2013 Annual General Meeting

Ashefield Residents Association will hold the 2013 Annual General Meeting in the Newbury Hotel, Green Bridge, Mullingar on Friday 19th, July, 2013.  All Ashefield residents are welcome and encouraged to participate.

Agenda:

  • Presentation of the 2012 Accounts
  • Discussion of the maintenance and remedial works in the coming year.
  • Election of the New Committee for 2013

This meeting notice and the following update was distributed to all houses in the estate:

 

Dear Resident,

Thanks for your support in 2012 and we hope that you will be as supportive in the coming year.

The 2013 Ashefield Residents Annual Fund Raising Collection will commence following the upcoming AGM with committee members circulating in the estate. The funds collected will be used in the upkeep of the common areas throughout the estate. The committee comprises all unpaid volunteers – your neighbours, who are willing to spare some time.

Your contribution is very important. It falls back on us as a community to maintain and improve the common areas and  in the estate. We realise that time is precious so therefore we appreciate all and any help you can give. This can involve calling on Tesco to collect abandoned shopping trolleys or picking up litter in your area.

The main expense incurred is the grass cutting in the large green common areas. It cost approximately €1260 to cut the grass and carry out other upgrades such as replacing the signs within the estate in 2012.  With a view to continuing this work, the Resident Association Committee Members will be circulating in the coming days asking for a contribution of €30 per household. (Accounts available on www.ashefield.com)

Ashefield has a website, e-mail address, Twitter account, and a Facebook page to help you keep up with to date and to contact us. We encourage you to use these to stay in touch with both the residents association and residents.

The collection has been well supported in the past and we are sure that we can rely on your support once again this year. We realise that we all have extra pressures due to Household Charge and Property Tax. However despite these, the responsibility falls on all the residents to maintain the common areas in our estate.

This request is being made to all residents; either renting or owning their home. However if those renting their home feel that this request is better directed to their landlord we would appreciate if they forwarded this message to their landlord.

We encourage you to contact us with your ideas, suggestions, and hope you can turn up to the AGM to meet other residents, give your opinion, and get involved.

AES is changing their bin collection service

If you are an AES customer in the estate, you should be aware that they are changing the bin collection service from the 1st of July, 2013. From this date, they will no longer provide alternate week collections for your general waste and recycling bin. They will be moving to a dual collection of your general waste and recycling bins. This means that your general waste and recycling bins will be collected on the same day, once every two weeks. There will be no reduction in the number of collections. AES plan to send out an updated collection calendar to customers from the week beginning 17th of June.

Reinstating the green area at the entrance to Ashefield

At the March meeting of the Westmeath County Council Mullingar Area Committee, Cllr. Ken Glynn proposed a motion that Westmeath County Council immediately take steps to have the broadband company reinstate the green area at the entrance to Ashefield Estate to its original condition and that works are carried out to rectify this matter to the satisfaction of all local residents.

Westmeath County Council replied that they received a cash bond from the broadband installers and that this bond will not be refunded until all works are satisfactorily completed.

Read more on Cllr. Ken Glynn’s blog

Council response to a question regarding Ashefield entrance safety concerns

Cllr. Ken Glynn asked Westmeath County Council about progress made regarding safety concerns at the pedestrian crossing near the entrance to Ashefield on Ashe Road. Cllr. Glynn had asked the Council’s Road Safety Officer to visit this location and assess the issue. Westmeath County Council’s Road Safety Officer replied that they had reviewed this pedestrian crossing:
The crossing is located on Ashe Road between the Ashefield roundabout and the entrance to Tesco. This road has high traffic volumes generated by the location of primary schools, residential areas and the Tesco Shopping Centre. The crossing area is positioned 5 metres off the roundabout. All relevant warning signage is provided.  Both approaches to the crossing along the Ashe Road have good forward visibility. For traffic emerging from Ashefield Estate, the crossing has been found to be positioned at the optimum location for both motorists and pedestrians. The current position of the crossing allows a motorist full visibility of the crossing and of both waiting areas on the footpath, from the yield line emerging from Ashefield Estate. By moving it further from the roundabout, motorists would be unable to view pedestrians if they are on the nearside footpath and attempting to cross. The road markings at the crossing are slightly worn and it is proposed that these markings be improved next year. The Council will continue to monitor the safety of this crossing.
Further information is available on Cllr. Glynn’s blog

Road sweeping in Ashefield

Westmeath Co. Co. sweeps the roads in Ashefield approximately once every two months. However, it appears that due to funding cutbacks, this will be curtailed. The council is to issue a revised timetable in due course and we’ll provide further information on this site when received.

