CATS Chelsea Association of Tenants - Affinity Sutton
NEWSLETTER
AUTUMN 2012
ANNUAL SEASIDE TRIP
All who joined us on the day trip to Brighton in
August reported what an enjoyable time they had. If you have any preferences for a day at the
seaside for next year, we would welcome your ideas – the more the merrier!
ESTATE PARKING
Thank you to those of you who completed and returned
the Parking Questionnaires. All the
comments were carefully collated and taken on board and the results are being
compared with Affinity’s proposed system.
One thing which was quite clear from the majority was that Nighthawk
control would be unacceptable. We will
keep you informed of further developments.
SHEDS
There was much angst amongst residents who have sheds
and Affinity’s treatment in giving, in some instances, very short notice before
going ahead with alterations. CATS
posted notices in all communal areas and issued questionnaires to the most
affected blocks, i.e. Maylands and Leverstock.
We also wrote immediately to RBKC objecting to the proposals to the
works having started with their notices going up at the last minute. We await their comments and will pass these
on to you as soon as they are to hand.
We are aware that some of you have raised your own individual objections
with RBKC and we would welcome your views, if any, on this also.
VISIT TO AFFINITY CALL CENTRE
As residents were still not happy about the reporting
process to the Affinity Call Centre for complaints or general queries, a member
of the Committee spent the day at the Call Centre listening in on calls to both
CBS and the Call Centre. Despite there
being some delays in getting through,
the staff are polite and try to resolve issues as soon as possible. However it is out of their hands once the
repairs have been reported on to CBS and Willmott Dixon.
REDEVELOPMENT
Although definite feedback from Affinity has been slow
in coming, we would like to assure you that CATS are continually liaising with
Greg Hands, our local MP, as well as with Citizens Advice Bureau and various
other bodies to ensure that our rights are being legally adhered to.
OUTSTANDING COMMUNAL
MAINTENANTS REPAIRS
We have been in touch with Affinity regarding the
numerous outstanding communal maintenance repairs and have recently had
surveyors from Head Office inspecting the whole of the Estate. In brief, everything pointed out has been
noted and we are assured will be acted upon.
Some of the more important issues were
ongoing/penetrating rising damp; communal door lock systems not working or
missing; poor condition of paths and road surfaces throughout the Estate; damaged
and unacceptable bin areas; knocked down pillars fronting the main entrance to
Estate; blocked dysfunctional drains and gulleys; non functional security cameras.
WILBERFORCE TRUST
Several members of the Committee attended an afternoon
event of the Wilberforce Trust, a voluntary organization helping and supporting
the elderly, lonely or infirmed within the community. They regularly hold free afternoon concerts,
teas, etc and give impartial advice on all manner of things. Should you be interested in attending their
next event please let us know and if we have a sufficient number of tenants interested
we can arrange transport.
NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH
We have been in contact with our local police force
and will be setting up a Neighbourhood Watch which will benefit the community.
Some of the continual complaints being received are:
- The increase in dog numbers which are
not being controlled properly and the caretakers having the enormous task
of cleaning up the mess.
- Doors being allowed to slam in the
communal areas as well as in the main entrances with no consideration for
fellow neighbours.
- Groups of rowdy youths hanging around
and racing their bicycles through the Estate in the evenings.
- Youngsters playing football (despite
the “no balls” signs).
- Rubbish being deposited in bags “outside”
the bins with no regard for the contents (food waste outside the recycling
bins!)
- Trade vehicles belonging to tenants ignoring
the speed limit within the Estate.
Ideally we would like one person from each block to
form the group. Please let us know if
you are interested in keeping your community from deteriorating.
We also took the opportunity of meeting with them and reporting
that tramps were using the area around Leverstock block as toilet facilities
and asked them to monitor that particular area in their nightly patrols.
AGM
CATS Annual General Meeting has been set for Thursday
15th November in the Jenningsbury Lounge at 7.00 p.m. We hope you will be able to attend as we feel
it is important to have a Tenants Association to represent all tenants on the
Estate.
As you know the main purpose of the AGM is to re-elect
or elect a new Committee which will best serve our community. If you would like to join us, this will give
you the opportunity of doing so or alternatively if you know of someone who
would be interested in joining, you may put their name forward. Please remember that only tenants of the
Estate can be nominated and those have to be seconded.
Attached are nomination forms which we should be
obliged, when completed, be posted through the blue letterbox of the main
Estate Office by Thursday 8th
November
CHRISTMAS PANTO
We have negotiated great prices for the Panto this
year. This is for the matinee performance
of “Peter Pan” at the Beck Theatre
on Saturday 5th January 2013. The subsidy will of course be passed on to
you so look out for further details posted on the CATS Notice Board as well as
in all communal areas nearer the time.
COMMITTEE AND SURGERY MEETING
DATES
A reminder that we hold Committee Meetings every first
Thursday of the month and Surgeries every third Thursday of the month both of
which you are most welcome to attend.
GENERAL
We hope to have our own website running by the end of this year where you
will be able to email us, twitter us, read our monthly minutes and see what
else is happening on the Estate – we hope you will find this useful. However, those not on line can still keep in
touch via hard copy notices which will be posted on our notice board and in
each block.
You can also call us on 07587 046256 – please leave
your name and number and one of us will get back to you.
WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU
AT THE AGM
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