Minutes of the HRRA Annual General Meeting

The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the HRRA was called to order at 18:30 on 13th February 2025 at Guiseley Cricket & Football Club by Russell Olliver Acting Chairperson
Attendance: Committee members: Andy Armitage, Catherine Burton, Russell Olliver, Susan Pape, and Cynthia Wood.
Councillor: Eleanor Thomson
Apologies: Chris Stevens, Nigel Hackett, Nicky Noyes, Ping Liem

Chairperson’s Report
Russell presented the Chairperson’s Report, including:
• High Royds Liaison Committee Meeting (includes Leeds City Council (LCC), Avant and Trinity).
• Next meeting will be with Trinity estates. Last meeting was with James Livesey-Clarke of Trinity. New estates manager Lee Asquith is scheduled to come to the next Liaison meeting.
• Other meetings held are High Royds general committee meetings

Treasurer’s Report
Andy Armitage is in the process of recognition as Treasurer with Barclays. Last bank statement £2,216 in funds. Small amount coming out for venue hire, printing etc. Second signatory is Cynthia.

Committee Reports
Reports were presented by various committee chairs, including:
Sports and Social Club update:
Russell gave some history. Development of the Sports and Social Club since 2006. January 2023 planning permission granted. Drawings are available to look at. Avant have asked for discharge of some of the conditions recently such as colour of walls and landscaping. Appointed architects to produce detailed drawings. Access was originally to be off Ingle Lane but Highways saying they cannot do that and Avant looking at access though car park – will be modification to the application. This will be for all vehicle access.
Road Adoption & Street Lighting:
Final phase on Ingle Lane is left to do. Planning permission will need to be changed (will still be no access to traffic). Need to rearrange footpath bit of it. Expected imminently. Remaining work to be done top of Norwood Avenue – will be done same time as Ingle Lane (complication is that one side is Avant, and one side is David Wilson).
Street Lighting – where block paving exists is usually Avant responsibility but not Kingsdales which will be adopted soon because it’s David Wilson. Street lighting quote has arrived from LCC which will hopefully be accepted to connect the streetlights. Said to start in a couple of weeks.
Question from public: will potholes near traffic lights on High Royds Drive be addressed? ACTION (Eleanor): will check how much of the road has been adopted so far (probably only about 5m from main road) as that affects current responsibilities for maintenance.
Undeveloped units:
Morgue, courtyard, old social club. Avant recently put in new fencing and boarded windows. Avant’s intention is to sell to a developer.
Question from public: Social club is still linked to electric supply as lighting is still on. Linked to fuse box in car park which connects to residential at Appleton Court. ACTION (HRRA) to check with Trinity / Avant
Service Charge:
Service charge budget issued around October. Residents all pay different amounts but overall increase by 20% (12.3% insurance charge, increases due to building safety act 6%). HRRA have written to Trinity – and Chris Stevens and Russell have looked at Building Act. James Livesey-Clarke has left Trinity and since then no responses.
Question from public: Arkendale accident where vehicle went into bin store (resident driving). Sent details to Trinity but no response. Do not know if it is insured and who picks up the cost. ACTION (HRRA) to check with Trinity.
Some people have had a fire door survey and some have not. Fire doors are residents’ responsibilities, so HRRA have asked for some clarification.
Insurance: Residents can see the budget; final accounts are on resident’s portal. There are also two insurance documents – one for properties on High Royds Drive and one for some others. They seem to be on everyone’s portal regardless of whether it is their property or not.
ACTION: HRRA to ask for Trinity insurance manager to attend next Liaison group.
HRRA Recognition:
The HRRA constitution reflects what is required for a recognised tenants association. Formal recognition is not straightforward as there so many different types of property. As Trinity can collect a service charge, we should be able to get direct recognition from Trinity, but HRRA have now been told we cannot get recognition like that. Moving forward we will get everything in order such as constitution and elected officers. Old Facebook group contains people that do not live on the estate, so HRRA have set up a new group. HRRA membership requires name, address, email, and Trinity account no. HRRA needs to aim for 50-60% of estate residents which is about 300 members. HRRA will send flyers out. Need to adjust form on website for sign up as well. Over the next year HRRA need to try to progress it. Once we have recognition, we can influence budgets and challenge final accounts as it will be a more formal relationship.
Ground Rents:
There are lots of different ground rents and review periods at High Royds. Current government promising to do a bit more around ground rent control. ACTION: Eleanor to ask Katie White MP for an update and will ask for an update with regards to leasehold reform. Concerns that property sales will be affected unless there is a cap on ground rent.
Any Other Business
Questions from public:

