Following the Annual General Meeting on 11 May 2016, a new committee has been elected for the ensuing year:
Chair: Paul Beaumont
Vice Chair: Franco Marigliano
Secretary: Eddie Arnavoudian
Treasurer: Toby Scholz
Committee members: Janet Amery, Ann Fairbrass, James Guess, Sharon Murphy, Maxine Walker

NSGCA endorse the motion to kill the housing bill, propposed legislation to make housing more expensive.
Join the national march on 18 June 2016

Amended Motion to Tenant Council – Kill the Housing Bill April 2016 – Passed unanimously 4.4.16 (the original, unamended motion was passed unanimously by Tenant Council in February 2016) This amended motion inserts two references to the Brownfield Register and replaces support for the national demonstration on 13th March 2016 with support for the national demonstration on 18th June 2016.
This Tenant Council notes:
The Government’s Housing and Planning Bill means higher rents, less security and less chance of a home you can afford.

The Bill:

• Makes councils sell off existing council homes
• Removes secure tenancies
• Introduces a “pay to stay” scheme for social housing tenants if two household members’ income is more than £30k (£40k in London)
• Means increased rents and longer waiting lists
• Reduces travellers’ rights
• Makes councils provide unaffordable “Starter Homes” instead of affordable housing for rent
• Makes councils set up a Brow field Register and give planning “Permission in Principle” to all land on this register

The Kill the Housing Bill Campaign has already organised protests, lobbies and meetings aimed at bringing the Bill down, or making it unworkable. Walworth East Area Forum has already voted to oppose the Housing Bill and urge Southwark Council to do the same.
This Tenant Council believes that the Housing and Planning Bill will not solve the housing crisis. It will make it worse. It will force people from their homes, families and communities, into insecure private renting. This Tenant Council calls on Southwark Council to refuse to implement the Housing Bill and in particular to:

• Not collect data on the incomes of tenants
• Not introduce higher rents for some tenants as part of the government’s pay to stay scheme, or any local variant involving a taper system
• Continue to issue secure tenancies to all new tenants
• Not sell off “high value council homes” and refuse to pay the levy imposed by the government to fund Right to Buy to housing association tenants
• Not place social or council housing estates on the Brownfield Register
• Call on the Council Trade Unions to support non co-operation with the Housing Bill and resist any attempt by council chief officers or Government appointees to force through implementation
• Call on TRAs, Area Forums and SGTO to support the Council’s position of non-co-operation with the Housing Bill
• Propose a joint campaign of non-co-operation with other Councils opposed to the Bill

This Tenant Council resolves:

• To add its name to the Kill the Housing Bill Campaign
• To urge the delegates of Tenants Council to publicise the Kill the Housing Bill Campaign and send representatives to the organising meetings
• To urge tenants to support the national demonstration on Saturday 181h June 2016
• To urge Area Forums and TRAs and SGTO to adopt this motion and organise local activities against the Bill.

 

The housing bill is a UK Government Bill, details of which can be found here.
Link to the original bill.

 

Southwark council conducts monthly walkabouts on the estate to identify and address things that need repairing and improvement the can be made.
They take place from 10am – 12:30pm, meeting place is the central entrace of Rowland Hill House. Dates for 2016 / 17 are:

25 May 2016
22 June 2016
20 July 2016
24 August 2016
21 September 2016
19 October 2016
23 November 2016
21 December 2016
25 January 2017
22 February 2017
22 March 2017

Continue reading Estate walkabouts / repairs & improvements

Below the finacial statements for the financial year 2015 / 16.

Audited Accounts

The Annual General Meeting

will be held on

11 May 2016

at 7pm

in the residents’ hall, 60a Rowland Hill House.

Please show us your support by attending.
We are looking for people to get involved, and join our committee.

Competition

Our association needs a logo, and we want your help with designing it.
Submit your entry by 24 April 2016, either through our website, or through our letter box.

Prize

The winner will take away £100 worth of John Lewis vouchers, the runner-up £50 worth of John Lewis vouchers.

Design

There are no hard limits on what is possible, but the guidelines below should help decide how to approach your entry.

• the design will server various purposes, for example as logo on the web site, as letter head, for business cards, and in official correspondence with residents, the council, funders, parliament, and other official bodies
• the design must usable in digitized form (either natively, or via scan)
• the design should be reproducible in black and white
• a variety of sizes can be accepted, 300px x 186px may be a good place to start

Terms

• The winner and runner-up are chosen by vote of the committee
• The choice of the committee is final, and cannot be challenged
• The winner forgoes all copyright claims to his / her entry by accepting the prize
• The committee may choose to use an alternative design, regardless of the prize being awarded
• Late entries cannot be accepted
• Participants must prove a connection with Nelson Square Gardens (i.e. live here, or care for somebody who lives here)

What our friends have

(for your inspiration)

 

 

 

Wednesday 24 February 7pm

General Meeting

Agenda includes: Dog and Pot and entrance planting new design (BOST speaker), Launch of NSGCA log competition, Estate matters

Venue: TRA Hall, 60a Rowland Hill House

 

Our next General Meeting (and Christmas Party) will be held on

Wednesday, 9 December 2015 at 19:00 – 22:00

in the hall, 60a Rowland Hill House.
All welcome. Continue reading General Meeting & Christmas Party, 9 December

Clare was a much valued member of our Community Association serving for 15 years as its Treasurer. But she was much more than that. She was one of those people who worked freely and hard for the public good and for the benefit of others. The sadness felt on this estate when news of her death came spread far and local people expressed not only their sorrow but also their great respect for her.  That same respect was shown in May this year when Clare was  presented with Freeman of the Borough of Southwark at Southwark Cathedral.

She gave vast amounts of time and care for Nelson Square and its community. Nelson Square is much improved today partly because of her effort and her meticulous and forensic  eye for detail.  She cared about people and getting things done properly – but always did that with the paperwork neatly filed, the receipts in order and a quiet determination which was unbeatable.

That forensic eye was also evident when power needed to be held to account. Many Council and other officials have been taken aback during meetings when Clare produced her notes from previous meetings and charmingly reminded them of their promises.

If you walk around the Square today you will see many things that are testaments to her hard work. One striking example was when a massive 27 storey development was proposed just behind the Square. It was Clare who went through their plans and discovered that they were planning to steal one of the gardens that the Community Association had raised funds for and built. This pubic relations disaster led to demonstrations and protests and today that block is – as a direct result of her diligence  – only 10 storeys high.

Another came during major works on the estate when Clare gave endless hours of advice and held the builders to account. She was personally responsible for saving leaseholders many thousands of pounds and also for helping to ensure that the works were finished to a reasonable standard.

Above all she loved to Garden and several of the gardens in the Square benefited from her work. She  was never happier than pulling on her khakis, on her hands and knees and digging out weeds and moss in the cracks of the paving stones in the Square. She loved planting and weeding and it is fair to say her soul is firmly embedded in Nelson Square, she is everywhere