News Archive

Heating Issues

Residents of Brunswick Close Estate report on heating issues and attend the warm space provided by the TMO in the community hall, Mulberry Court.

ECl ECHO/ N° 20 February/March 2023 NEWS The winter in some of ECl 's social housing estates has been significantly worsened by Islington Council's decisions to restrict heating The housing blocks of ECl are enduring a cold winter, in part due to Islington Council's decision to restrict heating in some of its blocks. Some 4,700 of Islington's 36,000 council homes have communal heating systems. Tbis includes reducing the hours when the centralised heating systems are in action and starting the season's heating schedule a month la"ter than usual - and al the Finsbury and King's Square estates, the Brunswick Close Estate, the Redblick estate and Stafford Cripps estate, residents' voices arc being raised in protest. At the Bmnswick Close Estate's \va.nn hub' in the estate's community centre, residents told the EC! Echoth at Lheyf ound the situation intolerable. Kathleen Durden said: "I haven't been able to sleep because it's so cold." In an endeavour to become warm at noon, Ms Durden, 79, filled a hot water bottle and scalded her hand, which she attributes to the freezing conditions in her flat. "The council tells you to use your own healing. But who's going to pay the costs of an expensive fan heater?" Ber neighbour Pauline Fi~patrick, 61, said that the heating hours had gone down from 18 a day to 13. "The less it's on, the longer it then takes for it to heat up - almost an bour."They residents also said that the thermostat controls inside the flats were inadequate and made little difference. Sarah Nash of the Finsbury Estate TRA said it was a similar situation in their blocks, adding that the council had stonewalled residents' complaints and left complaints unanswered. "There's completely no consultation,"' said Ms Nash, who added that the insulation of the blocks was poor, worsening tbe l1eat loss. She said that the TRA was consulting lawycri:w; ith a view to taking a case against Islington Council. As well as the beating issues, residents have been aggrieved that in a consultation exercise immediately prior to the healing season the council only offered residents two choices: to either pay a little more for their heating or pay a lot more and keep the heating as it was. As the prices have risen, the heating has come down. One resident of Brunswick Close said: «I've never seen as many people so upset with the council - and it's not just what they've done, but how they've clone it."' [n response. Islington Council says that the measures have been put in place to help residents save money in the face of soaring energy costs - and that if there hadn't been changes to communal heating, residents would have bad to pay hundreds of pounds more each year. "Our residents are living through a cost of living emergency," said Cllr Una O'Halloran, Islington Council's executive member for housing and communities. "Global energy prices have soared in the last year, leaving most people rn our borough facing much higher heating bills. 11:"vsi tal that the council does everything it can to protect them from further financial hardship. "Energy bills for communal heating on our estates are paid by estate residents, who face big bill increases because of soaring global energy prices. The changes to communal heating hours on some estates in Islington have been solely made to save Islington residents money on their energy bills. The council is spending £1.lm of the heat reserve fund to keep bills lower and soften the blow of vastly increased energy prices." 111e council said that communal beating is on for 13 hours a day du ring the heating season rather than the previous 18 hours and that was similar or more than the amount of time residents with.i ndividualb oilersh eat theirh omes. While residents will be paying an average of £17.40 per week, without the council's action the average bill would be three times higher, at £52.28 per week. These actions are saving the average resident £34.88 per week off their bill. The council said that it will be consulting again with residents.

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=I6ITVb5600KxYcBqvFHLLhE-kHaVqjFAjwKQIzxy9UtUMVVZODRaQjRQWkZQNEFWRVc1NVFIWkMyVy4u

Communal Heating issues – Feeling cold?

If you are suffering with a cold home due to Islington Council communal heating changes, please call Islington Council on:
020 7527 7701
020 7527 5400
0800 694 3344

The more info they get on cold homes, the better, to encourage heating to be on for more hours.

Don’t hesitate to contact them if you are feeling cold in the day.

Brunswick TMO present heating issues to Islington MP Jeremy Corbyn

Marx Memorial Library Open Day

Invitation
Marx Memorial Library at 90: Clerkenwell: Our Home; Our Radical History
Open Day 20 May 11am -3pm
Tours, refreshments, displays, meet the team.
37a Clerkenwell Green, Lomndon EC1R 0DU
https://www.marx-memorial-library.org.uk/
020 7253 1485

Community Warm Space

Brunswick TMO is providing a community warm space at the community hall,
Ground floor Mulberry Court, every Friday 10am-3pm. The Peel Institute is working with us and will host a warm space at Three Corners Centre, Northampton Rd every Thursday 10am-3pm.

Brunswick TMO Egg Hunt

email bctmohall@gmail.com to register by Friday 7th April

You are invited to the Brunswick Close Estate Egg Hunt on Saturday 15th April at 12:30pm in the community hall. Register your child's interest by 7th April on BCTMOhall@gmail.com

Sewing Knitting and crafts social group

On hold for the moment- back soon!

Every Monday from 5pm, you are welcome to bring your sewing, knitting, crafting to the community hall. If you would like to try a craft for the first time, Jo and Margaret can offer you some guidance, a hot drink and warm welcome!

Carol Night – Friday 16th December 2022

With great success the Xmas festivities took place on Friday 16th December in Brunswick Close Estate and all residents had a fantastic evening, especially the children. Santa Claus added to the night, giving presents and the London Metropolitan Brass Band lead carol singing. All kinds of refreshments were offered including tea, coffee, delicious hot soup, mince pies and a selection of nibbles and confectionary for the children.

