All weeds are wild flowers...

853 Blog reports that Greenwich council has sacked its green contractor for failing to deal with the weeds growing in the (soon-to-be) Royal Borough's pavements. We've got a fair few ourselves.

Whilst their team of cowboy lawnmowers have made fairly regular appearances, Glendales seem to be a bit short in the weeding and planting department.
 
We are told that the little squares of ground which were bizarrely concreted over recently (after the 6th June walkabout by Lewisham Homes management) are now being re-instated as a result of residents' complaints and possibly our Concrete Jungle post also on 1st July.* Hopefully the guerrilla planting that is taking place around the estate – in lieu of any maintenance and planting by Glendales – can now continue in these beds as well.

The new plants look great, as do the window boxes (since Crossfields Greenspaces' plant and soil giveaway on 16th July). However, be prepared to defend your window boxes when and if Lewisham Homes get round to implementing a Zero Tolerance policy to items outside flats in communal walkways.

CEO Andrew Potter told us on the recent walkabout that London's Fire Chief has ordered that all boroughs have the choice to either monitor and educate their residents about not leaving fire hazards in the walkways, or introduce a ban on all items. If the circumstances surrounding a fire were found to involve balcony obstructions, boroughs stand to face a hefty fine – therefore Mr Potter favoured a zero tolerance policy as his cheapest and safest option. He said he was aware that it would be a highly unpopular move, and the issue is to be debated by the board. The ban on outdoor items would include all flower pots and possibly even window boxes.

Caretaking Manager Mike Smith, attending last night's TRA meeting, said there are regular Fire Safety inspections of communal walkways, and levels of priority reached before action is taken. Serious obstructions result in a warning, and non-compliance results in the householder's belongings being removed and stored. (See May's post about the last half-arsed attempt to do this). The meeting argued that since there is already a process in place for monitoring Fire Safety obstructions, there was no need for the introduction of a zero tolerance policy.

We also argued that growing flowers, shrubs, herbs and vegetables on our balcony walkways contributed positively to both our own and our neighbours' mental health and well-being.

Here's some examples:

*Leaseholders: look out for being billed in 2012 for both concreting over and removal of concrete.

The bins, the bins! Letters in the bin! No bins! etc

I'll assume everyone living on Crossfields got the letter about bin cleaning from Lewisham Homes on Wednesday, or was it only a few of us – like the letter about clearing balconies that only went to parts of Holden and Frankham...

Or the letter from Thames Water/Thames Tunnel about the bore holes that were driven into Farrer House lawn today that no one got (the bloke on site said Lewisham Homes were tasked with sending out the letter)...

Or the letter from Morrison's/Southern Gas telling us in advance about the road closure that also went to no one so that no one knew about the three week no-go zone....

Or the letters that no one got about the scaffolding that was going up outside their windows and staying there for a couple of months for apparently no reason...

According to Mike Smith, Lewisham Homes Caretaking Manager, who attended the TRA meeting Thursday evening, this is a job for the caretakers. "It's part of their job description," he said, beaming. Delivering letters. Sounds like a job for a distribution company to me.

So are the caretakers sitting on over a thousand odd undelivered letters, or are the originals hiding on someone's desk uncopied? Did the utility companies in question never give them the letters to copy and distribute? Was it just that no one thought to tell us? We'll never know.

Rather than waste all that paper delivering (or not) letters to individual households, a simple solution would be to re-instate the NOTICEBOARDS at the foot of each stairwell and put the information there for all to see.

Anyway, to the big news that we actually received:

"As part of our continuing drive to improve the standard of cleanliness on your estate, we have appointed a contractor to clean the Rubbish Chute, Bins and Bin Chamber to your block.

The cleaning will be carried out on 1st August – 5th August between 9am and 4pm. 

Please do not use the chutes while cleaning is in progress."

Wow, that's great, we've only been waiting five (+?) years...

But oh, right, it takes a week to clean my bin? Hottest week of the year coming up, loads of rubbish piling up? Good timing! Excuse me, but can your contractors SYSTEM HYGIENIC not provide you with a schedule of cleaning? Have they not done this sort of thing before and not know how long it takes?  How about a day each? How's about you do my block on Monday and you schedule the other blocks accordingly, then I can use the chute on Tuesday to Friday? What is wrong with you people that you can't arrange a piss up in a brewery?

