later date. 

Since the RA did not receive a further response and the potholes are still visible after the 28 working days, the RA wrote to 3000lbbd, MP Margaret and the Councillors on Thursday 14 February 2019 as follows :

 

Dear LBBD / Councillors / MP Margaret,

I am writing to inform you about the condition of the road with massive potholes between the turning from Thames Road to / from Crossness Road.  Please see attached image on the condition of the road where several potholes can be seen on that turning where this was left unfixed, although this was reported via LBBD online on 3rd January with the reference 2085841 and 2085849.  Several residents have complained about this and the potholes are damaging their vehicles. 
Please note that this is a council adopted road (see map attached on the exact location of the potholes) and is certainly Not a private road. 

Please can you advise when this can be fixed?

Regards,
Nuno Amorim
Secretary
Barking Reach Residents Association

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The RA received the following email acknowledgement from Councillor Cameron Geddes and MP Margaret Hodge :

 

Dear Nuno,

 

Thanks for raising this. It was probably the biggest complaint at the open evening organized for BRL and I am pretty certain either I reported it or someone else was going to do so. Fly tipping along here also a problem!

 

Cheers

 

Cameron

--------------------

Dear Nuno,

 

Thanks for copying Margaret into your email.

 

Margaret will shortly be acting on your behalf. 

 

Best wishes, 

 

Asra

 

Office of Margaret Hodge MP

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The RA confirms on Tuesday 19 February 2019 that the potholes were finally covered. 

Sustrans - Thames Ward Greenway

On 7th February Sustrans organised the second meeting for the Thames View Greenway Stakeholder Management Group.

At that meeting Sustrans revealed the outcome of their online survey, which showed that:
- 93.6% are very or extremely interested in a better path surface to improve access for people with pushchairs, people on bicycles, wheelchair users etc

- 78.7% are very or extremely interested in educational activities for children.

- 78.3% are very or extremely interested in information and education boards.

- 69.5% are very or extremely interested in children’s play facilities.

Responding to the findings of these surveys, Sustrans is running another public co-design workshop which aims to be a fun and creative session, open to everyone and anyone. Please join us in designing your local greenway -choosing the type of path, educational activities, play facilities and info/education boards about the area… and more. We need you to inform this stage of the project!

Wednesday 20th February, 3pm-7pm: George Carey School (foyer), Rivergate Centre, Minter Road, Barking, IG11 0FJ

The plan for the next few months involve:
- Throughout February we will be designing the scheme with residents and local school pupils.

- In March, the designs will be displayed in the Sue Bramley Centre and Rivergate Centre and there will be further opportunities to influence the final designs.

- The path is planned to be delivered in the summer.

The survey is still online (https://sustrans.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/greenway) and Sustrans is still receiving submissions.

Please click on the link below for more information: 
Sustrans Ripple Stakeholder QA External FINAL
 Thames Ward Growth Summit - Architect Sans Frontieres (ASF) 

TWCP have been working closely with ASF to build a citizens' charter group within the community.  The project and training workshop have already started.  Please click on the links below for more information on what it does and how residents can volunteer to be involved: 

ASF walking and talking
ASF workshop meeting minutes 19.01.2019