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ANNUAL GENERAL MEETINGS
The 52nd Annual General Meeting was held on Wednesday 17 November at St Peter’s Church in Kensington Park Road. The minutes will be available shortly.
The minutes of previous AGMs are below.
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The 2020 (51st) annual general meeting was held online in November-December 2020.
Minutes of 51st AGM
1. Minutes of the 50th meeting.
These were approved.
2. Matters arising from the minutes
There were no matters arising.
3. Chairman’s Report
The chairman said that, since February, we had not been able to hold live committee meetings and had conducted most business by email. The Council officers with whom we deal had been working from home, and it had been pretty easy to contact them by phone or email – indeed probably easier than before the pandemic, as they were spending less time in meetings. But it had not always been possible for them to make site visits. Planning committees had continued to meet, but by video-link, with any member of the public being able to join the link (although only those who have registered can speak). It was however far from perfect: only the person speaking was shown on screen and it iwas difficult to get clues from body-language. But it had meant that the planning system had continued to operate, albeit rather slowly at times.
Architects seemed to have continued working throughout, and after an initial dip at the beginning of the February lockdown there had been a steady stream of planning applications coming in. Each week, the applications were circulated to all committee members. One of the three architects on our committee then had an in-depth look at them and advised on whether we should support, object or make no comment. So we had not been inactive.
This last year we had also circulated a number of email alerts to members about various Council initiatives on a variety of subjects from how the Council should spend the Community Infrastructure Levy to cycleways. We are always grateful for the comments that we get from members and pass them on to the Council where we think that would be useful. We were also heavily involved in the “Save Our Streets” group of local associations fighting the proposal for a segregated cycleway along Holland Park Avenue and Notting Hill Gate, in abeyance for the moment.
4. Treasurer’s Report and Adoption of Accounts.
The Treasurer expressed satisfaction at the fact that there had been a surplus for the year, resulting in a healthy bank balance. Subscription income had reduced this year as membership has fallen from 375 to 350 members. An unusual number of members who pay by standing order had ceased to do so without notice and we suspected that this might have been due to a problem with either our or their bank. We were therefore contacting them to check that they really meant to end their subscriptions. We did however gain 11 new members in the financial year.
On the expenditure side, our costs were reduced this year as we were able to send notices about the AGM and the winter party with newsletters. We also cut expenditure on secretarial services as our committee member Kay Broadbent is kindly assisting the Treasurer with gift aid applications and maintaining comprehensive membership lists.
We had actively looked at expenditure that could be usefully employed within the rules of our constitution. To this end, we had made a donation of £2,500 to repair St. Peter’s Church clock. This would be reflected in next year’s accounts.
The treasurer believed that it was important for the Association to keep up a healthy balance. For instance, we might need costly professional advice if any particularly troublesome planning application were submitted that generated controversy and required greater knowledge of the regulations than our committee can muster.
He was not recommending any increase in the subscription rates as he considered that current expenditure for the next few years could be accommodated within the projected income and reserves.
The accounts were adopted.
5. Election of Officers
The Chairman was elected in 2019 for a three-year term. But the Honorary Treasurer and Honorary Secretary must be re-elected every year. Paul Bastick had offered to continue as Treasurer and Anne Chorley as Secretary. Both were re-elected.
6. Any Other Business
There was no other business.
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Minutes of past annual general meetings
50th AGM: 16 July 2019
We do not have on our files the minutes of many of our earlier AGMs. If any members have kept them, we should be most grateful for copies.
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