See 1st July post about caretaking and bins...The actual problem has been reported for years and was last mentioned at the estate walkabout on 6th June 2011. Congratulations, Lewisham Homes, for finally understanding one of the problems about cleanliness and Decent Homes. Way to go! Or rather, quite a way to go yet, but B+ for progress...Or perhaps you just realised there's a saving to be made on the cost of Raid fly spray and rat poison.

Meanwhile, there are still no bins in the Nature Park – a suggestion for the Residents Led Initiative from a Crossfields tenant that turned into a nightmare of paperwork for the tenant and involved at least five council officers. Originally estimated at around £250 the costs became ten times as much when Glendales got involved, resulting in no bins. See "Don't Get Involved"....

Support your caretakers

Two weeks ago, Chief Executive of Lewisham Homes, Andrew Potter, left the comfort of his office for the wild north of Lewisham to join his managers on a walkabout of Crossfields to look at some unresolved issues that leaseholders and the TRA Repairs Rep have been complaining about for some time.

Apparently there will be some action points to come from this walkabout, but the only thing that seems to have happened so far, as is often the case with poor management, is pressure being brought to bear on the people lowest down to work harder to make those in charge look better.

Now one of our much loved caretakers wants to resign – he says he feels like he is chasing his tail to keep up with an ever-expanding job description, with little support or listening from above. The job is not made any easier by thoughtless and careless residents littering and making a mess, or by the council binmen leaving debris behind, and the council's sweepers appear to have such a job load that they never spend long enough here to make a difference.

Some residents are now writing to Lewisham Homes to show their appreciation of the caretakers, and in particular for Dev who looks after the south of the estate. They are under the impression that complaints have been made about the caretakers by other residents.

But there have been no complaints made to Lewisham Homes about the caretakers. There is, however, an ongoing complaint about the procedure the caretakers must follow for cleaning our stairs: washing rough surfaced stairs with a mop and one bucket of water (now increased to two), leaving behind bits of mop that have to be swept up the next day. And the caretakers' and TRA Rep's requests for a programme of deep cleaning repeatedly falls on deaf ears.

At the last estate inspection in March, the new inspector was visibly aghast at the very apparent neglect, much of which is attributable to the lack of sweeping and grounds maintenance – both council contracts, and nothing to do with the caretakers. She was astonished at the state of the stairs and could see it wasn't a problem to do with caretaking, but none of this appears in her report since the inspection is not designed to record long-term neglect. (Find Estate Inspection reports here).

Unfortunately, caretaking inspections are the only monitoring Lewisham Homes does – external repairs and work done by outside contractors are never checked. Management seem mainly concerned with cobwebs and balcony obstructions. We say thank God for cobwebs – it means there are some spiders to catch the flies that swarm in the stairwells, which is not the result of poor caretaking, but because there is still no contract in place to regularly deep clean the bins.

VIP Estate Walkabout - Monday 6th June at 4.30pm

All Crossfields residents are invited to an Estate Walkabout next Monday 6th June at 4.30pm.

In attendance will be some Very Important People, including Lewisham Homes' Chief Executive Andrew Potter, Lewisham Homes representatives from Caretaking, Estate Services and Repairs, plus Lewisham Homes board member Cllr Paul Bell.

This is your chance to tell the senior managers any concerns or issues you may have with the services on the estate. Remember, some of these people have never set foot on the estate and need us to tell them what it's like and point out problems they may not see. The last 'Walkabout' (distinct from Estate Inspections) was in 2009 and not much has changed since.

The walkabout will meet at the estate entrance between Browne House and Castell.

If you cannot make it at this time but want to raise an issue, please get in touch with Crosswhatfields or the TRA Secretary, or your block rep (see this page), or leave a comment below.

Lewisham Homes "Rubbish Removal" fuck up

Most tenants and residents got a letter through their door dated 15-04-2011. I've got one, but I can't honestly say that's when I got it. Anyway, it was about "Items left being stored on the communal walkway and landings and disposal of rubbish".

It was a rubbish letter about rubbish. It wasn't bullet-pointed so even half-educated folk like me couldn't read it properly. On further analysis the first two paragraphs are about not leaving 'washing machines, chest of draws bikes etc' on the balcony (fire risk) and paragraphs 3-5 are all about putting your rubbish in the chutes or bin chamber and not leaving it outside your door or in communal areas. All good reminders to some mindless folk, but who the hell's gonna read this?

The letter then quoted the rules n' regulations of our Tenancy Agreement, a note about not smoking in communal areas, and a number to call to dispose of 'washing machines ovens and fridges' (Environcall on 020 314 7171). Those seven paragraphs could've gone at the end after the sign off as Extra Important Info...