Video by Charlie Charalambous

Communal Heating issues

Do you have questions or feedback for the Islington Council team? They will be at our community hall, ground floor Mulberry Court from 3-7pm on Monday 21st November to hear from you. You may have questions about the communal heating changes for instance.

4th October 2022

VERY IMPORTANT – LBI PROPOSES HEATING WILL BE REDUCED BY 5 hrs PER DAY, start a month late and end 2 weeks early.

The Islington Council announcement of changes to when communal heating operates:

https://www.islington.gov.uk/housing/repairs-and-estate-management/estate-management/communal-heating

The Brunswick Close Estate TMO believe this is neither fair nor acceptable, so are working in cooperation with neighbouring estates to oppose the action by Islington. Contact Richard Larcombe <trafinsburyestate@gmail.com> to attend the meeting on Wednesday, October the 19th, to discuss what we can do next. The meeting will take place at the Unity Room on the Finsbury Estate at 7pm on October the 19th.

You can voice your opinion directly to Islington councillors by email to:

service.development@islington.gov.uk, copying in councillors:

una.o’halloran@islington.gov.uk, diarmaid.ward@islington.gov.uk

and maxine.holdsworth@islington.gov.uk.

Mechanical and Electrical Team
Room G17
Town Hall
London N1 2UD

Telephone: 020 7527 8239
tristan.lynch@islington.gov.uk
www.islington.gov.uk

Tuesday 4 October 2022
Dear «Name»
Re: Communal heating winter period

We wrote recently to let you know we were changing your heating season and the hours of heating provided, to protect residents against the rising costs of energy.

Your communal heating system will be switched on, on 13 October 2022 and switched off again on 30 April 2023.

We aim to use the heating controls on each site with communal heating, to provide heating at times that best meet residents’ varied needs.

From 13 October your heating will be on:
6am to 11am and 3pm to 11pm.

If your heating system also provides hot water, this will carry on being available between 6am and 12am.

Please note that we monitor weather conditions, so in exceptional circumstances we may offer longer heating hours or heating outside of the heating season.
We shut down the heating for the summer to use less energy, heat buildings more efficiently, and to give us time to maintain the heating equipment, so it’s less likely to go wrong over the winter.

If you have any problems with your heating and/or hot water service, please contact Housing Direct on 0207 527 5400 or you can request a repair online at https://www.islington.gov.uk/housing/repairs-and-estate-management
If you have any questions about the changes to your heating service, please contact Tristan Lynch at Tristan.Lynch@islington.gov.uk or on 020 7527 8239.

If you need further help and advice on how to keep warm and reduce energy bills, please contact the council’s Energy Advice centre. Call free on 0800 953 1221 or 0207 5272410 or email energy.advice@islington.gov.uk

Yours faithfully,

Mechanical and Electrical Team

If you would like this document in large print or Braille, audiotape, easy read or in another language, please telephone 020 7527 2000.

September 2022
Dear resident,
Important: Changes to your heating to help combat energy price rises and the current climate crisis
We know that increased living costs are a struggle for many of you. Energy prices are rising faster than ever before, and this is expected to continue, so Islington Council are making some urgent changes now to protect residents from increasing costs and help combat the climate crisis.
We are going to delay the start of communal heating this year until 13 October 2022, and we plan to end the heating season two weeks earlier, on 10 May 2023. We will also reduce the operating hours of communal heating systems by five hours per day. We will do this by switching the heating on later and switching it off earlier. We are also carrying out lots of checks and work to ensure the heating systems are running as efficiently as possible.
It is essential we act straight away to reduce the impact of rising energy costs on our residents, so please accept our apology for the short notice. If we did not make these changes, the cost of the service would increase significantly. Charges to residents will need to be increased, and we are waiting for the detail of Government announcements about household energy bills to inform our next steps.
Please note that we monitor weather conditions, so in exceptional circumstances we may offer longer heating hours. Let us know before Friday 7 October 2022 if you agree or disagree with the action we are taking now, to reduce the impact of rising energy costs for residents. You can:
• Email us at service.development@islington.gov.uk to let us know if you agree or disagree
• Send back the enclosed FREEPOST postcard
In autumn we will consult with residents who are connected to communal hot water and heating systems, so you can have your say about the hours and dates of operation you would prefer in the future.
In February 2023 we will let you know your service charges for 2022-23, including a breakdown of your communal heating costs. We understand that increasing living costs are a worry, so if you’re struggling to pay your rent or other bills, please see over the page for how Islington Council can help. The advice we can offer is free and the earlier you us ask us, the better able we are to support you.
Yours sincerely,

Maxine Holdsworth
Corporate Director, Homes and Communities, Islington Council

Worlds Biggest Coffee Morning!

Saturday 1st October, 12-3pm

We will be taking part in the worlds biggest coffee morning to help Macmillan raise money to support people living with cancer.

Invite friends and family to come along: There will be tea, coffee, cakes, treats & even a bit of bingo!

Summer outing to Southend on Sea

May 2022

NEW GAMES TABLES FOR GARDEN

Dear Resident,

Your TMO Committee have acquired and installed some games tables on the grounds for all residents’ use. The tables are located on the Emberton/Brunswick Gardens. Residents from Wycliff, Mulberry and Harold Laski who have not yet collected their entry fob into this garden can contact the TMO Office to do so. If you do not have your own pieces to use any of the game tables, please contact the TMO office to sign and collect for temporary use.

The tables are there for all residents to use and enjoy. Please look after them and your estate.

If you have any queries, please contact the TMO office, 0207 490 3349

Yours sincerely

TMO Management

Football games table made from concrete, on the lawn of the estate

chess/draughts table and two chairs cast in concrete in the estate gardens