Gardens – Odhams Walk Covent Garden

Chair’s Update

It has been a challenging start for the new TMO Board. We lost control of the Odhams Walk email address and website, but undeterred, we pressed ahead and have a fabulous, modern, easy-to-use website where residents will soon be able to access all TMO policies and other relevant documents for a fully transparent Board.

As we move into the final months of the year, the Board continues to focus on the issues that matter most to residents: repairs, building safety, communication, and improving access to the services we receive from Westminster City Council and increasing our own Approved Contractors list.

I must apologise for the Board seemingly not moving quickly enough, but there have been plenty of hurdles to leap over. However, a number of important projects are now underway, including work to resolve the long-standing intercom issues (or lack thereof), improvements to how repairs are tracked and monitored for reporting purposes, and measures to strengthen governance and record-keeping.

Now that the hot weather has come to an end, you will begin to notice an improvement in the gardens after we raised over £3,500 on GoFundMe, so thank you to everyone who contributed.

We have now had surveys carried out on the estate, and if your property is affected by damp, it should have been inspected by Dexters. If not, please report it as soon as possible using the maintenance request form, by emailing office@odhamswalk.org.uk or by calling 07498 347 283. Westminster tenants can also report it directly on Westminster’s website. As residents have been saying for years, the damp is mostly coming from patios, walkways, and the staircases – not the planters that we were all led to believe. This is a major priority for the TMO Board.

On the advice of Westminster, the AGM will not go ahead until the New Year, as Westminster are still exploring aspects of the TMO’s performance and looking at how it can support the Board and TMO going forward.

While there is still much to do, progress is being made across a number of areas. Please come and join us at a Board meeting; you just have to give the office manager 7 days’ notice by emailing office@odhamswalk.org.uk or calling 07498 347 283. We are also proposing to have a pop-up on the forecourt of Odhams Walk to listen to your views, positive and negative. Watch this space for news of a date.

The Board would like to thank residents for their continued patience, feedback and engagement.

Andrew Williams, TMO Chair, November 2026

TMO Ballot Results

Thank you to everyone who took part in the recent ballot. 64 of 121 eligible residents voted (53% turnout), with 37 voting YES to remain as a TMO and 27 voting NO.

Resident type	Eligible	Voted	Turnout	YES	NO
Secure tenants	66	45	68%	24	21
Leaseholders	55	19	35%	13	6
Total	121	64	53%	37	27

The result shows continued support for resident management of Odhams Walk. We will share next steps as plans develop.

Damp and Mould: Your Rights

Awaab’s Law, introduced after the death of Awaab Ishak, now requires social landlords to investigate and fix serious damp and mould hazards within strict timescales. Westminster City Council is committed to complying with it, and you can read more on their website. There will be a dedicated page on the Odhams Walk website soon which aims to answer any questions you may have.

If you have damp, mould, condensation or water ingress in your home, please report it as soon as possible using the maintenance request form or emailing office@odhamswalk.org.uk or calling 07498 347 283, if you are a tenant, directly on Westminster’s website.

Repair Priorities

So you know what to expect when you report a repair:

Category	Target	Examples
Emergency	Respond within 2 hours, make safe within 24 hours	Serious water leaks, escaping sewage, dangerous electrical faults, insecure entrance doors after forced entry
Urgent	1 to 7 working days	No heating or hot water, blocked drains, broken communal door entry, leaking roofs, faulty extractor fans. Westminster tenants should report all heating and boiler repairs directly to Westminster
Non-urgent	Up to 28 days	Routine repairs with no immediate risk

Intercom and Entrance Fobs Update

Three specialist contractors have been asked to quote for a replacement system that restores the intercom and adds a cloud-based management platform. This would let the office update resident contact details online, instead of paying for each change – charges that were previously passed on to residents. The main ongoing cost would be a software licence. We expect to appoint a contractor once all three have submitted their quotes and proposed solutions.

Replacement fobs now cost £5, half the previous price, through a switch to compatible generic fobs.

Behind the Scenes

Work is under way to store TMO records centrally and securely, so they no longer depend on Board members’ personal email accounts, and to update policies on contractor management, data protection, financial controls and procurement.

Not online? Paper newsletters will continue, and you can always contact the office directly. Digital improvements add to existing ways of communicating – they don’t replace them.

Good News Corner

✅ Gardening initiative restarting – look out for news soon!
✅ Christmas event planning under way 🎄
✅ In February 2026, before the current Board took office, the TMO was audited on how it was being run. The current Board is now completing its responses to the audit’s recommendations.

Picture Odhams Walk

And finally, we’d love to feature your photographs of Odhams Walk and the surrounding area on the new website and in these newsletters. The gardens, the architecture, the seasons changing, the streets around us – anything that captures what makes this a special place to live. Every photograph used will be credited to the person who took it (unless anonymity is preferred). Please send your photos to office@odhamswalk.org.uk or drop them into the office on a USB stick, with your name as you’d like it to appear. By sending a photo, you confirm that you took it and that the TMO may use it on the website and in newsletters. Please avoid photos where people, especially children, can be clearly identified.

Dear Residents,

We are writing to update you of a possible soil issue that has been identified in some of the main planters on the estate, and to explain the steps we are taking to address it.

What has happened

We have been advised that there could be Aspergillus, a common soil fungus, in some of our main planters. This is a naturally occurring organism found in soil everywhere, and its presence does not pose a risk to most people going about their daily lives on the estate.

However, we have been advised by the Environmental Health Office that anyone with respiratory conditions (such as asthma or COPD) or a weakened immune system should avoid direct contact with the soil in these planters, including gardening or handling the soil.

If this applies to you or someone in your household, we would ask that you avoid working in or disturbing the soil in the main planters for the time being. If you have any concerns about your own health in relation to this, please speak to your GP.

What we are doing about it

We are taking this seriously and are acting on expert advice at each step:

We have reported the issue to the Environmental Health Office, who have confirmed the appropriate precautions outlined above.
We are arranging for a local horticultural school to visit the estate and carry out soil testing, so that we have a clear picture of the condition of the soil across all the planters and can plan the right long-term remedy.
On the advice of the Royal Horticultural Society, we will work to remedy the soil in any affected planters as soon as possible and get planting! This will reduce the amount of fungal spore that can become airborne, particularly on windy days.

A note of thanks

We would like to thank our volunteer gardener, Daniel, who has looked after the estate’s planters for many years and whose dedication has brought a great deal of benefit to the whole community. We know it will be disappointing for him to step back from this work for now.

We will keep you updated as these progresses. In the meantime, if you have any questions or concerns, please do get in touch with the Management Committee.

Kind regards,

Odhams Management Committee