AGM of Harpers Lane Allotments Limited

It was decided to hold the AGM of the 'co-operative' - Harpers Lane Allotments Limited following the AGM of the Society and at the same venue. Since HLA does not have a website of its own it waqs decided to publich the minutes on the society's blogsite.

 

MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF HARPERS LANE ALLOTMENTS LIMITED

(the ‘co-operative’)

(An Industrial and Provident Society – 31752)

There were 15 current shareholders present at the meeting.

 As Chair of the ‘co-operative’, Glyn Platt outlined the reasons why it had been set up and gave a brief history. He then invited the Finance Officer (David Jackson) to present the Annual Accounts. These had been circulated to those present.

 Annual Accounts

The Finance Officer informed the meeting that the co-operative had again made a loss (around £150) on its activities.

He reported that the current (money) Balance was £1060, but pointed out that Provision should be made for restocking the shop ahead of the 2015 season and paying FCA registration fees. A sum of £850 was suggested.

 The Annual Accounts were unanimously accepted by the meeting.

 Future of the Co-op

The Finance Officer said three options had been suggested

·         Status Quo – The co-op continue to operate as at present.

·         Dormancy – the Co-op’s activities are taken over by the Harpers Lane Allotments Society and since the Assets (monies and stock) of the co-operative are less than the value of the outstanding balance of the loan made by the Society to the co-operative these assets will also be transferred to the Society. A decision on the future of HLA Ltd. will be revisited at the next AGM.

·         Immediate Closure of the co-operative

 The meeting voted unanimously to adopt the Dormancy option.

 Election of Directors

The Directors of HLA Ltd were conformed as:

·         Chair Glyn Platt

·         Secretary and Chief Executive Margaret Jackson

·         Finance Officer David Jackson

 Board members

·         Pev Evans

·         Veronica Burns

·         Josephine Bruos

 

 

 

SOCIETY AGM 2014

MINUTES OF THE ANNAUL GENERAL MEETING OF HARPERS LANE ALLOTMENTS SOCIETY

 

Held at Hollywood Rd. Social Club, Bolton on December 2^nd 2014

 

The meeting was attended by 26 current members of the Society.

 

Chair’s Welcome

Mrs Gill Chamberlain having previously resigned as Chair, Glynn Platt took over as Acting Chair, and opened the meeting.

 

Presentation of the Annual Accounts and Treasurer’s Notes

The Treasurer (David Jackson) circulated the Annual Accounts (which had previously been scrutinised and passed by the appointed Auditor, Mrs Christine Hargraves to all members present. He proceeded to highlight a number of factors.

 

• Total Income £1660
• Total Expenditure £1,240
• Nett Surplus £ 420

 

Key Items of Expenditure were

• NSALG Membership £180
• Insurance £340
• Electricity £ 70

 

Society Balancers at the Year End were -

Restricted (Grants) £544

Unrestricted £ 1044

 

The Treasurer requested that Provision ne made for the following expenditure

 - £500 (Insurance), £220 (Memberships)

 

This leaves £320 ‘free’ for society projects.

 

The accounts were duly passed (unanimously) by the meeting.

 

PRESENTATION OF SOCIETY AWARDS AND TROPHIES

 

TROPHY	For	Awarded to
Albert Parker Trophy	Best Full Plot	Sue and Michael Colman Plot 21
Hospital Saturday Trophy	Best ½ plot	Brian Crook Plot 46A
Barron Trophy	Best Newcomers	Dennis and Jennifer Wooley Plot 60B
Brian Caswell Trophy	Most Improved Plot	Kathryn Williams and Nick Foster Plot 54
Joan Caswell Trophy	Most improved ½ plot	Tony and Hazel Buckley Plot 62A
Walker Challenge Trophy	Best Frontage of Plot	Josephine and Gunther Bruos Plot 10
Jules Rigby Cup	Tallest Sunflower	Sue and Tony Torkington Plot 15
Jubilee Trophy	Outstanding Contribution to the Site	Sue Jones Plot 44

 

Secretary’s report

 

Events

• Open Day – raised £950 – costs were £370 – surplus £ 580
• Car Boot Sale – raised £188 – costs were £22 – surplus £ 166
• Bonfire Night – donations £133 – expenses were £118 – surplus £ 15

 

The Treasurer pointed out that the second and third events were actually in financial year 2014-2015.

 

Site Works

• Replacement of fencing on top field (materials provided by Council, labour by Society)
• Drainage on Plot 1 (carried out by the Council)
• Drainage next to Compost Bays (carried out by the Council)
• Drainage on Plot 41 –remains an outstanding issue. The Council had costed remedial works at £1370 and had asked the Society to make a contribution of £1000. The Society does not have sufficient funds for this and is investigating alternative solutions.

