9th September 2025

Agenda

• Introductions
• September 2024–September 2025: Our second year
• Committee election
• Financial statement
• Crime & Safety
• Making plans for 2025–26
• What matters to you?
• AOB

Introductions

A Residents Association (RA) is a�group of residents who have come�together to improve their community.

We all live on this estate.�We are all volunteers.

Hello, we are the 2024-2025 PRERA committee

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Following the residents’ vote at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) in September 2024,�the current PRERA committee are:

• Kush (Chair)
• Alicia (Vice-Chair)
• Julia (Treasurer)
• Katie (Secretary)
• Melissa (Area Board Representative)
• David (Committee Member) – Gardening lead
• Hugh (Committee Member) – Finance support
• Joely (Committee Member)
• Julian (Committee Member)
• Rano (Committee Member)

Stay in touch with what’s happening across the estate

Scan here to find links to the PRERA:

• Website
• Newsletter sign up
• WhatsApp Community

September 2024–September 2025

Our second year after reforming in September 2023

PRERA AGM Sep. 2024 you asked us to focus on:

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1. ESTATE MAINTENANCE
1. Rubbish and Recycling
2. Litter and Fly Tipping
3. Grounds Maintenance and Gardening

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• REPAIRS AND SERVICE CHARGES
• Major works/ Service Charge Scrutiny
• Housing repair

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• COMMUNITY EVENTS
• Community events
1. Children & youth
2. Older people

Other areas of concern which are outside of the TRA's (voluntary) remit but have been noted and escalated:

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VEHICLES AND TRANSPORT

Cars & parking

Cycling & public transport

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Welfare & cost of living

Crime & antisocial behaviour

Estate walkabout with Lambeth & contractors

• x2 estate walkabout with Lambeth Housing Officers, Community Works, Serco and Pinnacle representatives – Autumn and Spring.
• Proactive reporting of poor work as recall (not a new chargeable job).
• Resident volunteers repairing damage left by poor works.

MAINTENANCE & REPAIRS

PRERA Engagement with Lambeth Housing Team

Area Board meetings

• Quarterly. Lambeth Housing staff meet with resident reps from estates within the “South” area.
• Governance: “the system of rules, practices, and processes used to direct and control an organisation, defining:
• who has authority
• who makes decisions
• who is held accountable for outcomes
• The focus:
• Understand the structures and mechanisms for overseeing management & performance.
• Ensuring accountability, and represent stakeholder concerns primarily around Estate Maintenance.

MAINTENANCE & REPAIRS

PRERA Engagement with Lambeth Housing Team

Repairs Service Panel meetings

• 5 repair panel meetings scheduled last year (AGM year). Only one happened.
• Plan for meetings to be attended by the Responsive Repairs Service, Wates (internal repairs) and Community Works (external repairs) teams.

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Housing Scrutiny Sub-Committee and Corporate Committee

• Meetings attended by PRERA to keep track of current status of representations being made to Lambeth Housing by other activists/organisations/individuals such as LHA.

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Building relationships with other Lambeth TRAs

• Can we tackle some borough wide issues, like Serco poor performance, together?

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MAINTENANCE & REPAIRS

Service Charge (leaseholders & some freeholders)

Day-to-Day Actual Service Charge Bills

Section 21 and 22 requests completed (submitted and chased!) for all blocks on behalf of leaseholders.

• Data for 2024 available for all.
• Go to PRERA website or join the leaseholders WhatsApp chat to find out more.

Leaseholder Services facilitate their own resident meetings separate from resident engagement and housing governance services.

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Leaseholders Billing Audit

• Lambeth Housing carried out an internal audit in spring 2025 – more details to follow. We will add updates to the PRERA blog when we know more.

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MAINTENANCE & REPAIRS – SERVICE CHARGES

Leaseholder advocacy

Lambeth Homeowners Association

The LHA is an volunteer run organisation for service charge paying homeowners in Lambeth. Its purpose is to fight for fairer service charges, better quality maintenance, and transparency in how the council manages properties, and share information and advice on leasehold matters and Lambeth Housing issues.

https://lambethleaseholders.wordpress.com/

Have your say nationally

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New Leasehold Reform Act due to be debated in parliament this autumn.

LHA has engaged the All Party Commission for Leasehold Reform.

