Estate Management

Update on Park maintenance issues

Adoption of roads, street lighting and noisy drain covers
If all went well last week, the main roads and drains were handed over to Surrey County Council and Thames Water; both Phases 8 (the final Laing phase) & 9 (Millers) were excluded. This means that the maintenance of the roads, street lighting (columns with numbers on them only), street cleaning etc. will be SCC’s responsibility, although Laing have said that they will complete any outstanding works.
A number of street lights are not working; these should be put right in the next couple of days. Laing will also silence any noisy drain covers, but we need to be sure that they have been told about them all.

What do you need to do?
If, this week, you see a numbered street lighting column that isn’t working, please tell us. (Lighting columns that are not numbered are the responsibility of the Management Company and should be reported to Hazelvine).
If there is a noisy drain cover near you, please tell us now and give the address of the nearest house so Laing can locate them. This is our last chance to get them silenced.
If you know of any other problems with the roads, please tell us now.

Monocouche (white) rendering – Laing houses
If you have a Laing house and there are cracks in the white rendering, now is the time to get it put right. Laing has started to repair the houses they are aware of. If you want to be sure your house is on Laing’s list, and haven’t already have confirmation from them, tell them now. If you wish, tell us also, and we will pass your address on to Laing’s site manager.

Mains pressure hot water cylinders
Some hot water cylinders need annual maintenance and we know of leaks because maintenance has not been carried out. The instances we have heard of so far have been in Laing houses having cylinders fitted with sacrificial anodes.
We suggest you check your cylinder’s instruction/log books (or a label on the cylinder itself) to see whether annual maintenance is necessary (the warning label may be on the back of the cylinder. If you have a water softener fitted this is particularly important as the softening process reduces the life of the anode.

Garden Maintenance
We asked for your comments on the gardening a month or so ago and these have been noted. Weeds grow and plants die so this is an ongoing item. Please report any problems to Hazelvine, but continue to let us know if you are unhappy with the planting or maintenance of your gardens, so that we can monitor the overall situation.
We will be meeting Hazelvine next week – any comments will be gratefully received

The Gardening Committee are looking for new volunteers. If you are interested, please get in touch.

Graffiti and Vandalism
Many of you will be aware that the development suffered an attack of graffiti on Saturday 5th April; it may be little consolation but QEP wasn’t the specific target. The taggers left their mark on a route from the Wooden Bridge to Aldershot Road via QEP. The police have been very supportive in getting the mess cleaned up, and have some actions in place which they hope will eventually reveal the identity of the culprit. The police also invited QEPRA to send observers on two of their Friday and Saturday night patrols; Robin Clinch and Ritch Ames went and found it very interesting. Whilst we often complain about the (lack of) action by the police, the patrols showed how difficult and time consuming their work can be.

Remember: Report any non-urgent incidents on QEP to the police by calling 0845 125 2222 and mention Crime Reference No C/07/12095 which relates to QEP. Ask for a crime number for your incident.

Graffiti: If you see any graffiti report it to GBC’s Cleansing Department: cleansinghotline@guildford.gov.uk

It would also be useful if you could let Robin Clinch know through the Contact Form.

© 2008 Queen Elizabeth Park.