Finchale Abbey Newsletter
February
2010
Planning
We have
at last crossed all of the ‘t’s,’
dotted all of the ‘i’s’ and jumped through enough
hoops to be awarded our certificate of lawfulness. While, despite rumors from some quarters,
there was never any fear of the park not being classed as ‘official’ it is
still a relief to us all and hope you can all sleep better knowing that no one
can question the planning again in the future.
There
were again calls during the planning process for us to open up the park to
access for walkers and ramblers but please be assured that there is no public
right of way through the residential park and there will not be one in the
future. Please continue with your vigilance and question any members of the
public that you spot around the park and politely remind them of this!
A summary of minutes of a meeting held
directly relating to our planning application (and apparently the right of
way!) may be of interest to you all and can be seen over. This information is
now in the hands of our solicitors.
Electric
We have
been informed that we are being supplied with electricity sourced from
renewable sources. Now this fits in well with our green credentials and I’m
sure all of our consciences but unfortunately does
mean we pay a surcharge of 0.5p per unit. We will be given a certificate that
states our electricity is from renewable sources which will be on view in the
office. The new electricity price is reflected on this bill.
Gas
Safety Certificates
We’ve
had the safety officer down checking up on our landlord Gas Safety Records, he
was pleased to see that the vast majority of residents have complied with this
safety obligation but we still have two homes that have not forwarded a copy of
their certificate to the office. We can’t stress strongly enough how important
this is for the safety of all residents that all homes comply to the gas safety laws. We won’t name and shame the two sets
of residents in question but you know who you are!
As you
may already be aware we have arranged a special deal with ‘Rock’ gas engineers
who we have asked to contact residents when their gas check is due. As they are
able to be on site and carry out several safety chicks on the same day they can
pass on the savings to you.
Please
also note that we don’t make any commission on the gas checks, there is
obviously no obligation to use this engineer and we have arranged them to
contact you at the appropriate time for your own convenience.
Bin
Area
We are
still awaiting permission from English Heritage to complete the small amount of
ground works necessary for the new bin area. We have a lot of good feedback
regarding the idea and the majority of residents are in favour. If you are unable to take your rubbish to
the bin area please leave it on the roadside outside of your lodge clearly
visible from the road on a Thursday morning and it will be collected.
Website
Zoe’s
finally getting around to getting the website back up to speed, if you have any
ideas of other things we could add or links, photographs or thoughts of your
life here at Finchale you’d like to share please let us know.
DVD
Barry Armitage (plot 28) has excelled himself this time by making
the most beautiful DVD of Finchale in the snow. If you would like to view it
please call in at the office or ask Barry, he is selling them for £5 each. Stuck for a gift idea they would make a
fantastic present.