 

Site Services

• Kitchen and Toilet Cleaning –
• Shop –
•  

The Secretary asked members to volunteer for the rotas of both these activities.

 

Site Inspections

Part of the Management Agreement with the Council is that we carry out plot / site inspections and report breaches of tenancy and mal-cultivation to the Council.

The Secretary reported that there had been some disagreement in the current Committee about the execution of the Breach of Tenancy / mal-cultivation procedures set down by the Council. Some members of the Committee felt that the Society should not co-operate in the inspection / reporting process, whilst others felt that the Secretary had in certain instances failed to carry out the decisions of the Committee and had shown undue leniency to some offenders.

There was a general discussion amongst the members of the Society present as to whether the Society should continue to operate the inspection regime and if so what ‘standard’ should be applied. It was pointed out that Council guidelines are relatively vague and current advice is to target plots which are not being ‘actively managed’.

Following the discussion the Acting Chair and Treasurer proposed that inspections should continue and should prioritise ‘abandoned’ or ‘unworked’ plots – i.e. those on which the plot-holder had not done any work for some time. Such plots will be subject to the Breach of Tenancy Procedures agreed between the Society and the Council.

The Society will also look at situations where the condition of the plot or the activities of the tenant are causing a nuisance to other plot-holders. It is hoped that most such issues can be resolved by agreeing an action plan with the tenant with the Breach of Tenancy procedures being a last resort.

This proposal was agreed by the members present. Members present also recorded their continuing support for the Secretary.

 

2015

The Secretary outlined (some of) the activities planned for 2015

 

• 2015 will see the arrival of Church Rd. School on Plot 3
• The Society will be holding a Spring Event (date to be confirmed) to raise funds for the Society and to increase community involvement with the site.
• Mikron Theatre will be coming on May 10^th with a production called  – “Fish and Chips”
• No date has yet been set for Open Day 2015, but it will take place and will be in August
• The Bee Group will commence activities in 2015. Anyone interested should speak to Kath or Keith Worsley.
• ABAS will be reintroducing the Bolton Onion and Leek Show in 2015. The event will take place in September. There will be talks etc. on Onion and Leek Growing and Showing details of which will be posted in  the Brew Room and on the ABAS blog-site Http://abas2014.blogspot.co.uk
• ABAS will again be managing the Fairhurst, Greenhalgh and New Entrant Trophies. Plot-holders interested in entering should contact the Site Secretary.

 

Chosen Charity 2015

The Secretary nominated Urban Outreach which provides food to needy people. They are introducing a new ‘Pantry’ and Mobile Service, based on the theme ‘Fresh Produce for People’

Harpers Lane would be working with other allotments sites

Urban Outreach have offered a small payment which would ensure that costs can be recovered

The Society agreed to adopt Urban Outreach for 2015.

 

Election of Officers and Committee

 

The following were elected

• Chair – Keith Worsley
• Secretary – Margaret Jackson (re-election)
• Treasurer – David Jackson (re-election)
• Committee Members

o   Glyn Platt – (re-election)

o   Kath Worsley (re-election)

o   Pev Evans (re-election)

o   Veronica Burns

o   Jospephine Bruos

 

The Society would wish to thank retiring officers and Committee members – Gill Chamberlain, Tom Liptrott and Barry Savage for their contribution over the past year.

COMMITTEE MEETING 27/11/2014

MINUTES  27/11/2014

Present: Margaret Jackson (Secretary), David Jackson (Treasurer), Glyn Platt, Keith Worsley, Kath Worsley, Tom Liptrott

Apologies for absence – Barry Savage

The Minutes of last meeting had been posted on the blogsite

Matters Arising from the last meeting

Repossessions and Lettings

Plot 3 repossessed – will be community plot used by Church Rd School

Plot 22A repossessed – let to Mr and Mrs Lodmore

Plot 47A relet to Mr and Mrs Stranks

Plot 38 split – half retained by Pam / half let to Mr and Mrs Tunnicliffe

 Breach of Tenancy Notices

Action plans have been agreed with the plot-holders on three plots. If they fail to carry these out we will move to Stage 2 and 3 respectively in April.

 Date of Spring Event – It was generally believed by members that we would need to involve outside stalls to make the event attractive and that we should examine which dates would be likely to attract such support. Possible dates remain the Easter weekend and the weekend of the Theatre visit.

 Feedback on Bonfire Night

Costs of Bonfire Night were :- £117.89

Donations totalled - £132.80
Nett Contribution - £14.91

Drainage Problems Plot 41

The Council has filled the hole at the top of the plot (there were concerns about it as a hazard for children.  This has however made the flow down the hill worse and there is now the likelihood of flooding onto the plots below

The Treasurer had gathered costings for two holding tanks and sufficient piping to install a solution. Concern was expressed that the piping was of insufficient diameter and alternative sources were suggested. The Treasurer will try to gain more information on alternatives. The current preferred layout would have a holding tank at the level of the greenhouses and then a pipe running down to the bottom road.

