00:05Hello and welcome to The Maltings. It's been about two months since I uploaded my last video
00:11documenting Firstport's extremely poor maintenance standards. So let's take another bike tour and see
00:18whether anything has improved. As mentioned in my previous video, a section of the block
00:24paving on the road had fallen apart once again, marking the third failure in as many years.
00:30This video was recorded on the 16th of October, 2026, and the issue had been reported directly to
00:37Red Row, the legal landowners, in mid-August. Yet, two months later, what, if anything,
00:44has Red Row's chosen maintenance contractor, Firstport, done to address the problem?
00:53Well, absolutely nothing was done. As you can see, on the 16th of October, the block paving was still
00:59unrepaired, with the loose blocks remaining on the pavement. There had been no attempt by any of
01:05Firstport's contractors, such as community property care, to put even the most basic safety measures
01:10in place. The irony is that Firstport charges a so-called health and safety fee, which I believe
01:16is in the region of £1,000 per year. Yet, despite this, no action was taken to make the area
01:22safe,
01:22or to warn residents and visitors of the obvious risk. But just a few days later, a miracle happened.
01:31Firstport actually arranged for a contractor to come out and repair the loose blocks.
01:36The job probably took no more than an hour and a bucket of mortar. To be fair, a two-month
01:41wait is a
01:42significant improvement compared with the last time this section fell apart, when it took around four
01:47and a half months to be repaired. Even so, it highlights Firstport's exceptionally poor reputation
01:54when such a simple job, one that took barely an hour to complete, was left unresolved for so long.
02:00No doubt, however, Firstport will have no difficulty at all in promptly billing residents for the cost of
02:06this minor repair. Anyway, back to the original video. One thing I noticed in the park area is
02:16that all the stakes have been removed from the trees. When I recorded my first video in late March
02:222026, every tree was still supported by stakes. At some point, most likely in early summer,
02:30community property care, who are responsible for general maintenance, removed them all. In my opinion,
02:37however, at least two of the trees are still too young and not yet strong enough to stand unsupported.
02:43They could easily snap in high winds, and this is an exceptionally windy site.
02:57I will say that the park area, particularly the rubber matting, is not looking too bad after being covered
03:03with a huge amount of stones at the beginning of the year. Of course, I had to make a video
03:08about
03:08it and complain directly to both Firstport and community property care to get the issue resolved.
03:26But back to the trees. The first tree, and the last one in this video, I presume, are the replacement
03:32trees, for the ones that allegedly died at some point and had to be paid for by the residents at
03:38a well
03:38overinflated cost. But, as you can see, the two newest trees are far too young, and should, in my opinion,
03:46still have their stakes attached. So, the question is, if these trees do snap in the coming months,
03:53especially during the winter storms, who's going to pay for them? Let me have a guess. Could it be the
03:59residents?
04:12Again, there's lots of litter in the bushes, despite community property care literally being on site
04:18just a couple of days ago.
04:54It also looks like community property care have been dumping tree branches behind this building,
04:59which is a substation. They could easily take them away or move them further down the grass embankment
05:04into the wild area.
06:00It's hard to see, but all of the tree stakes that community property care had
06:04taken out have been dumped next to the substation, rather than being disposed of responsibly.
06:10Here's a screenshot from an earlier video I made back in the summer.
06:21A thing I hadn't realized until recently, is that Fursport is also allowing vegetation from their land,
06:28or more specifically red rose land, including dangerous brambles that could cause facial or eye
06:34injuries to obstruct a public pathway and access to a litter bin.
06:39So basically, the majority of the vegetation on the right-hand side, especially the brambles,
06:45is actually growing from red rose land and should be cut back by Fursport's contractors,
06:50such as community property care. The council does tend to cut it back, but usually no more than once a
06:56year and only after receiving complaints. However, it should not be the council's responsibility.
07:03It should be Fursport's duty to maintain any vegetation growing from red rose land.
07:08That includes everything behind the wooden fence, which marks the boundary.
07:12That's what I was going to call for.
07:12I'm going to take a trip to the road every day.
07:16So,
07:17that's how the next thing I think that is.
07:26So,
07:28that's how I think that's how I've been doing.
07:29So,
07:30the next thing I've done,
07:33is it's your turn.
07:33So,
07:33that's how it works.
07:34So,
07:34and
07:38that's how it works.
07:40That's how it works.
07:51as you can see in this shot virtually all of the brambles are growing from behind the wooden fence
07:57which is on red row land this is not something new i've got pictures on my phone going back
08:04several years showing that at one stage the bin was completely engulfed by brambles because of
08:09first bought extremely poor maintenance standards it's a miracle that nobody has suffered an eye
08:15injury if they had it would be the residents of the maltings who would likely end up paying higher
08:21insurance premiums on top of the already extortionate maintenance fees because of first
08:26bought and red rose complete failure to maintain the area properly
08:35again we have the same problem on this side there is a chain link fence within this hedgerow
08:40so i presume half of it belongs to red row and the other half is the council's responsibility
08:46i would say there is more than a couple of brambles poking through from red rose side
08:50which again should be dealt with by first bought
09:17but anyway let's look at this
09:20particular pathway which i've documented in previous videos showing how first bought
09:25allowed it to become completely impassable due to overgrown vegetation including dangerous
09:30brambles despite multiple complaints over several months including complaints made directly
09:36to red row as you'll see apart from a few small sections most of the pathway remains obstructed
09:43by vegetation and brambles well into mid-october and this is despite maintenance fees continuing
09:50to rise year after year and now exceeding 400 pounds
09:56i mean really what can you say about this it would literally take five or ten minutes to cut
10:03these back
10:03these back
10:05these back
10:10these back
10:11there
10:11this
10:12this
10:12this
10:12this