• Would you look for annual membership once Sports and Social Club up and running? Yes, we will try to merge HRRA and Sports and Social Club so there will be an element of that.
• Speeding around the site – what can be done? Arkendale to Appleton – residents speeding around corners. ACTION: HRRA will raise with Trinity.
• When tenants move in, they are not given a copy of the lease. This causes issues such as people owning dogs who are supposed to get permission and pay a fee. ACTION: HRRA will raise with Trinity.
• Will there be EV charging around estate? Only Sports & Social Club.
• Internal communal area / redecoration – told they will get done towards summer next year- but will they get done? They are done, but every 5 or 6 years.
  Next date for a new meeting? Planning for an open meeting with as many people as we can encourage to help. Planning on meeting at Kirklands mid-March. Might postpone until final account comes out to encourage more people to come along. Final accounts usually end-March / April.
  How do we get people signing up? Mailshot? We have an HRRA email address. We could send out a leaflet. Vast majority of residents are owner / occupiers so why the apathy? If we can use little networks such as street WhatsApp groups, we could build up engagement.
  HRRA need to make it clear that we do not necessarily need people to attend but just to get their support through signatures etc.

A meeting was held with James Livesey-Clarke, senior property manager at Trinity, on the 24^th Oct 2024 with members of the HRRA committee.

Prior to the meeting an analysis of the new service charge budget was carried out based on the total budget across the various property headings, e.g. converted block, new build block, estate charge etc. We were unable to analysis each element of the budget as we only had information relating to the properties we had knowledge of.

Below shows the overall increase. The percentage increase for each resident will differ depending on which property each resident occupies, but it is obvious that the main reasons for the increase are the insurance charge and the Building Act charge.

We posed the following questions to James, followed up in an e mail:

2024-25 Service charge budget:A

Overall increase on 2023-24 budget is approximately 20%

Insurance increase accounts for 12.3%

Building Safety Act accounts for 6%

Therefore, excluding the above the overall increase would be 1.7%

Insurance questions:

2022-23 Budget was £90,200 with a declared value of £59,541,786

2022-23 Final Account £112,086

2023-24 Budget was £90,201 with a declared value of £59,541,786

2024-25 Budget was £177,200 with a declared value of £118,912,951

Has there been an insurance revaluation which would account for the approx. doubling of the declared value? And when was this carried out? Is this what you mean when you say “additional units coming into management”?

The Insurance valuation budget is shown every year, if this is only carried out every three years would it be better accounted for as a sinking fund?

Can you confirm that whilst Trinity procures their insurance policy though a block policy covering all the properties which Trinity manage (currently 71,000), that High Royds is not penalised by some of these properties being high rise with potential cladding issues and therefore higher risk?

Can you confirm that the Insurance renewal date for this year was the 1^st August 2024 and therefore the insurance charge which will appear in the 2023–24 final account can be confirmed now and can you let residents know this figure in advance of the final account been issued? Whilst the final balancing charge may be different it would give residents an opportunity to make provision for this additional charge.

FCA [Financial Conduct Authority] Compliance:

We note that you confirmed that the Insurers / Trinity were FCA compliant, which is good to know.

 With regard to the policy entered into on the 1^st August 2024 when can residents expect to be given the following:       

A summary of the features of the policy, including main benefits, coverage and exclusions of the policy, duration, and insured sum. 

The policy premium:

 Where the policy covers a portfolio of buildings, firms must disclose the premium at building or dwelling level.

The remuneration (money paid for work or a service) which any authorised intermediaries received for arranging the insurance, as well as remuneration they pay to other parties including unregulated PMAs and freeholders. 

Information about potential conflicts of interests, such as ownership links between the intermediary and the insurer, and about the insurers with whom the intermediary may place the policy. 

The number of alternative quotes they have obtained (with further details of these to be provided on request) and a brief explanation of why they have proposed or recommended that the policy is in the interests of both the freeholder and leaseholders.

 Building Safety Act 2022 questions:

Which buildings on High Royds does the Building Safety Act 2022 apply to?