And then there was the threat:  "If residents do not remove the items stored in the communal areas in 14 days (underlined in bold) from the date of this letter or continue to dispose of their rubbish in the correct manner Tenancy Enforcement action may be taking [sic] against you" Yours sincerely Caretaking Services.

Well two weeks passed a week ago. Did they mean '14 working days excluding bank holidays'?...

We got news earlier that Frankham House were "Gestapoed" yesterday. We await a full report, but we heard Frankham residents had their balconies completely cleared, including plants and beloved items that the postman usually navigates successfully...

The last so called "Agent Orange clearance"  was a polite affair and stuff wasn't removed without resident's approval. They did it over three pre-announced lunch periods over three days, eg, Finch/Congers/Frankham may be next, possibly Monday, and Holden/Wilshaw/Browne/Castell/Cremer the next day. The notable thing about their last 'sweep' was that they had no idea how many flats were included in their last 'block' and didn't get round to half of them. Mainly they did it when people were out so approval was unavailable. There seems to be an assumption that council house residents are in all day.

However, this is 'Caretaking Services' so expect some inconsistencies and historically, you can expect complete ineptitude (no reflection on the shop floor). The letter had no signature, no contact name and no reference number. 

Let us know if you didn't get the letter of 15th April 2011. And meanwhile do a spring clean of your balcony, but don't get rid of stuff you want there like plants or a bike you have to store (where else are you going to put it?). If the postman can reach your neighbour without tripping up, how can it be a health and safety hazard? If you're creating an eyesore for your neighbours though, clear it up, for Pete's sake.

Postscript:

We've heard that a few people didn't receive the letter referred to above. But Leaseholders should've received a letter "Re: Fire Safety" in April that came with Home magazine and posted directly to their address. The letter was signed by the Head of Leasehold Services. Among other things the letter states:

To minimise fire risk in your property please ensure that you:

Do not store anything on balconies that could easily catch fire
Do not overload electrical sockets
Install smoke detectors and test them regularly

To minimise fire risk in the communal areas of the building please ensure that you:

Keep communal areas clear
Do not wedge open fire doors in corridors
Never leave refuse sacks, bicycles, children's buggies, plant pots, washing or other obstructions in communal corridors or walkways
Keep all exits from your home clear so people can get out easily if there is a fire.

However, these rules appear to be directed towards blocks where communal corridors and walkways are internal. Ours are not.

Stairs finally get a bit of a clean

Last Monday and Tuesday the Holden House caretaker was out on both days cleaning the stairs. The normal cleaning day is Wednesday, but on the Monday he did the normal perfunctory routine with the mop and bucket of cold water. The next day he was accompanied by another guy in white overalls who watched while our guy used a plastic bristled broom to really scrub our filthy old stairs. This was the result:

The stairs didn't look much better, and the caretaker was unable to get to the areas between the bannister uprights with his six inch broom. Also, having worked up a bit of a dirty lather, much of it was spread to the unpainted concrete surfaces of the balconies, which are now quite badly stained on all floors.

The dirty lather also dripped down the sides and stained the paintwork there.

Today, more caretaking operatives were working on the stairs, attempting to clean the areas between the bannister uprights. They were at it all day and I spoke to one of the guys, Jim, who explained that first they were using a scrubbing brush with a special cleaner that would lift the dirt.

Then another guy was a couple of flights behind him with a vacuum cleaner...

Both were critical of the surface, which was laid over ten years ago. Jim suggested it was Health & Safety gone mad that had led to a paint surface mixed with grit to prevent slipping. Such a surface was impossible to keep clean, he said, and he thought the best thing to do would be to remove it, but he wasn't sure how. He later set about some already chipped areas with a knife and removed quite a bit from the first mezzanine landing, in an attempt to see how easily it might come off.

I suggested that their cleaning operation was just a precurser to the stairs being painted again because last October Leasehold Services told us they wanted to trial a new paint surface, but we'd said the stairs were too filthy to take any sort of paint...(they didn't go ahead with it and actually blamed us for holding them up). He said he'd seen some new paint surfaces over at Honor Oak and that they were no better and would not last. But he knew nothing of any plans to paint our stairs.

This exercise, which is apparently going to be done on all the blocks that have painted stairs, must surely be in advance of the AUDIT COMMISSION's visit next month, when Lewisham Homes will be tested on whether they have done enough to qualify for Decent Homes government money – if any is still available.