[Simon Kelemen]

Dear member

Peter and I have drafted the letter below which we have sent on behalf of all members of the FBOA this morning. The letter has gone to Michaela and her direct line manager / director. The committee is meeting this week but we have sent the letter asap as the matter is so important. As soon as we get any updates from Away we will of course update you immediately.

Best wishes

Anthony
FBOA Secretary

Letter content
I write to you as Chair of the FBOA, to express overall Owner dis-satisfaction with the deteriorating maintenance of our village – particularly in respect of the Steet Lighting and Wooden Sleeper parking areas.  AWAY’s lack of attention to these issues is not only generating frustration within the Ownership, but illustrates your disregard for fundamental Health & Safety principles as regards Owner and Visitor wellbeing.

We all recognise that The Bay is “private land” but the Owners  pay a Service Charge in return for which you have a legal obligation to  provide facilities and services which comply with health and safety requirements, planning consents and the terms of the lease. Schedule 5 of the lease sets out the Management Covenants which bind you as Landlord.

Street Lighting
Some of the street lighting has been broken for nearly 6 months. Since November, a further good proportion of the street lighting has become broken, meaning that large parts of the village are currently in total darkness after sunset. In bad weather there is no lighting from natural sources and these dark areas are not only hazardous to walk through but they also pose a security risk.

Planning consent was only given for The Bay with “Designing Out Crime” embedded within all planning approvals.   Those planning policies require The Bay to ensure that operational CCTV and street lighting are available at all times.

It is wholly unacceptable that 6 months have passed  with no remedial action being communicated to owners  – as we all sit and witness a system that continues to deteriorate further. In the last week the weather has caused even more of The Bay to be in darkness as the system has further collapsed.  We conservatively estimate that less than 30% of
The Bay is currently lit after dark, and less than 25% of the main thoroughfares.
We understand that several quoting rounds have been performed and that the likely remedial cost could be in excess of £35,000.  Leaving faulty equipment unrepaired just adds to that cost.  We would remind you that such costs would fall within the realm of a Sinking Fund (ie reimbursable to AWAY from the Owners) as also required by the Lease.

We also should point out that all rented properties (including those owned by AWAY) are required to comply with the recent requirement for Fire Risk Assessments  which ordinarily rely on the provision of “borrowed lighting” (street lighting) to enable safe evacuation from inside such properties. In the absence of such street lighting your own, and all privately rented properties, are all in breach of the recent regulations.

This inaction to repair or provide temporary lighting means you are in breach of planning consents, fire risk assessments under the October 2023 revised guidelines AND are at risk, from a health and safety perspective, not to mention being in breach of the Landlords Covenants within the lease to  “…keep in good and substantial repair…” our leasehold village.

Sleepers
The sleepers on The Bay are dangerous and a health hazard. We know from the number of reported slips and fractures that this is an ongoing issue and from the Scarborough and North Yorkshire councils who have investigated the variety of incidents. Aria Resorts did implement a rolling programme of replacements of ALL sleepers, which saw some replacements,  but this programme was halted  by Away resorts when you purchased the village.

This means that large parts of The Bay are populated with extremely slippy and hazardous sleepers, many of which are over 10 years old  and rotten.

As the Landlord of the village you have a responsibility to ensure the health and safety of all guests, owners and your employees and we urge you to meet your lease obligation in maintaining a suitable and safe environment for us all.

Summary
Can we ask that you urgently address these concerns as a priority?

We appreciate the attempts to return to former standards  in respect of the grounds and gardening that have recently been prioritised , and we know the local management team in the village are striving to get back to those former standards.  However, the lighting and sleepers  are not an aesthetic improvement – they are a basic health and safety issue.

We appreciate the relationship we have recently built with the local management team for the village but, as the legally-recognised representative of all Owners , we have a duty to all Owners to ensure you as the Landlord  fulfil your legal  obligations to ensure the safety of our village.

In the extreme, the relationship between yourselves and ourselves is governed by the terms of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985.   We wish to promote a constructive and  cooperative atmosphere between the parties, but right now our members are urging the Association to pursue whatever avenues are available to ensure solutions to the above 2 problems.

These issues are of prime importance.  This message will be circulated to all our Members.  We therefore request your constructive senior-management written response within the next 5 working days.