Are there any “higher risk” buildings as defined under the act on High Royds?

Are there any “relevant buildings” in respect of s117 of the Building Safety Act 2022 on High Royds?

Are there any buildings on High Royds that qualify for “Leaseholder protection”?

Have Trinity identified any defects in the fire safety aspects of the High Royds buildings which have common parts which are in breach of the original Fire Risk Assessment and Fire Management Plan as required by the Fire Safety Order 2005?

Once we (at HRRA) have received a reply to our questions we will provide a further update.

HRRA has received the following letter from Bridgebank about road closures on the estate – while re-surfacing takes place. Work is going on at the upper end of Guiseley Drive (near the Clocktower – see map below).

“This is a polite notice to inform you that we will be surfacing the carriageway on Monday 19th, 20th, 21st, and 22nd February.
We ask if you could be of assistance by not parking on the carriageway during our working day which will be from 8am to 4.30pm.

Please be aware of any raised ironworks in the carriageway during our operations, the bus lane will also be closed during our working day this to protect our work force at the narrowing point.
We estimate that the 1st layer of surfacing will take around 4 days to complete weather depending.
We apologise for any inconvenience caused and will keep disruption to an absolute minimum.
Advance warning signs are in operation.
Please feel free to contact myself on 07493 868861 if you have any concerns relating to the work being carried out.“

Yours faithfully
BRIDGEBANK LTD
Andy Bailey
Contracts Manager

HRRA members remain in weekly contact with Avant’s commercial manager, Mark Lyon, regarding progress with the High Royds pre-adoption road works. He has asked that we share TWO LOTS of information so residents are aware of the current position. See his note below (1) and please read on for a letter (2).

(1) Avant note:

‘We have today (24th November) issued a Contract Award Letter to Bridgebank for completion of the Yorkshire Water remedials in the ‘phase 1’ area (75 High Royds Drive to the roundabout outside Burnstall Crescent). Once updated health & safety information is received and approved, we can put an order in place to complete the works. We are currently anticipating commencing late next week/early the week after.

‘The works around the street light connections in the same area are also now progressing – we are not in a position yet to confirm when they will be completed but most of the information required to complete the connections/repairs has now been located and the company who will be completing the works for us are liaising with the relevant authorities. As soon as I have any further update on this, I will let you know.’

Kerb stones

Residents will be aware that Phase 2 is well underway with the replacement of damaged kerb stones. This is the stretch of road from Burnstall Crescent as far as the traffic lights on High Royds Drive and also includes a short stretch of Menston Drive up to the bollards plus the short stretch of Ingle Lane up to where road becomes single track.

HRRA do not yet have a timetable from Avant for Phase 3a which includes Guiseley Drive past The Glade as far as 75 High Royds Drive. Phase 3b will then follow along the narrow stretch of Ingle Lane. 

Kingsdales and Norwood Avenue

Barratt David Wilson Homes are as yet unable to provide a timetable to HRRA for completing road works on the Kingsdales and Norwood Avenue as we understand that this can work only be undertaken once Leeds City Council are satisfied with the standard of the works that Avant’s contractors carry out on High Royds Drive and Menston Drive.

If you have any specific queries please email hrra@highroyds.org.uk and we will endeavor to assist you.

(2) Avant letter:

Dear Home owner,

Re: Works to the Carriageway

This is a polite notice to inform you that we will be starting remedial works to the foul and the storm drainage, these defects have been highlighted by Yorkshire Water. We will be commencing works on:

Monday 4^th December 2023.

We ask if you could be of assistance by not parking on the carriageway during our working day which will be from 8am to 4.30pm.  Please be aware of any raised ironworks in the carriageway during our operations.

We estimate that the remedial works to the drainage runs will take around 2 weeks to complete, weather depending, access and egress may be difficult at times due to the nature of the works.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused and will keep disruption to an absolute minimum..

Please feel free to contact myself on 07867 454407 if you have any concerns relating to the work being carried out.

Yours faithfully

BRIDGEBANK LTD

Paul Lister

Paul Lister

Contracts Manager

If you have any specific queries please email hrra@highroyds.org.uk and we will endeavor to assist you.