Thanks to John S. for this update

Attention Dog Owners

Are you a dog owner? Due to the number of dog fouling instances in the estate, which are public health hazards, and loose/unmuzzled dogs, we’d like to bring the following information from Westmeath County Council’s control of animals webpage to your attention.

Dog owners responsibilities:

  • A person in charge of a dog must clean up when the dog fouls in a public place. Owners who fail to do so are liable to an ‘on-the-spot’ of €150
  • Keep their dog/s under control in a public place.
  • Dogs must wear a collar and tag bearing the name and address of the owner.
  • Certain breeds of potentially dangerous dogs must be kept on a short strong leash and muzzled whenever they are in a public place.

Licensing:

If you have a dog over 4 months old, you must have a licence for it and the person to whom the licence is issued must be over 16 years of age.

A dog licence may be purchased online or at any Post Office.

If you do not have a licence for your dog, you are liable to a €30.00 on-the-spot fine.

Failure to pay this fine can lead to a prosecution with a maximum fine of €1,270.00 and/or up to 3 months imprisonment if convicted.

Breeds of dog to which certain regulations apply under the Control of Dogs Act:

  • American Pit Bull Terrier
  • Bulldog
  • Bull Mastiff
  • Dobermann Pinscher
  • English Bull Terrier
  • German Shepherd (Alsatian)
  • Japanese Akita
  • Japanese Tosa
  • Rhodesian Ridgeback
  • Rottweiler
  • Staffordshire Bull Terrier
  • Every dog of the type commonly known as a Ban Dog (or Bandog) and to every other strain or cross of every breed or type of dog described above.
Further information:

Link to Westmeath County Council’s control of dogs webpage

An Post’s dog licensing webpage

 

Annual collection of resident contributions and remedial works

The upkeep of the common areas in the estate is the responsibility of the residents. This includes grass cutting of common green areas,  replacement of house number street signs in the estate, repairs to estate walls that are not the responsibility of the council, and any other remedial works that may be necessary. These works were outlined in the recent AGM.

The grass cutting season has already started and the first part of the remedial work plan – replacement of house number street signs – is underway.

To help cover to the costs of these works, the residents association have been collecting €30 per household every year. 100% of these contributions go directly towards these works and the full accounts for the resident association are made public.

Volunteer residents from the association will be circulating around the estate in the coming weeks with a view to collecting a contribution of €30 per household. We do realise that times are hard and living costs are climbing but your valued support is being requested once again this year. The €30 contribution is approximately 60 cents per week, which is a modest sum considering the work it achieves. This request is being made to all residents; either renting their home or as owners.

 Sincere thanks to all the residents and community groups for their contributions and support.  We are sure that you will do your best to support us in our efforts to maintain  the estate that will all live in.

Minutes of the 2012 Ashefield Residents Association AGM

Ashefield Residents Association held their 2012 AGM on April 26th in The Newbury Hotel, Green Bridge, Mullingar.

1. Meeting Opening

The meeting was opened by Mr. Joe Gettings, Treasurer.

2. Accounts for 2011

The accounts for 2011 were presented by Treasurer Mr. Joe Gettings. (Full accounts available on www.ashefield.com.) These were unopposed and accepted.

3. Annual contribution for upkeep-of green areas

The residents contribution is currently €30 per house. It was pointed out that is the lowest in Mullingar. Other estate contributions range from €50 to €100. It was decided to leave the annual contribution at €30 per house.

4. Additional Remedial Works

The prospect of engaging in additional remedial works in the estate such as replacement of the house number street signs and repair to the estate walls near the Ashe Road entrance was discussed. As there is sufficient funds to complete the grass cutting for 2012, it was decided that these activities would be undertaken if estimated additional cost of this activity was collected in 2012.

5. New Constitution

The Treasurer, Joe Gettings presented a new constitution for discussion. However the quorum of 10 persons required to adopt the new constitution was not present. Therefore the discussion was suspended until a quorum could be convened. Full details of the constitution is available at www.ashefield.com.

6. Election of new committee

Mr Joe Gettings stepped down from the position as Treasurer. The election of the association officers for 2012 commenced.

  • Treasurer: Mr. John Scales went forward for this position. He was elected unopposed unanimously.
  •  Chairperson: Mr. Joe Gettings went forward for this position. He was elected unopposed unanimously
  • Secretary: No one was available for this position. A decision was made to try and co-opt a resident into this position

7. Closing of meeting

The meeting was then closed