In a press release yesterday (17th December 2007), Greenbelt Group announced that having listened to it’s customers, it had revised its policies with regards to Open Area Maintenance, and could now offer a number of options to permit homeowners to self-manage the open areas on their developments.

The press release can be read in full here:

http://www.greenbeltgroup.co.uk/press/16

and details of the various options can be viewed here (needs Adbobe PDF viewer):

http://www.greenbeltgroup.co.uk/mediaLibrary/images/english/2338.pdf

This is a major step forward for residents in Kintore, and assuming there are no hurdles with the detail in the small print, will permit residents to appoint their own land managers (most likely Aberdeenshire Council) with quality standards and prices agreeable to all residents.

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Just days after posting an expensively produced Customer Information Pack to over 300 homes in the Kintore area (postage alone was £1.69 per copy), produced no doubt at residents expense, Greenbelt Group contractors arrived on site for a routine visit.

We should expect high standards if we believe everything in the Homeowners Folder, but these photos taken shortly after the contractors appointed by Greenbelt Group (Netherton Plan Hire, based in Ellon) left tell the true story.

1) Unsightly and slippery clumps of rotting grass left on public footpath.

2) Nettles over 6 feet tall growing in a shrub bed!

 3) Uncollected litter in the shrub beds. Litter is supposed to be picked up on each site visit.

4) Overgrown shrub bed. The plants are obviously unsuitable for the shrub bed here, and have grown uncontrollably to dominate the shrub bed and giving it a unique “wild and unmaintained” look.

5) Very badly cut grass - woth some bits where a ride-on mower can’t easly reach being left untouched. Note the walls of the house are sprayed with the grass cuttings, and unsightly clumps of grass left to rot.

 Hundreds of more images showing the typical quality of the Open Area maintenance performed by Greenbelt Group can be found at the following website:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/407954@N24/pool/

You can see from the images taken over the past 2 years or so, that little improvement has been made of the qaulity of workmanship carried out. Please feel free to join the group and add your own photographs.

There was a discussion on the issues surrounding Greenbelt Group held in the House of Commons a few days ago.

A full transcript of the discussions and condemnation of the company’s behaviour can be read at:

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/whall/?id=2007-07-25a.297.0

It is very interesting that other estates are experiencing exactly the same issues as ourselves, with regards poor standards of maintenance, high charges, poor correspondence etc.

http://www.greenbelt-action.btik.com/

http://www.spanglefish.com/GreenbeltGroupAction/news.asp

http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=1142882007
If you have any photos highlighting poor standards of maintenance being performed by Greenbelt Group, then you are encouraged to upload them to a free photo hosting website at:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/407954@N24/

You can register for a free account if you wish to upload photos and add them to the group.

The committee are pleased to announce that our next meeting/AGM will take place on Tuesday 16th January at 7:30pm. The meeting will be held in Kintore Town Hall (upstairs).

As always, our meetings are open to every resident, and we warmly welcome new faces and appreciate hearing feedback and new issues.

As you will be aware from our recent newsletter, several committee members are stepping down next year due to being relocated overseas, or work committments. We would very much love to hear from you if you can spare an hour or two every few months to attend meetings (no skills or experience required), to help out our community.

John Stewart
Secretary, Hall Forest Residents Association

The Hall Forest Residents Association are pleased to announce our festive party & disco for 2006. We have booked Kintore Public Hall from 7pm to midnight on Friday 29th December.

Tickets are priced at £2.50 for adults, and children are free (limited numbers). The ticket price will include a finger buffet of sandwiches and other snacks, and unlimited soft drinks and mixers. We shall supply the plastic cups, paper plates etc.

Due to alcohol licencing restrictions, this event will be a Bring Your Own party.

It will be an ideal opportunity to meet some of your neighbours on a social basis, plan New Year parties etc., as well as having a great time on the dance floor.

The event is limited to to 150 people, and we already have pre-orders for over 1/3 of the available tickets before they go on sale from tonight.

To reserve tickets, please send an email to secretary@hallforest.co.uk giving your name, address and number of adult and child tickets and we’ll reserve them for you, and make arrangements for you to pay and collect them. We may also be able to deliver the tickets whilst distributing our latest newsletter, due out shortly.

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