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THORNDON HALL NEWSLETTER – MARCH 2010

RESIDENTS’ BUDGET MEETING

Representatives from 18 apartments and cottages turned out on a very cold evening at the beginning of January to attend our annual budget meeting at The Old House in Brentwood. This is an opportunity to discuss how the service charge has been spent and to examine the budget for the forthcoming year.  Considerable savings had been achieved against the 2009 budget for redecoration of the exterior of the Pavilions and the interior of the Main Hall. The 2010 service charge was being reduced by 0.74% for the Blocks and increased by 3.68% for the Cottages.  The Board wants to ensure that increases in service charges can be kept to the minimum. This can be achieved by maintaining healthy reserves, using spreadsheets to forecast expenditure for the next six years and by keeping a careful watch on all costs. Obtaining the best value for money is a very time consuming exercise and we are very pleased that Stuart Freel (Flat 3) has agreed to join the Board of the Management Company. We could do with at least one more director.

2010 REDECORATION PROGRAMME AND OTHER WORKS

2010 will be a quiet year in our rolling redecoration programme. It will be the turn of the four West Cottages to have their exterior woodwork repaired where necessary and repainted.  All the window frames in the penthouse apartments will be examined for signs of rot and repaired where necessary.

We have had problems finding craftsmen to continue the restoration of the low-level sandstone which has suffered further deterioration during this winter. Two suitable companies have now provided estimates and when the weather improves we will make a start on the stonework around the entrance to the West Pavilion. Further work is planned for the front of the East Pavilion and the north side of the Main Hall.

We are still evaluating reports on how to reduce the damp in the cellars and hope to increase the air flow by opening air vents in suitable locations.  We are currently testing various coatings which could be used to resurface the asphalt walkways on the 1^st, 2nd and 3^rd floors and balcony of the Main Hall.

GROUNDS

The fountain on the south lawn has been rebuilt and the border will be landscaped with stones and lavender bushes. Moles have become a significant problem since the EU banned the poison which had traditionally been used to control them. Our recent efforts to persuade them not to dig up our lawns have been expensive and so far have not proved very successful. More wooden stakes will be placed alongside the entrance road outside the East Pavilion where vehicles have driven over the grass. This area has been damaged several times recently and needs to be repaired.  

ROADS AND ENTRANCE GATES

We spent two years in protracted negotiations with English Heritage and modified our plans to meet their request that the electric gates should not be too imposing. Nevertheless, our application for planning permission was eventually turned down by Brentwood Council. Their reasoning is hard to follow. They claimed that our proposal was not in keeping with the Green Belt and that the proposed pillars and the gates were too high. In fact, our proposed pillars are lower and slimmer than the existing ones. Their suggested height for gates was ridiculously low and inappropriate. We have now consulted a planning expert who will advise on whether we should take the matter to the Planning Directorate on appeal and/or reopen negotiations with English Heritage and Brentwood Council. As the planning application was taking so long we decided to resurface the road outside the gates to the turning to The Meadows which remains our responsibility. We were able to obtain very competitive quotes from contractors who were working in the area on behalf of Brentwood Council. The surface was laid to double the thickness of the council maintained section of Thorndon Gate to prevent subsidence, hence the slight difference in levels. We are now trying to obtain prices for resurfacing some of our internal roads.

We have also been in discussion with Brentwood Council’s Highways Department about the hedge which restricts visibility from the right as drivers turn out of Thorndon Gate on to the A128. Again, they have not been very helpful and it seems we need a few more accidents before they will invoke the Highways Act. They are also unsure of the correct boundary between the hedge and the road, so we are making our own enquiries.  

PARKING

Parking, particularly overnight, continues to be a problem. Put simply, too many residents wish to park in the car park rather than use their garages. We also have on-going problems with commercial vehicles and taxies that are being parked overnight and cars that are left in the car park for long periods, all contrary to the terms of the lease. You will find a copy of a notice with this newsletter which will be placed on vehicles that have been parked inappropriately. Should these polite requests be ignored, the Board will have to take steps to ensure that the terms of the leases are complied with. When there are spaces available in the car park, please use them rather than park on the road or in the garage area.

Lessees should be aware that under the terms of the lease their properties are not divisible. Therefore, if they wish to sub-let them they must include their garage in the rental agreement. Furthermore, having let their property lessees are not entitled to continue to park their vehicles in the car park. 

We are also looking at how we can make the best use of the existing car park and have commissioned a survey by architects. We are considering using unobtrusive metal markers to lay out the maximum possible number of parking bays. This might enable us to remove the heavy circular planters which have proved the undoing of many rear bumpers.

The bollards at the entrances to the East and West sides of the Main Hall are being fitted with new locking devices. These bollards must not be removed by residents or tradesmen. If access is required outside 8 am – 4 pm Monday to Friday, prior arrangements should be made with Lloyd Knill during normal working hours.

PETS

We have received numerous complaints this winter about residents walking muddy dogs and indeed their own muddy footwear across the carpeted areas in the Main Hall. We would ask everyone to clean their shoes and dogs before entering the buildings. Our cleaning staff work very hard to maintain the appearance of interior of the Pavilions and the Main Hall and they deserve our assistance in keeping the common areas as clean as possible at all times. Lloyd and Pauline also have a constant problem with cats using our flower beds as litter trays. We do not want to ban pets altogether but we need to find a way to limit their number to ensure that the health of our gardening staff is not put at risk. Some ground floor apartments have installed cat flaps in their windows. If any lessee has a cat flap which is no longer used, please tell Lloyd and the Management Company will arrange for the pane to be re-glazed.

LIFTS

The company that maintains our lifts has expressed concern about the amount of sweet wrappers they have removed from the wells under the lifts, notably the ones in the East Pavilion and the West of the Main Hall. It seems the wrappers have been “posted” there deliberately. This rubbish is a serious fire hazard, so would whoever may be concealing their snacking habits kindly find somewhere else to dispose of the evidence.