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Minutes of ACF Meeting
Present: - Wendy Farmer (Chair), Bridget Orman (Vice-chair & Secretary), Ruth Andrews (Treasurer), Bruce Andrews, Fred Bathurst, Rose Boden, Bill Bone, Keith Bones, Conny Fairclough, John Halls, Brian Higgins, Sue Holland, Paula Kinsella, Elsie Kitson, Bob McClelland, June Molton, Tony Morris, Sylvia Page, Tania Page, Ron Pope, Stan Reed, Ann Seldon, Brian Smith, Edna Wye.
Wendy welcomed everyone to the meeting.
Apologies were received from Lisa Cook, Sue Lane, Linda Price and Barry Maxey (ADC). 3. Minutes of previous meeting on 17th July 2008 The minutes were agreed. 4. Matters arising Ruth said that she is still waiting to hear from the council about them tidying up the Millennium Garden. It was suggested that if there is no satisfactory response in the near future, the ACF should look at asking another contractor (such as Greenscape) to provide an estimate for maintaining this garden.
Bridget suggested holding the Christmas Social at the Lancing Parish Hall. This would entail using their bar facilities and hiring a caterer. She suggested asking Cornucopia, the Lancing bakers, to quote for providing a buffet. Some members who had previously used this company remarked that they provide an excellent service at a reasonable price. Sylvia suggested the function room at the Crown and Anchor in Shoreham as another possible venue and Famished in Shoreham as a possible caterer. It was agreed to make further enquiries into these suggestions. Wendy wondered if Mo at the Civic Centre would be interested in providing the catering and said she would ask Barry to approach her. 6. Treasurer’s Report There has been no change to the ACF funds since the previous meeting with the bank balance standing at £2,536.16 and petty cash at £40.22.
Bridget reported that the ACF had received a request, via Barry, from the Courts Action Group. This was to fund the planting of one or two shrubs on the Wilmot Road site in memory of two of their committee members who had passed away earlier this year. This was approved and it was agreed to ask Dave Millard, Contract Monitoring Officer, for advice on this matter. 8. Tenant Participation Strategy Copies of a draft of the revised Tenant Participation Strategy had been previously sent to all ACF members for comment. Brian remarked that residents at the sheltered scheme where he lives often complain that they do not receive feedback from the SHARP meetings and suggested that all sheltered housing residents should be sent a copy of the SHARP minutes. Other sheltered housing residents reported that this is not a widespread problem. They said that their representatives report back on the meetings they have attended and ensure that newsletters and minutes are delivered to residents who are housebound. Wendy asked members whether they prefer the council housing service being called Adur Homes. This was rejected by the majority on a show of hands and most said they wanted to retain the previous name. Concerns were expressed that by changing the name, some people might misconceive that the service had been taken over by a housing association. Elsie stated that she did not agree with the council’s priorities as listed in the Strategy. She thought that Southwick Square where she lives is far from “clean and safe” and said there is still a great deal of rubbish in the area. 9. Cabinet agenda Wendy went through the relevant housing issues on the next Cabinet agenda and in the Forward Plan. These included a report on the future of the Prince Charles Close Community Hall but no one expressed any views on this matter. i) Compact Monitoring Group
The latest edition of the Forum was delivered with copies of the Housing Voice, Annual Report and other leaflets. Members felt this was too much information to receive at one time and was therefore less likely to be read by the householder. In future, they would like the Forum to be delivered separately from Housing Voice. Bridget said that it was very encouraging to have received complimentary comments on the last edition of the Forum from David Pannell, Executive Head of Adur Homes. The first planning meeting of the Christmas edition will be on 9th October and all contributions from members are welcome.
Wendy said that she had recently attended a meeting with Adur Council Heads of Sections where, in the absence of Bill, she had questioned the way in which repair and service charges are allocated. She explained that at present all communal repair and service charges for a block are divided equally between the number of flats but one leaseholder had challenged this, arguing that this takes no account of the differences in the size of individual properties. Wendy said the explanation from the council was that this was the way that the leases had originally been agreed in the early 1980s and that it would be impossible to change them now without the complete agreement of all leaseholders living in a block. The next meeting of the Adur Leaseholders’ Forum will be held at 2.15pm on 12th November 2008 in the ACF Office.
SHARP are next due to meet on 22nd September when Sue Hart, Supported Housing Manager, will be explaining council proposals for changes to the sheltered housing service.
11. Methods of contacting ACF members Bridget asked everyone who wished to be contacted by electronic means to make sure that she has their current email address. 12. Any other business
13. Date of next meeting The next meeting will be held at 7.00pm on Thursday, 20th November 2008 at the Southwick Green communal lounge.
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