Minutes

Members Present
Shirley Baldwin - Secretary
Eileen Houghton - Vice Chair
Jean Fishpool- Treasurer
Mr & Mrs Halfpenny
Charlotte Baldwin
Mr & Mrs Neville
Margaret Valleley
Menai Roberts
Mary Evans
Betty Marchant
Mary West
Mr & Mrs Cartwright
Margery French
Roy Adams
David Ayres
Mr & Mrs Morris
Mr & Mrs Hince
Steve Atkins

Others Present
Eddie Clark
Richard Hancock

1. Chairman opened the meeting at 10.30am and welcomed all members present, with a special welcome back to David Ayres after a long illness.

2. Apologies - Ann Downie, Lillian Jones and Mr Walbyoff.

3. Minutes of the last meeting were accepted as a true record of proceedings.

4. Matters arising from those minutes.

a. Richard Hancock felt that some of the things he had said at the last meeting had been misconstrued. He said that braille copies of minutes, although bulky and expensive, would be available. He explained that braille copies of things like the Compact would be impractical, and that a cassette might be a reasonable alternative.

b. Richard also suggested a meeting between Group Officers, Special Services and Tenant Participation. He said that money available from other sources was greater than TP budget, which came from tenants' rents.

c. Chairman thanked Richard for expressing himself differently from last month.

d. Eddie Clark told of the problems and delays in re-wiring the alarm system at Longmeadow, however, an end was in sight.

e. Eddie referred back to Mrs Halfpenny's observations on the road
signing at Smallbrook, which are more urgent since a gentleman had a very near miss last month. Eddie will ask Mr Jenkins (Highways) to 'walk the ground' with Mrs Halfpenny so that he can understand what she is saying.

f. Chairman said he had requested a copy of the new Staff Table
from Mr Jaques, but had not received one yet.

5. Treasurer's Report.
Jean told us that we have just over £50 in funds. Chairman thanked her for running our raffles, and members for bringing raffle prizes.

6. Chairman's Report.
Chairman said that he and Eileen had met with Tony Jaques in an
attempt to explain our views on Tenant Board Membership. Mr Jaques response was that the Steering Group had been adamant that tenant members did not have to face election. The exact opposite is true, Steering Group worked hard to obtain a promise, which was given by Mr Jaques in his letter of June 2001, that Tenant Board Members would face election on the formation of the company.

Chairman suggested that the choices open to members were:

a. To do nothing. This is a small matter and not all that important,
however, if we allow them to cheat on this, then they might cheat on rents, repairs, security of tenancies, or anything else.

b. Seek a decision from the Local Government Ombudsman. This is quick and easy, free and sensible. It doesn't involve courts, wigs, fees, gowns or lawyers.

Chairman said that we already have one elected Tenant Board
Member (Terry Gurney) and that two more were likely in the near
future, so no real difficulty is involved in electing two more. He also stressed that he knew of no-one who wanted to change the actual people who were shadow board members, it was just the principle of tenants electing their representative that was at stake.

David Morris proposed that our Group seeks judgement from the Local Government Ombudsman. A vote showed that the vast majority agreed with his proposition.

7. Richard spoke again about Compact and there was some discussion about specific issues which relate to Sheltered Housing. Richard
suggested that we ask Susanna Piohtee to work with a sub-group to create some pages which relate just to our issues. It was asked whether there was some overlap between our issues and Disability Group's, and generally felt that Sheltered Housing was mostly to do with Special Services at Council, where Disability issues usually involved occupational therapists.

Mr Hince asked Richard what was the difference in funding between the two groups. Richard explained that Disability Group received travel expenses for meeting (mostly mileage, about £15 per month). He felt
that if necessary Sheltered Housing should contact Council Transport Department for transport with a driver, then approach Lions Club and any other options.

8. Any Other Business.

a. Chairman told of a Scheme at Holme Lacey College to get people involved in gardening again who might not have a garden now, or wished to grow some flowers or vegetables.

b. Eddie asked if he might invite Neil Piggott, the Fire Safety Officer, to speak at our next meeting.

c. Jean Fishpool told of the problem at Fowbridge Gardens, where one tenant was putting out so much food for crows and rats that it had become a health hazard. Eddie said he would look into the complaint. Jean also asked that the coal bunkers at No's 13, 14 and 17 could be removed. Eddie thought the Warden should have looked into this. He promised to investigate this and the paving, which had not been done
yet.

d. David Ayres asked if our Group could make it's concern heard on the issue of the number of beds in the new County Hospital. Chairman said that he would make sure that a copy of our minutes reached those who had influence.

e. Eddie said he would ask Tim Bray for any news for Ballinger Court residents on a pelican crossing on Roman Road.

f. Eileen Houghton accepted the post of Vice Chair and Shirley Baldwin accepted the post of Secretary again. Our thanks to both.

9. Next Meeting.
Southgate Court on Thursday 1 Aug 2002, at 10.30am.

10. The raffle raised £22.50p. Chairman thanked Mr & Mrs Hince for their kind hospitality at Church Croft. The meeting closed at 12.1Opm.

(Robert Downie )Chairman

Copy to:
Chair of the Shadow Board of Herefordshire Housing
Mr T. Jaques - Herefordshire Council
Mr R. Hancock - Herefordshire Council
Mrs N. Gough - Herefordshire Council
Mr Eddie Clark - Herefordshire Council
Herefordshire Tenants' Federation
Chair of Tenants Disability Group