 It is intended, once materials have been assembled,  to ask the plot-holder and those on other plots affected to assist in putting in tanks and piping.

 Other Drainage

Council has carried out work on plot 1. Some work has been done on compost bays. This lead to a temporary loss of electricity due to Council team cutting cable. The cable has now been repaired by Electricity North-West

 Water

The Water has now been turned off. Toilets have been locked and Keys removed

 CCTV

We have some costs for CCTV cameras. Kath W has agreed to get further information.

 Preparation for the AGM (2^nd December, 7.30 p.m. at Hollywood Rd. Bowling Club)

 The Draft Accounts have been submitted to the Auditor. It is hoped that audited accounts can be presented at the AGM.

The Committee suggested no additional agenda Items

Elections – Following the resignation of the current Chair (Gill Chamberlain), Glynn P has agreed to act as Chair for the AGM. Keith Worsley has agreed that in the evnt of no other candidates coming forward he would be willing to take the Chair for 2015. Barry Savage has informed us that he does not intend to stand for re-election. Barry has been a valued member of the Committee for three years and will be missed.

Progress on Raffle – tickets will remain on sale until the start of the AGM. Margaret will make up the hamper and take other prizes over to the venue

 Business Tenancy

The Council has indicated that it is ready to discuss the Society taking on a Business Tenancy on the site. This could either be just for the Amenity Building or could be for the whole site or somewhere in between. The Committee feel that more information is needed about the terms being offered by the Council and that the views of members and the wider group of plot-holders would need to be obtained before anything could be finalised. The Treasurer will try to set up an information gathering meeting with the Allotments Team. Subsequent onformation suggest that we shall start talking to "Estates" in January.

 Future of the Harpers Lane Co-operative

Harpers Lane Allotments Limited is a separate entity (oroginally created as part of the self-management bid some three years ago) of which all members of the Society are equal shareholders.  HLA Ltd. has run at a loss for two years and has a large debt to the Society. It is proposed that HLA Ltd’s AGM coincide with that of the Society and that members vote at that AGM on the future of HLA Ltd. The current recommendation of the Committee would be for closure, but the decision rests with members / shareholders.  Subsequent information suggests that a better option would be to mothball the co-operative for 2014-2015 while future Council policy around allotment management is clarified.

 

MINUTES 23.11.2014

Present: Gill Chamberlain (Chair), David Jackson (Treas), Tom Liptrott, Barry Savage, Kath & Keith Worsley

1. Apologies for absence

Glynn Platt, Margaret Jackson

 

2. Minutes of last meeting

The minutes having posted on the blog site were approved

 

3. Matters Arising
1. Hire of Mechanical Scythe
2. Site Security – feasibility of CCTV

DJ reported that no action had been possible on these matters and they were referred to the next meeting

4. Site Management Issues
1. Stage 3 notice on plot 3

The Council have served a stage 3 notice on plot 3 – it should be repossessed at the end of October, when it will become available for re-letting

 

2. Stage 3 to be issued to plot 22A

The Council are in the process of serving a stage 3 notice on plot 22A

 

3. Re-inspection and decision on 23 and 71

These plots will be re-inspected at the beginning of November, after which the Council will be requested to take appropriate action

 

4. Plots let to new tenants / plot transfers

All available plots have been re-let except plot 47A. Potential tenants are awaiting Council actions on plot 22A and the newly created plot 38A. The Secretary will contact the next persons on the waiting list about plot 47A once she has recovered from her current illness.

 

5. Community Plot for Church Rd. School

Church Rd. School are on the Harpers Lane waiting list and are coming close to the top. It is proposed that plot 3 be designated a community plot which will be worked by volunteers associated with the School until such time as a formal tenancy may be offered. We await confirmation from the Council that plot 3 is available.

 

6. Members of the Committee questioned the lack of action on certain plot-holders. The Treasurer reported that the Secretary had not felt that formal action was appropriate and that she was in communication with the persons involved under the normal procedures for stage 1.. The Committee felt that this was insufficient and instructed her to contact the Council with a view to a formal Stage 2 notice being issued. The Treasurer agreed to communicate their views to the Secretary. The Secretary has subsequently declined to do this, on the grounds that stage 1 has not yet been completed and she is hoping to resolve the matter without Council intervention.

 

5. Feedback on Car Boot Sale

The Car Boot Sale took place on 19/10/2014. The sums raised were:-

1. Rent of pitches - £90
2. Café Takings (net) - £ 49.28
3. Book stall – £26.60

A large number of books remain unsold – the Treasurer will see whether the ‘Hub’ would be willing to take them.

