Week in and week out, Heather and Richard deal with a mass of casework on behalf of residents of the Ward.

The story connected to the “dropped kerb”, seen above, is an interesting example.

An inspection of the Borough’s waste clearing services conducted by the Health and Safety Executive last year led to the HSE identifying certain improvements in working practices that they wanted the Council to adopt. This included not requiring workers to have to manipulate heavy metal bins that were damaged and would not roll on their wheels, and not bumping the heavy bins up and down kerbs. At Redruth House, in Grange Road, this created a problem as one of the bin stores, built when the block was constructed in 1969, faces onto the pavement in Camborne Road. It was only possible for the binmen to empty the large metal bins if they could be bumped across the pavement and down the kerb into the road, to the cart. The rough treatment had damaged the bins.

Approached by the Residents’ Association, Richard’s solution was to work with Council officers to get the bins repaired and a “dropped kerb” put in so the bins can be rolled into the road. A white line deters car users from blocking the dropped kerb by parking there.

The Association (the Redruth House Sutton Residents Co. Ltd.), which is in effect a committee of residents who act as “managing agents” for the block, invited Richard to their Annual General Meeting on 24 October, where he was warmly thanked. Richard said he endorsed the view of the chair of the Company, in his annual report that:

“Redruth House enjoys the reputation of being one of the best managed blocks in Sutton.”

He thought this was, in part, because the blocks are managed by a committee of residents and not a remote and disinterested managing agent company.