PUBLISHED: 26 FEBRUARY 2014

For both homeowners and tennants.

HOUSEHOLD RUBBISH, PAPERS AND BOTTLE COLLECTION

I believe that the croft is designated as not being suitable for wheelie bins. If this is the case then Household waste (non-recycleable), Bottles and Papers will continue to be collected by Birmingham City Council (BCC) as at present – Household weekly and Bottles and Paper fortnightly alternating with garden waste.

GARDEN WASTE

You may have noticed the appearance of 6 wheelie bins in the proximity of the garages. These are for the use of EVERYBODY in the croft. They cost £198 which will be added to the service charge. The area in which they are stored is also designated for Council Prearranged Large Item disposal. Since the croft seems to be a favourite dumping ground for fly-tipping we need to apply some common sense about our practices.

The garden waste should be placed directly into any of the bins without any plastic bags. For collection times (see Appendix 1). It should conform to the BCC specification (Appendix 2):

What is allowed:

• Grass Cuttings
• Hedge Clippings
• Plants and Weeds
• Leaves
• Bush Prunings
• Tree Prunings (No more than 5mm in diameter)

What is NOT allowed:

• Stones, Soil, Bricks and Rubble
• Plastics (Plant pots) and Metal
• Any household waste
• Chemicals and Treated Wood
• Pet detritus
• Japanese Knotweed

It should be understood that any infringement of the specifications may result in the council refusing to collect any garden waste.

Further, any resident is entitled to apply on his / her own behalf for garden waste collection. The cost is £35 and would result in the applicant receiving 30 green sacks. These are the total annual entitlement and if used charges (I think £20) would be applicable for a further consignment of 30 bags.

It should be appreciated that if 6 bins are not enough the TCOL will add to this amount for reasonable usage. Similarly there would have to be discussions if any one or more persons hog the bin space. It is unfair to expect the majority of households to finance the minority.

PREARRANGED LARGE ITEM COLLECTION

Each household is entitled to 1 collection of up to 6 large items to be collected by BCC at no cost per year. After this there will be a charge of £25 per collection. Either phone or go on line to sort out your requirements. It should be noted that there have been a large number of instances of outsiders using the croft as a dumping ground. Therefore it should be understood that some sort of proof may be required for the validity of such a collection. Please do not place items in this area until BCC has allocated a job number.

There is a list of things that BCC will NOT take:

• Any type of garden waste, including tree branches, bushes, shrubs etc.
• Our refuse collectors can’t take large items along with your normal, non-recyclable household rubbish
• Broken glass panes (unless securely boxed or wrapped and clearly marked)
• Sheds
• Boilers
• Trees
• Gas canisters
• Soil
• Rubble and building waste
• Asbestos

PARKING

On days when the household waste, recycling boxes or wheelie bins are due to be collected, the parking arrangement will have to be adhered to, in order to allow access for the BCC vehicles. This means that there should be parking on the drive pavement and that within reason there should be no cars in front of the garages at the end of the drive. Also there should be space in the garage cul-de-sac to allow any collection vehicle to reverse into the main part of the croft.

I accept that this may be an imposition but it should be noted that BCC are not going to accept any liability for damage to private cars nor garages. It is therefore your own responsibility to protect you own property.

THE OLD WASTE AREA

It is intended that the gate be removed from the Old Waste Area with a view to making a small garden. I have spoken to Vejay and Johanna at number 24 and I am hoping that we will be able to call it the Manu Sarathy Memorial Garden.

To this end I will be looking for volunteers for short term manual labour to clear the area and eventually to lay turf and introduce some plants. In the long run, probably, a couple of two-seater benches would be nice. It should be noted that this area cost us £2500 to clear the last time and will continue to be a burden on our finances if we do nothing about it.

OWNERSHIP AND SHAREHOLDERS

24 of the 25 houses have now contributed to the ownership of the road. Similarly 23 have also become shareholders in Torridon Croft Owners Limited. Steps are being taken to secure total ownership and shareholding.

On checking the freeholds of every plot there are restrictions in owning property in Torridon Croft. There is a deed of covenant which compels the owners by law to accept the clauses within the covenant which dictate the behaviour of the owners to one another and to the totality of the croft.

Within the Covenant it is clear that each owner is liable for the upkeep of the croft by financing 1/25th of the cost of maintenance of the croft PLUS a management fee (currently running at about £2000). By taking over the ownership of the road TCOL has decided to act as a non-profit company and will forego the management fee except where any owner opts out of the agreement. It is intended that a clause be added to the freehold to ensure that transfer of the property also transfers the shareholding in the company. It is unfortunate that by following this regime that any need to make sure that the covenant is complied with above normal contact will result in any non-compliance being financially charged. What this means in actuality is that we are now masters of our own future.

DEED OF COVENANT

I have a “translation” of the Deed of Covenant as it applies to both the original lessors and lessees. I did this to try to understand what was written down in Legal Speak 50 years ago. If anybody wants a copy just knock on my door.

FINANCES

I will now give a summary of the present financial state of TCOL.

It is probably better to work the accounts backward from the money that we received from AH Field. The reason for saying this is that there are two portions to the Countrywide accounts, trading accounts and balance. These two are very difficult to align.

Transferred from AH Field (AHF) £10027
Paid by AHF for 6 months gardening £960
Paid by AHF for slabs at No.23 £69
Transferred from Countrywide to AHF £11056
Sum removed from client account 15.03.13 (25 x 167.58) £4190
Closing balance as at 15.03.13 £15246
The declared client account on 31.03.13 was £14676 (£570 less than actual)
The declared Sinking Fund on 31.03.13 was £15297 (£51 more than actual)
The approximate cost of service for year 2013 – 2014 was therefore £5225
(According to the gardeners there are still 2 payments of £160 due for that year)

Since receiving the money from A H Field the following has happened

Transferred from AH Field £10027
Default on payment for road £600
Formation of company £15
Solicitor’s Fee for transfer of property £433
Current value of Sinking Fund £8979
Hire of room at Moseley Exchange (SC) £78
Hire of Wheelie Bins (SC) £198
Bank balance as of 27.02.14 £8703
(SC means will be part of Service Charge)

MAYBE GOOD NEWS

We are in danger of having something done to No.5 and No.7 lights. BCC have now said that as from 1st April this year the charges for unmetered electricity will not include any basic maintenance of the lights (this is known as “Council Cuts”). I appealed to their “better” nature and said it was unfair that we would then have to pay for something that has been reported
at least 5 times over the last year.

The following email exchange then took place:

1. Thanks for the clarity Doug. You will now note having been copied into another e‐mail that I’ve instructed Sterling Power to organise repairs rather than Acivico.

Regards,
Clive Betts
Highway Asset Manager

Highways
Birmingham City Council
1 Lancaster Circus
Queensway

2. Good morning Phil,
Please would you organise repairs to lights 5 and 7 Torridon Croft. The work needs to be completed as soon as possible and must in any event be completed before 31 March 2014.

Many thanks.
Regards,
Clive Betts

3. Clive, Will organize the repairs within the next 7 days.

Regards,
Philip Elwell
Street Lighting Manager

Sterling Power Utilities
Belfont Trading Estate
Mucklow Hill
Halesowen

FINALLY…

Doug McCorkindale
No.31