4. Sales of surplus ‘gazebo parts’ prior to the sale - £ 15

 

A total of £ 180.88

 

6. Council Offer on Drainage
1. Current state of balances – the Treasurer explained the monies available to the Society. The maximum that might be allocated to contribute to these projects without jeopardising e.g. Insurance and National membership payments is £550.
2. Task 1 – drainage on plots 1-4  - the Council estimate that the cost of this work will be £400 which they are willing to fund.
3. Task 2 – drainage under compost bins - - the Council estimate that the cost of this work will be £400 which they are willing to fund.
4. Task 3 – drainage on plot 41 – the Council estimate that the cost of this work will be £1,370. They have asked the Society to contribute £1000 towards the cost of this work. As explained in 6 (a) the Society does not have sufficient ‘free’ funds to make such a contribution.

Members of the Committee also questioned whether the solution proposed by the Council (which is confined to work on plot 41 and assumes that the ‘pipe’ unearthed on plot 41 is capable of carrying away the water) will solve the problem. There was concern about the water coming out again on lower plots if it is not piped down as far as the road.

The Committee will inform the Council about its lack of funds and re-examine its options.

7. Bonfire Issues
1. Bonfire will be on 08/11/2014 start at 7.00 p.m.
2. Food at Bonfire Night - it is anticipated that the following will be available:-

Curry – Pev

Black Peas – Margaret

Parkin – Sue

Potato Pie – Pauline

 

We do not know if Mick Carcione is providing burgers as he always does – the Secretary will find out. The Secretary has since confirmed that Mick will not be providing burgers.

 

3. Wood Stacking Arrangements

Barry has agreed to strim a section of the D-shape. This will include an area where plot-holders may stack wood for the fire.

 

4. Building Bonfire

We will try to build the bonfire on Saturday 8^th November starting at 12.30 p.m. – all help appreciated

 

5. Lighting Fire

Barry and Dave will be lighting the fire around 7.00 p.m. – again help appreciated

 

6. Handing out Raffle Books at Bonfire Night and other times

It has been decided to have a Christmas Raffle – we have a number of prizes (trial Gym membership, pamper session at Aura, Christmas Hamper, Wine Box etc.) The Draw will be made on December 2^nd at the AGM.

Raffle books have been distributed to the Committee by Tom – we hope as many people as possible will take strips to sell.

The Secretary will be requested to send a list of prizes to Tom so that he may put it up on the Brew Room.

 

7. Beer / Wine / Soft Drinks

A barrel of ‘Clocking Off has been ordered from Dunscar Bridge Brewery. There are also some bottles which if not needed, can become a Xmas Raffle Prize. The Treasurer will arrange the installation of a beer pump etc.

It is intended to make some of the wine left over from the Bottle Tombola on Open Day available and also the tins of Coke left over. We will also provide some Squash.

 

8. Payment

It was decided that direct charging for food and drink was inappropriate. Instead we will follow the procedure of previous years and ask for donations – a guideline price of say £1.20 per pint or 70p a glass for wine would recoup costs.

 

8. AGM Issues

 

1. The AGM will be held on December 2^nd 7.00 for 7.30 p.m.at Hollywood Road Social Club, (off Harpers Lane).
2. The Agenda will be :-

                                                 I.            Chair’s Report

                                               II.            Secretary’s Report

                                             III.            Treasurer’s Report

                                             IV.            Election of Officers and Committee

 

Nominations are invited

 

9. Spring Events Issues
1. The Mikron Theatre Company will visit on 10/05/15
2. There will be a Spring Fair / Farmers and Growers Market on (06/04/2015 – Easter Monday – the Treasurer was asked to investigate how more local producers could be involved – this event will not use the large marquees, rather the gazebos.
3. Other Fundraising Markets and Car Boots will be scheduled during the year
10. Council proposals / Abas consultation – the Treasurer reported back on matters raised at the Abas meeting on 13/10/2014 – see http://www.abas2014.blogspot.co.uk
1. Joint Tenancies
2. Buddies
3. Structures
4. Poultry
11. Forward Decisions
1. Future of Co-op and Society

Committee members were asked to consider the future of the Harpers Lane Co-operative (HLA Ltd.) Options include –keeping the status quo, the abolition of the Co-operative, the merging of the co-operative and the Society and making the Co-operative ‘dormant’. The Treasurer undertook to investigate the third option for the next meeting, when the matter will be again discussed prior to a recommendation

2. Insurance – Blue Fin versus Shield – the Treasurer will investigate the competing quotes

 

12. Date of Next Meeting

The next meeting will take place on the 27^th of November 2014 venue to be advised (based on the Finisher’s Refurbishment plans.)