News
IN THE LOOP March 2021
Thursday 25th February 2021
Here are the news headlines from the RMC board.
Each month we'd like to share with you the activities of the RMC Board and from time to time will provide a more detailed Update for all owners on estate issues.
The story so far.....
The RMC Board was initially formed to progress the transfer of the external common areas of the estate into the ownership of all apartment leaseholders and house freeholders from the developer David Wilson Homes. Although the developer was keen to put all of the common areas into our control, the reality is that the process has proved difficult. It is a long saga involving legal tangles and a reluctance to engage by the freeholders of the apartment blocks. But despite setbacks we have soldiered on and are optimistic we'll succeed!
To date eight home-owners are registered at Companies House as being Directors of the Board of The Old Meadow Management Company Limited.
We just cannot emphasize enough how important it is that owners gain control of the external areas, because this means that we can be responsible for shaping the future of this beautiful estate. If you are not registered to be a member of the RMC (Residents' Management Company), make sure you sign up. Managing Agents
Car parking - It's a marmite issue
The RMC Board, jointly with the managing agents, decided to introduce a parking enforcement scheme to penalise vehicle owners who flaunt the parking rules. The decision was taken after repeated and long-term problems with the Network Rail access area and other blatant infringements, particularly at the rear of Montgomery House and at the end of Cadman, where there is an emergency access for the Environment Agency etc. The scheme and the accompanying signage, however, met with a mixed reaction and so the Board agreed to trial some less harsh measures and to monitor the situation until 1 April, when a review will take place.
All residents, both owners and tenants, should have received a letter from Warwick Estates dated 19 January 2021. This sets out the interim measures. If you have not received the letter please contact michael.hurst@warwickestates.net for a copy. If everyone toes the line we may be in a position to scale down the measures.
Going underground
One area where we have made some significant progress is with the adoption of the estates' sewage and run-off system. "Doesn't sound significant? Well it is!" Let's say the developer made rather a large faux pas and despite saying that the systems would be adopted by Severn Trent Water (STW) (check your legal documents, it's in there) they omitted to do the paperwork. Well we spotted this and have successfully managed to get the developer to sort out the systems in line with STW's requests. There are still some works to be carried out by Chasetown Civil Engineering at the far end of TOM, where the estate's run-off water goes into the river. But we are confident that the systems will be taken over by STW once all works are completed. The systems could potentially have been a huge financial burden to everyone if we'd encountered issues such as blockages, fatbergs etc. Not a nice topic, but an important one.
Can you help?
If you are interested in helping the board and being more involved in our activities please let us know. We are likely to have a couple of vacancies and the existing Board members will be up for re-election at the AGM, which we hope to hold in September 2021.
We recently co-opted Jean Major onto the Board to be responsible for the creation and running of the TOM website. Jean has done an amazing job to get the website developed, it will be a very valuable tool for the TOM community and a source of much needed information.
If you are interested in Board membership, a job specification can be found under the Management Information section Director of The RMC
About us
Each director has responsibility for a specific area(s) or project(s). You can find our names and details and our key responsibilities at Directors
Sadly, current Board member Pete Jackson will be leaving The Old Meadow in April and standing down after several years of service. We wish him well in his new life away from TOM and thank him for all his work over the years.