Stonebridge residents anger at poor customer relations by ASRA Housing Group.

The date of our next meeting is 24th September 6:30pm – 8pm at Blue Bell Hill Community Centre

FRIENDS OF STONEBRIDGE PARK held a public meeting at the Blue Bell Hill Community Centre on Wednesday evening (Last Night), when local residents gathered to hear what was happening around the estate.

Martin Harris of the City Council’s Parks Dept. gave a presentation about beginning consultations for new play equipment. Martin said there was presently £10,000 available to spend on the site, while Developer Keepmoat Homes at offered another £10k. This was a start, he said, however, for the provision of a good climbing frame, swings and a slide about £60k was needed.

A rude woman and her daughter was disruptive during Martin’s presentation saying they didn't want anything done with Rocket Park. There was even talk of spending all the money elsewhere on King Edwards Park!

Martin said that if locals did not want play equipment on Rocket Park, the money could be spent on other improvements, better street lighting, perimeter fence etc.

However, 3 individuals are not representative of the 320 families living on Stonebridge Park today, and there will be a further 125 when new homes are completed in 2015. We the committee will be contacting Martin Harris to ask for a door to door survey of as many people as possible concerning the future of Rocket Park, and an open air gathering on the site for local residents to come along and have their say. Only then can an informative decision be made.

Three Jersey Gardens residents complained about the new Keepmoat compound being setup adjacent their homes. Workers cars parking along there road blocked them in so they could not get out to work in the mornings; large vehicles prevented dustbin lorries emptying their bins; and there was the danger ambulances/fire engines could not get through in an emergency. We agreed to raise these issues with with the site Manager, and invite him along to our next meeting.

Keepmoat Homes Ltd have an excellent first class record of customer relations across their portfolio of housing developments.

There was a lot of criticism of ASRA Housing Group who are continuously doing very little to support the new tenants of their new properties on Stonebridge Park. Some are experiencing significant problems, while ASRA are not listening and  refuse to visit Stonebridge to resolve issues due to the poor workmanship of Lovell’s, their contractor. Cracked brick walls, blocked drains, overflowing guttering. In one instance a badly fitted sewerage pipe led to smelling sewerage flooding into a couple’s living room & bathroom in the Beacon Hill House apartments. ASRA did next to nothing to support the couple, and offered them no compensation for their distress, discomfort and time while the problem was being resolved by Nottingham City Homes.

Another family described how they lived in the flat above the big main car park gates The gate hinges are attached to the main structure of the building. Many times a day as these gates open and close it causes significant noise and vibration inside their home. Other flats are also affected in Beacon Hill House. The CEO of ASRA, Matt Cooney is fully aware of this issue, yet ASRA have completely failed to do anything about it.

This exceptionally poor customer relations is very worrying, since ASRA will begin building 15 new houses in Limmen Gardens in November, and will also manage the new homes yet to be built on the Robin Hood Chase in St Ann’s. We will try again to invite a representative along to our next meeting scheduled for September 24th, and raise this subject with the Homes & Communities Agency.

There was an update from Robert Batey on the Defend Council Tax campaign; speeding vehicles & double parked cars on Beacon Hill Rise, Stonebridge Roads etc..

By Bill Robinson (chairman)

Richard Pearson (Secretary)