Friends of Mill Rise / Meeting Dates

Friends of Mill Rise Meeting held on 18th March 2008

The notes from the previous meeting were discussed with the following points raised:

• The size of the main bedroom in the 2 bed apartment was raised, concerns were expressed that there will not be much room for bedroom furniture. All the drawings have now gone through planning so they cannot be changed. Plan layouts of the flats will be taken to the next meeting.

• Carpets – The apartments will not be carpeted as part of the build contract, however it may be possible for Aspire to link in with some local suppliers to negotiate a discounted rate for residents and arrange for carpets to be fitted prior to move-in  but this is something that we are unsure about at present.

• Rents – Suzie clarified rents and other charges and will provide indicative figures for shared ownership rents at the next meeting.

• Supporting People charges – This is for the housing related support service, traditionally the warden service in sheltered housing, and is an amount agreed by Staffordshire Supporting People team for the scheme manager who carries out daily checks, prepares support plans with residents and helps arrange activities etc. It also pays for the community alarm service.

• Care charges – This is separate to Supporting People and relates to personal care that will be provided by a domiciliary care provider that has yet to be selected.  Residents will be charged for up to 10 hours of personal care a week or for more than 10 hours of personal care a week. Residents that don’t receive domiciliary care will not be charged for this. The care provider will also be on site 24 hours, 7 days a week.  Aspire will not be providing the domiciliary care service because we are not registered with Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) to do this.

• Repair charges – This will be clarified at the next meeting and what tenants/shared ownership residents/Aspire are responsible for.

• Draft allocations – A sheet with key principles was circulated and discussed; Attendees were in agreement with the proposed eligibility criteria.

• Questions were asked about fencing and security at Mill Rise and it was agreed that clarification and plans would be brought to the next meeting.
  

Consultation

The views of the Friends of Mill Rise were asked on the following topics:-

• Pets – Small pets like birds and goldfish were considered acceptable. Following discussion it was felt that a policy of allowing existing cats/dogs in ground floor apartments was acceptable but that these should not be replaced.

• Road Name – Suggestions for road names were encouraged and people were asked to bring ideas to the next meeting.

• Location of Friends of Mill Rise Meetings – No specific venue was preferred but it was agreed that we need somewhere with parking and easy access.

• Leaflet Database – A leaflet is to be produced for the Mill Rise scheme and Friends of Mill Rise were asked for suitable places to distribute them.  Suggestions were: Morrisons, Supermarkets, Shopmobility, Doctors, Libraries, Swimming pools, Garden centres, Churches, Chemists, Hospital out patients, Internet, News and Views.

Any other business:

A question was asked about the layout of the kitchen and living room – Layouts will be provided at the next meeting.

Guest Room – There is a room available which could be used as either a guest room or a sleepover room for the care staff. The use of the room will be decided in consultation with the care provider who will be selected in September 2008.

Aspire’s pre-assessment forms for housing related support and Social Services’ Single Assessment Process forms were distributed to the group for information about the application process but they do not have to be filled in at this stage.

A list of meeting dates was issued.

Date of next meeting Tuesday 15th April at 2.30 p.m. at Earls Court Sheltered Scheme, Miller Street, Newcastle.