The Minutes can be viewed by using the following link:
Minutes of Meeting of Directors on 17th August 2025
May we particularly draw your attention to item 4, which details the surface water drainage survey findings and our plans for remediation.
Regarding the 2025-26 budget, this will be circulated shortly by Tim Townsend together with invoices to owners for payment of the service charges for the first half-year.
UPDATE: This work will start on Monday 4th August and will take two days.
LMC was originally told by Bellway that all of the drainage at Little Meadow was to be adopted by Thames Water so it was a surprise when we were informed only last year that just the foul drainage was adoptable, leaving the surface water drainage system as part of LMC’s responsibilities. Because of this, we have been seeking from Bellway a drainage survey to confirm the satisfactory condition of the system before we would accept the transfer to LMC of the land comprising the common areas. To cut a very long story short, the final answer from Bellway is: “We will take no further action and deem this the responsibility of LMC.”
In order to establish the condition of the surface water drainage system that we have unexpectedly inherited, we recently met on site with a specialist drainage company. Their representative lifted in turn all the surface water drainage manhole covers at Little Meadow and it was immediately apparent that there is a build-up of silt in much of the system and particularly in the so-called “hydro-breaks” one of which is shown below. We understand that these are “passive devices used for managing water flow in drainage systems, particularly for flood prevention. They are engineered to control the rate of water discharge, preventing upstream flooding and optimising water management. A hydro-brake uses a vortex flow to regulate the discharge rate, even at low head pressures”.
In addition to the build-up of silt, the specialist told us that from his past experience on new estates there may well be builder’s rubble in the pipes which would impede the flow, causing the silt deposits, and which could easily cause more serious blockages in the future. For this reason he recommended that the pipes should be cleared and that we should commission a CCTV survey to check their condition.
We believe it is wise to get the clearance and survey work done now since otherwise there might be much greater expense putting right a future problem. The drainage specialists consider this to be a long-term solution, maybe ten years; our landscape maintenance contractors will continue to keep the culvert guards clear of vegetation and, in accordance with the independent Health & Safety recommendations we received quite recently, a routine inspection and lubrication of the culverts by the drainage specialists will be carried out, probably every two or three years.
The quoted cost of the work to be done now is around £3,800 and of course this is both unexpected and unwelcome. When drawing up our budget for the current year it could not have been foreseen that the work might be needed; however, we do have sufficient in our reserves to cover the cost – the reserves are there to meet just this sort of unexpected expense without having to impose a mid-year levy upon owners.
It is worth noting that should any defects in the drainage construction be identified such as cracked pipes and displaced joints; or if significant builder’s rubble is found that could only have got there during Bellway’s tenure, we will most certainly be making a claim upon them for reimbursement. We will have photo and video evidence to support our claim.