Spring Update

Gardening

The Board has been unhappy with the previous garden maintenance company, Greenmantle's performance for some time. After researching the market, we have selected James Powell Gardening as our new contractor (jamesewenpowell.com). Initially, James and his team will carry out basic maintenance tasks which have not been adequately carried out before moving to an improvement stage.

As part of this, he will need access to work on hedges between houses so he may ask you to move your car for a short period of time.

When the weather improves. he will also replace the loose gravel in the centre area with resin bonded gravel. Finances The Board is aware that a a S20B letter was sent to all residents with a potential overspend. The draft accounts at the end of the year to September 2021 presented to the Board did not indicate that there would be a material over run in costs. We await finalised accounts with full explanations of all material variances from Mainstay for the Board's approval. We will update further when these are received.

The Board has had an increasing focus over the last year requiring Mainstay to demonstrate value for money particularly from their supply base. Mainstay was acquired by market leader Firstport in 2021. We have tasked Firstport to demonstrate what tangible improvements and benefits we can expect from Firstport's acquisition. We will update when we have received Firstport's improvement plan

Major Works

Major works come from what is known as the Long Term Maintenance Plan ("LTMP"), a 25 year forecast of what spends are likely to be incurred to maintain the fabric of the estate. This includes repairs and maintenance for major items such as lifts, roofs and internal decorations. Part of the service charge you pay goes to creating reserves in order to be able pay for these as they arise.

The Board has reviewed the original plan f0r 2021 and 2022 and concluded that the forecast spend can be substantially reduced to focus on internal areas of redecorations needed in the apartment blocks. We are currently waiting on quotes from a selected contractor to commence the works which we hope, having been delayed by Covid, can commence in the next few weeks.

Red Lines

We have noticed an increasing number of vehicles, particularly delivery vehicles, parking at the entrance to Emerald Square, obscuring views and creating a potential traffic hazard. The Board has decided to introduce double red lines which prohibit parking at the immediate entrance to the square and the entrance to the underground car park.. This will, we anticipate, reduce the traffic hazard while still leaving adequate space for delivery vehicles to park safely.

We will announce the timing of the installation in due course as we will need to introduce traffic management while the works are being carried out.