Annual Residents Meeting & Steering Committee Update

Dear Residents,

Please see the below update.

Tadpole Garden Village Community Interest Company – Annual Residents Meeting

I am aware that residents are keen to attend a residents meeting for Tadpole Garden Village (TGV). In the past these meetings have been held on an annual basis, with the last meeting being held pre-COVID 19 in the summer of 2019.

Please be assured that Preim will arrange an annual meeting for Tadpole Garden Village Community Interest Company (TGVCIC) as soon as it is possible to do so, taking into consideration the government restrictions to prevent the spread of COVID 19, and the uncertainty this brings. In our experience an in-person Residents Meeting is preferable to an online meeting (i.e. via zoom) given the size of the development. Resident engagement and participation have always played a large role in the TGVCIC annual meetings, and we do not want to detract from this by holding an virtual meeting.

Preim will issue a set date for a meeting as soon as its possible to do so in 2022, and then meeting invitations will be issued to all property owners. In the interim, you do not need to wait for a residents meeting to raise a query. Preim are always on hand to answer any development or TGVCIC related questions you may have via our helpdesk. Please do get in touch.

TGVCIC Resident Steering Committee

Preim understands that there has been some recent discussion amongst residents regarding the role of the TGVCIC Steering Committee and how the Steering Committee fits into the TGVCIC and the wider TGV development.

Below is an organisational chart illustrating the structure for TGV and TGVCIC:

As per the chart all property owners are members of the TGVCIC. Currently the TGVCIC Directors are Crest Nicholson Southwest (CNSW) who currently have the deciding vote in any CIC related decision. There is a TGVCIC Steering Group whose role is as follows:

• To review the estate works provided by TGVCIC on areas that have been handed over
• Recommend local suppliers to be considered by Preim to carry out estate works
• Identify and report to Preim Health and Safety issues affecting the estate
• Notification of repairs/maintenance that become apparent as being required between annual inspections completed by Preim
• Notification of enhancements to the estate considered as desirable by the Members to Preim
• Co-ordinating and collating the views of the members and other residents and reporting these to Preim as required. This can of course include members views regarding the performance of Preim and the other TGVCIC suppliers.
• Acting as point of contact for suppliers to report activity
• Commenting on the draft annual service charge budget presented by Preim

• To confirm, it is not the primary remit of the Steering Committee to focus on construction related issues or areas that are due to be adopted by Swindon Borough Council or fall outside of the TGVCIC’s control. Whilst the Steering Committee can collate residents’ views on issue affecting these areas, they do not fall under the TGVCIC’s or the Steering Committee’s remit. During 2020 and into 2021, the Steering Committee’s focus has been on the management of the completed CIC assets and the Steering Committee have been working with Preim to better understand the day to day to running of the TGVCIC, where the service charges are spent and working on creating working sub-committees that will focus on certain aspects of the TGVCIC works.
• Developer and construction related issues such as incomplete areas, streetlight repairs, building site safety, contractor parking etc. are not within the remit of the TGVCIC or the Steering Committee. Any construction or developer issues which are brought to Preim’s attention are sent on to the relevant developer. TGVCIC does not have any influence or power in relation to the developer’s build processes, timescales or other planning items. Queries on items such as these should be raised directly with either the respective developer or Swindon Borough Council.
• The Steering Committee will be engaged by the master developer (CNSW) for planning consultation on items such as the sports pavilions and playing fields, as these future TGVCIC assets potentially have a bearing on future TGVCIC service charges.
• When non-standard requests are received from residents for works which would incur expenditure of the TGVCIC service charge, if they are considered viable then the Steering Committee will be consulted, and if the request is considered desirable then the matter will be referred to the TGVCIC Directors, CNSW, for their decision.
• Preim regularly meets with the Steering Committee to discuss the management of the completed TGVCIC areas and to encourage a collaborative approach to the management of TGVCIC and the continuation of the community engagement.
• The notes from the August & September 2021 Steering Committee meetings have been uploaded to both the TGV App and Community Website. The notes from the October & November 2021 meetings will be uploaded shortly. There may be time periods for which there are no meeting notes for Steering Committee meetings. This could be due to the frequency of meeting or a change in Steering Committee members and their roles.

Preim can confirm that there is a constitution in place for the Steering Committee, however as the Steering Committee is currently ‘informal’ (i.e. there are currently no TGVCIC voting rights attributed to the Steering Committee), it has been decided by the Steering Committee that there is currently no need to again ratify the constitution at this time. The Steering Committee is made up of volunteer TGV residents who have put themselves forward to join when Preim last sought new members or have who contacted the Steering Committee and asked if they can join. Currently the Steering Committee is open to any residents to join should they wish. The longer-term structure on how the Steering Committee will operate, how the working groups will function, and other aspects are still being discussed and are a work in progress.

Once the TGV development has been completed and TGVCIC has been handed over to the residents, there may be the need to formalise the Steering Committee in order to aid in the process of appointing resident Directors of TGVCIC. However, as explained above, as the Steering Committee currently operates a purely advisory role this is not required and will not change at present.

Should residents have any queries regarding any of the above, please contact me directly via the Preim helpdesk, and I will be more than happy to explain this in further detail.

Many thanks,

Simon New
Customer Account Manager – Preim Ltd