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National Consultation:

“Strengthening leaseholder protections over charges and services

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https://consult.communities.gov.uk/leasehold-and-private-rented-sector/strengthening-leaseholder-protections-consultation/consultation/

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Other national campaign groups:

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• SHAC (Social Housing Action Campaign)
• Free Leaseholders

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MAINTENANCE & REPAIRS – SERVICE CHARGES

Tenant advocacy

London Tenants Federation

The London Tenants Federation (LTF) serves to empower social housing tenants to influence strategic housing, planning, and regeneration policy at a London-wide level. Its purpose is to advocate for bottom-up, democratic engagement and promote a more sustainable, resilient London by developing strong tenant networks and providing a collective voice on key issues like fuel poverty, rents, building safety, and large-scale development. The LTF's membership includes a wide range of tenant and resident organizations, co-operatives, and tenant management organizations.

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https://londontenants.org/

MAINTENANCE & REPAIRS

Rubbish and Recycling (Serco)

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• Walkabout with Lambeth April 2025 to review bin capacity and locations.
• Walkabout with Serco to review litter picking, bin collections and weeding June 2025 – Conversation ongoing re. poor level of contract delivery.
• x2 weeding in 2025 (28th&29th April + 18th&21st July);�x1 more due Sep/Oct 2025.
• Bollard installation pending to improve bin access for Despard platform and the service road.
• Inconsistency in Despard platform bins collection schedule and increased to twice weekly inline with all other estate block bins.
• Coburg Crescent bins better but not great.

MAINTENANCE – EXTERNAL CLEANSING SERVICES

External (non-Lambeth) Contractors

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• UKPN: We have sent many many emails and requested several walkabouts to try and get the works (which are now extremely delayed) completed.�
• Thames Water: Returning October 16th to 25th approx. to complete final mains replacement works.

MAINTENANCE – WORKS

Mowing

• Mowing plans created in collaboration with Lambeth Landscapes and IEL to balance supporting nature and the estate looking maintained.

MAINTENANCE – LAMBETH LANDSCAPES

Autumn Day 2024 / Spring Day 2025

• Great engagement – around 20 people attended each event
• All platform planters tidied
• Spring and summer flower bulbs planted

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COMMUNITY EVENTS

Incredible Edible Lambeth – Wildflower planting

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• Wildflower areas planted. These are ongoing projects and will take time and maintenance over a few years to establish.
• IEL supplied yellow rattle seed to sew this autumn.

COMMUNITY EVENTS

More gardening!

• Planting hedge plants on the South Circular to fix areas damaged by UKPN.
• Fruit tree pruning in Autumn and Spring

COMMUNITY EVENTS

New Trees on the Estate (free)

Durkan planters

• PRERA got two planters from Durkan donated free of charge to compensate the estate for the disruption their site office on the CC carpark caused earlier this year. They are being very well looked after on on Despard platform.

MAINTENANCE – WORKS

Community Day 2025!

• Funded through a Lambeth Getting Involved Grant
• Kids games, face painting, and a bouncy castle
• Live music including Future Groove and Brixton Chamber Orchestra
• DJs from the estate
• BBQ including 90 free meals for estate children
• Fantastic attendance!

COMMUNITY EVENTS

Parking

GO TO OUR NEWS BLOG TO FIND OUT MORE –�WE HAVE NO SAY IN THIS AND THERE IS NOTHING WE CAN DO TO STOP THIS.

Housing Estate Parking Permit 4 ‘HEPP4’

• Parking controls on the estate roads – Coburg Crescent and Bushell Close.

Controlled Parking Zone J�‘CPZ J’

• Parking controls on public streets around PRE including Palace Road.

VEHICLES AND TRANSPORT

PRERA Communications

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• Regular blog posts (5-10 posts per month)
• Monthly email newsletter (Monthly email being sent out)
• Social media accounts (Instagram, Facebook)
• WhatsApp Community and announcements
• Updates on notice boards
• Flyering (if anyone can print for free at work please let us know!)
• Ongoing survey feedback form on our website

RESIDENT ENGAGEMENT

Committee Election

Committee election

All Palace Road Estate residents are considered members of the Residents Association.

Every year, residents elect a committee – “lead volunteers” who:

a). Take the lead in liaising with Lambeth staff on issues relating to the estate/represent resident interests.

b). Facilitate the RA’s Annual General Meeting (required).

Within Lambeth RAs need representatives from a minimum�of 5 households (max 15) to be recognised by the council�(the committee can only have 1 person per household).

