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Minutes of the Annual Meeting held on Wednesday 25^thMarch 2009

Members

Mrs Benning took the chair: all committee members were present, with a further 23 society members in attendance. Apologies from Mr & Mrs Parr and Mr & Mrs J Potterton.

Minutes

Minutes of the previous annual general meeting were confirmed and signed. Proposed by Mr M Osborne and seconded by Mr S Oliver.

Matters Arising

There were no matters arising from the previous minutes.

Chairman’s Report

The chairman commenced her report by informing the meeting that there had been eight empty properties through the year, and there were still four to be completed and let. Seven of these were in need of total modernisation at an approximate cost per property of £10,000 to £12,000.

The painting programme for this year should be the top half of Lilac Avenue. It will depend on the estate’s finances whether we can go ahead with this.

The lead pipe replacement will continue in Fern Rise this year as planned, a proportion of the work is carried out by Severn Trent Water Ltd at no charge, so we want to take advantage of this, in case they withdraw this offer in the future.

Because of the banking situation at the moment, we have decided to move some of our money to Nationwide Building Society.

You can see from the shareholders paperwork sent out that we now have a website, the password will change from time to time, and you will be informed of this. Only historical information will be open to everyone, other information will be behind the log-in.

This concluded the chairman’s report.

Result of the Ballot

Name	Votes
M Carter	94
L Osborne	235
A Sheppard	182
L Taylor	80
R Wan	188

As there were three positions to fill, Mrs Osborne, Mrs Sheppard and Mrs Wan were invited to join the committee.

Mrs Benning thanked Mrs Bradshaw, who had decided not to stand for re election, for her time served on the committee, and also Mrs Taylor.

She then went on to thank everyone who had voted, and Mr E Gaten and Mrs P Smith for acting as scrutineers.

Auditor’s Report

Mr Mee began his report by saying that there was no rent increase in 2008/09 but as you can see on the balance sheet there had been an increase of £5,200 in rent received. This was due to when the empty houses were let; the rent charged is more of a market value; this resulted in the increase of rent received.

The rest of the income remains the same as the previous year, apart from the interest received from the bank; interest rates were starting to fall that year.

Management expenses have increased, due to wage increases and extra hours worked. The majority of the other expenses have stayed much the same as the previous year. The professional fees have increased; this is in part to the ongoing Land Registry dispute where the society is fighting to register part of their land. If this action is successful, it is hoped that the costs will be claimed back this year, if not there may be more to be spent in trying to claim the title to the land in question.

There is also a bad debt listed on the balance sheet, where a tenant left owing rent.

Continual repairs and maintenance work on the empty properties had taken up most of the budget, and a little more, as you can see there is a deficit of £4,200 for the year.

But with money in the bank and the asset value of the properties, the society is in a sound state.

Mrs J Goodwin proposed that the accounts were accepted as a true record and Mrs I Gaten seconded this.

Mr E Gaten proposed the re-election of Godkin & Co Ltd as auditors for the coming year; this was seconded by Mrs R Newcombe.

Arbitrators

Mrs Benning said that as no one had submitted any names, the committee would appoint the arbitrators for the coming year.

Remuneration of Committee

Mrs J Goodwin proposed that the committee fee stay at £2.00 per meeting; this was seconded by Mrs A Vernon, all were in favour.

General Business

Mrs R Newcombe asked if there was going to be anything done with the land in Lilac Avenue. Mrs Benning said that due to the cost involved any plans had been put on hold for the time being. She went on to inform the meeting that Laburnum Nursery was to be made into allotments; there was a possibility that the land in Lilac Avenue could also be used for this, if it proved successful.

Mrs J Goodwin said that she thought that it was a good idea, as it would not be such an eyesore, further discussions regarding allotments followed.

Mrs Goodwin brought up the question of the website. Mrs Benning explained that the historical information is open to all, the committee would decide what items are placed behind the log-in, and these would only be available to shareholders.

Further discussion took place regarding the website, Mrs Goodwin asked that it be noted that she totally objects to the site.

This concluded the business of the meeting and Mrs Benning thanked members for their attendance before declaring the meeting closed at 8.15pm.

These minutes are the official record of what happened, and not a verbatim account.

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