Minutes of Meeting of HRRA at St Mary’s School, Menston, on Thursday 16 November 2023 at 7.30 pm

Attendees: Carrie Aitken (Chair), Ping Liem (Chair), Nigel Hackett, Catherine Burton (Secretary), Susan Pape, Cynthia Wood, Russell Olliver, Andy Armitage, Nicky Noyes

Apologies: Chris Stevens, Nick Lowry, Cedric Sander, Cliff Hilton

1. Committee roles and duties 

The Committee discussed the formally required officer roles.  Carrie and Ping were confirmed as Co-Chairs, Catherine as Secretary and Nick Lowry is kindly remaining as Treasurer until we can fill this role.  We are planning to meet with a potential new Treasurer in the next couple of weeks.  In addition, two further new signatories were agreed for the bank account which, with related changes, will maintain the signatory panel at the required level for the future.

All other Committee members were happy to continue with their existing duties.

ACTION: Carrie and Ping to arrange a meeting with the potential new Treasurer.  Bank account signatory panel to be updated as above.

• Recognition by Trinity 

• The Committee noted its thanks to Chris Stevens for his work on the steps necessary to obtain formal recognition of HRRA by Trinity.  

• Ping now has access to our database of HRRA members which should assist with any necessary communication with residents. 

• The question of freeholder agreement to recognition was raised as was how any vote on recognition would be organised.

It was agreed that the Committee would look in more detail at these issues and have a more detailed discussion in January.

ACTION: detailed discussion at January’s meeting.

• HRRA Constitution

It was agreed that HRRA’s purpose is to represent the residents of the Estate by holding Trinity to account over its handling of our affairs and responding to day-to-day Estate issues in general.

The Committee noted that Chris Stevens has looked at our constitution and any possible amendments needed and noted its thanks to him for this work.

Susan suggested that a sub-group should be formed to look at our constitution.  She would attend this with Chris, Cynthia and Nicky.

ACTION: Sub-group to arrange a meeting and report back to January’s full Committee meeting.

• Updates on meetings attended and road and any other estate issues 

Andy and Russell attended the High Royds Liaison Group (HRLG) meeting that is also attended by Councillor Alderson, Trinity and Avant.  Andy updated HRRA as follows:

• Discussion is continuing about access to Ingle Lane and High Royds Drive from the Guiseley Drive junction.  It is likely that further discussion as to whether, for example, Ingle Lane should be one way only will progress only after adoption of the roads.

• There are no outstanding planning applications.

We now have the estate ecological survey.  This may be the last one required, but this is currently unclear. 

Catherine will be attending an onsite meeting to discuss landscaping on the estate.

Roads update:

• An update was placed on the HRRA website and on Facebook about the work being done on the roads following Nigel’s meeting about this.  Avant has stated that it is hopeful that the issues with both the drains and the street lighting are close to resolution although there is still no date for the completion of Phase 1 (Burnstall Crescent to the top of High Royds Drive). 

• Phase 2 has now begun (Burnstall Crescent down to the traffic lights).

ACTION: Nigel to inform Carrie and Ping of the next HRRA meeting with Avant so that one of the Chairs can attend.

• Social Club update

Russell updated the meeting on the proposed Social Club.  There have been two meetings with Avant since the last HRRA meeting.  The Social Club Committee is cooperating fully with Avant and HRRA has confirmed, formally, to Avant at the latest meeting, its support for the building of the Social Club.  The Social Club Committee is waiting for Avant to confirm it has appointed contractors to build the Social Club.

ACTION: Russell to let Carrie and Ping know date of the next Social Club meeting with Avant so that one of the Chairs can attend. Nigel is drafting a formal written confirmation of HRRA’s support for the Social Club.

• AOB

Cynthia is to take over as guardian of the defibrillator and is liaising with Councillor Alderson about this.

We had an email from Menston Community Association and Nicky is going to meet with a representative to discuss how we can work together.

ACTION: Nicky to arrange and attend meeting with Menston Community Association representative.

• Next meeting date:
• 18 January 2024 at St Mary’s.

ACTION: Ping to confirm this date with the school and thereafter with the Committee.

Phase 1

High Royds Residents will do doubt be delighted that the pre pre road adoption work started earlier this year. We were warned it would be a long contract for phase 1 from 75 High Royds Drive to the roundabout with Menston Drive.