Roles

• Chair (room for Co-Chairs)
• Vice Chair
• Treasurer
• Secretary
• General Committee Members
• Area Board Member
• Safer Neighbourhood Team lead

Voting in officers to represent the estate

• Coordinated by John O’Reilly, Resident Participation Officer
• Voting in of 4 key officer positions:
• Chairperson
• Vice-chairperson (optional)
• Treasurer
• Secretary

Anyone is invited to put themselves forward. Please say why you are interested, and what skills and experience you can bring.�All attendees will then be invited to vote.

1. Voice your interest
2. Any attendee will then need to nominate you.
3. Any attendee will the need to second you.
4. If more than one person nominated then there will be a vote.

Vote of general committee members

• Coordinated by John O’Reilly, Resident Participation Officer
• Anyone is invited to put themselves forward.
• Please say which areas or sub-groups you would be interested in leading, and what skills and experience you can bring.
• Maximum number 10.

• Voice your interest
• Any attendee will then need to nominate you.
• Any attendee will the need to second you.

Financial Statement

Presented by Hugh

Treasurer Financial Statement

Financial Statement 2024–25

• Opening amount £1,482
• Income £3,276
• Outgoings £3,250
• Funds to be carried forward�£1,508 to 25/26

Year to July 2025

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• Funds 1st April 2025 £1,508
• Income £2,460
• Outgoings £2,683
• Current Balance £1,285

Financial Statement 2024-25

Year to July 2025

Crime & Safety

Presented By Streatham Hill Safer Neighbourhood Team

Crime & Safety

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• Streatham Hill West Safer Neighbourhood Team:
• https://www.metengage.co.uk/Content/LocalArea/79425/Streatham%20Hill%20East
• quarterly panel meetings on pause since spring 2024
• Met Engage launched July 2025 – Sign up to receive updates, and provide feedback on local policing priorities.
• To report a crime you can call 101 or through the report a crime section of the Met Website.
• If it is an emergency, dial 999.

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Making plans for 2025–2026

Ongoing areas of work

• Walkabout with Lambeth Housing Officer & contractors:
• Aiming for twice yearly October date TBC.
• Addressing Serco performance:
• Lack of adherence to terms of contract, especially when it comes to weeding of hard surfaces.
• A members enquiry has been submitted with Liz Atkins.
• Communicating with UKPN about their works reinstatements:
• Snagging list complied and being actively chased.
• X2 properties on Coburg Crescent still struggling to gain access to finish works.
• Bike storage:
• No money currently. Maintaining contact with Lambeth to stay top of the list.
• Lambeth Trees:
• Maintaining relationship in case there are more free spare trees we in spring 2026.

Ongoing areas of work

• Networking with other Lambeth TRAs
• Can we tackle some borough wide issues, like Serco poor performance, together?�
• Capital works programme – Challenging S20 Dispensation for Ponton, Despard, and Chalner
• A leaseholder group of residents joined forces and together put in a massive effort to combine their documentation and challenge the additional costs.
• The dispensation was granted, but we still have other options to challenge the costs and quality of the work.�
• Water Networks major works S20
• Investigating these works which covered all leaseholders on the estate.
• Checking legal processes and requirements were adhered to.

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Ongoing areas of work

• Continuing collab. with Incredible Edible Lambeth
• Building on successful projects in 2024–2025 PRERA is continuing our collaboration with Incredible Edible Lambeth. Led by the South London Botanical Institute (SLBI) in collaboration with Incredible Edible Lambeth (IEL), Nature Vibezzz and the Advocacy Academy, 'Nurturing Nature' is a 9-month pilot project that will deliver an urban nature programme for estate residents, young people and other residents of Lambeth.
• SLBI and IEL will design and deliver a programme of activities including bespoke Open Houses at SLBI, nature education and creative expression workshops, biodiversity surveys and plant- based community meals.
• The details are currently being worked out, and updates will follow in the Autumn once we know more.

What matters to you?

What do you want us to focus on for next year?

• How can we make our estate a great place to live?

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• Everyone write 3 things they would like to change/improve/introduce on the estate on post-it notes and stick them on the wall.
• Rank them in order of importance by writing 1, 2 and 3 on them (1 = most important to you).

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• These will be used to organise our priority areas and create an action plan.

A.O.B

Autumn Day 2025�Saturday 1st November 2025�10am–12pm