HRRA remains in regular contact with Avant’s commercial manager to monitor progress. Unfortunately two issues have arisen which are delaying the project:

A CCTV survey has identified some blocked drains which Yorkshire Water require clearing and repairs prior to the final road surface being applied.This work is currently being priced by Bridgebank.

Secondly, HRRA is advised that Leeds City Council’s lighting contractors have been unable to make the necessary connections and  some remedial work is required.  This work is currently being arranged and Avant are hopeful of resolving the matter shortly.

Phase 2

This next phase  is due to commence possibly as early as today (Nov 7) and Avant advise that Bridgebank has already sent letters to the residents who will be affected by these works. This phase which is expected to take 5 weeks will include a short stretch of Menston Drive and run from the Burnstall Crescent roundabout to just before the traffic lights on High Royds Drive. It will also include a short stretch of Ingle Lane past Newby Court as far as where the road becomes single track.

Phase 3a

This is not yet scheduled but will along Guiseley Drive

Phase 3b

This also has not yet be scheduled but will be the single track stretch of  Ingle Lane

Final Road Pre adoption Works

The final pre adoption works on the Kingsdales and Norwood Avenue  are primarily the responsibility of Barratt David Wilson Homes (BDWH) .  Avant however  will be responsible for the road surface at the top of Norwood Avenue and Norwood Fold. This final road pre adoption work will only undertaken once the BDWH works are completed satisfactorily.

Affected residents should have received a copy of the letter below:

Dear Home owner,

Re: Works to the footway & Carriageway

This is a polite notice to inform you that we will be starting final surfacing to the footway & carriageway on

Tuesday 7^th November.

We ask if you could be of assistance by not parking on the carriageway during our working day which will be from 8am to 4.30pm.  Please be aware of any raised ironworks in the footway & carriageway during our operations.

We estimate that the remedial works and the final surfacing will take around 5 weeks to complete, weather depending, the local authorities have also asked for us to cut back any overhanging or over grown vegetation adjacent to your properties, this is required so the full width of the installed footway from front to back can be used without restriction.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused and will keep disruption to an absolute minimum..

Please feel free to contact myself on 07867 454407 if you have any concerns relating to the work being carried out.

Yours faithfully

BRIDGEBANK LTD

Paul Lister

Contracts Manager

Residents have been questioning the electricity estimates and the costs of the ecological survey on the recent estate maintenance charges. HRRA contacted James Livesey-Clarke of Trinity. His reply is below:

“High Royds is an October year end. As such, when the 2022/23 budget was prepared in September 2022, it was done at a time when there was significant turmoil at Government level and a lack of support confirmed for residential communal supplies (eventually the energy bill discount scheme was formulated once Government stabilised).

“The budget for last year was therefore prepared at a time when there was utility crisis and bill levels were at their peak across the board with no support which is not the case anymore.
“Since that particular turbulent point in time, electricity costs have dropped, and better rates have become available for communal supplies which is reflected in the 2023/ 24 budget.

“In relation to the ecological survey, this figure is based on the costing of the 2022/23 survey. It has not been paid for yet as the finalised report has not yet been received. The visit parts of this survey have been completed (last one being 27th September, 2023), and the ecologists are now working on the report which they aim to have with the local authority by the end of the year at the latest. In terms of whether this will be the last report, it’s hard to say at this stage and it was something that came up at the liaison meeting last week. Ultimately, it will depend on what the ecology report states as to whether a further report is required.“

The following letter is to be sent to affected residents on High Royds Drive in anticipation of the roads being re-surfaced.

Dear Home owner,

Re: Works to the  Carriageway.

This is a polite notice to inform you that we will be starting surfacing to the carriageway on

1^st & 2^nd August 2023

We ask if you could be of assistance by not parking on the carriageway during our working day which will be from 8am to 4.30pm.  Please be aware of any raised ironworks in the  carriageway during our operations, the bus lane will also be closed during our working day this to protect our work force at the narrowing point.

We estimate that the 1^st layer of surfacing will take around 2 days to complete.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused and will keep disruption to an absolute minimum.

We will update you with further letter drops when our key dates are approaching.

Please feel free to contact myself on 07493 868861 if you have any concerns relating to the work being carried out.

Yours faithfully

BRIDGEBANK LTD

Andy Bailey

Contracts Manager

The map shows which areas are to be re-surfaced on each day: