LERA
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Estate Residents’ Association
MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
HELD ON TUESDAY 14TH MAY 2019 AT
7 30PM
AT ST ANDREW’S HALL, BURNT ASH
LANE
1. Welcome and introduction
Stephen Hodges (Chair) welcomed members to the meeting. He extended a special welcome to the guests -
Councillors Peter Morgan, Michael Turner and Gareth Allett; and Reverend Liz
Davis. Also, Philip Cheverton of Bromley and Downham Youth Club and Community
Centre, and Ned McWhirter of JusB, would be joining us to give presentations on
their respective organisations.
He explained that due to resourcing issues,
the Plaistow an Sundridge Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT) were unable to attend
or provide a written update on local crime and safety issues this year.
2.
Apologies for absence
Apologies had been received from:
Beryl Bloomfield Jane
Mace
Tony
Cassese Steve
Mace
Adrian
Donoghue Alex
Margolies
Betty
Donoghue
3.
Minutes of Annual General Meeting held on 15th May 2018
The minutes were approved.
4. Matters
arising
There were no matters arising.
5.
Chair’s report
Stephen presented his report for 2018-19,
copies of which had been circulated at the meeting. He thanked the Committee members and Street
Representatives for their support and all their hard work during the past year. He announced that, having served as Chair for
the past 4 years, he was standing down from the role but he would be
seeking election as a Committee member.
·
Community affairs
We represented LERA at several Borough meetings which
provided the opportunity to voice our views.
These included Bromley Safer Neighbourhood Board’s annual Crime Summit in
September and the Council’s Roundtable meeting in November to review the
Borough’s budget priorities for 2019-20 and future years.
We conducted the annual survey of the
Estate’s trees with Bromley’s Arboriculture Service Manager and agreed a
programme of maintenance and replacement.
We also took action with regard to resolving parking and fly tipping
issues on the Estate.
· Crime and safety
We have represented
LERA on the Plaistow and Sundridge Safer Neighbourhood Panel. This has enabled us to be briefed on the
crime statistics and to contribute our views on the SNT’s ‘promises’ for areas
to be targeted for police action and on other local issues.
·
Developments on the Estate
LERA has monitored proposals
for significant building developments on the Estate, and Homes in Multiple
Occupation (HMOs) where houses are let out to more than one household. We have reported apparent breaches of the
planning conditions to the Council’s Planning Department. Unfortunately they have normally been slow to
follow up with investigations and generally have not responded in a timely
fashion to our requests for information and related complaints.
·
Communicating with members
LERA’s website and Facebook provide
a useful source of news and information for members. Unfortunately we have not been able to
produce the regular Newsletter during the past year as we have not had an
Editor, but we have distributed circulars when necessary to update members on
key issues. We will aim to re-introduce the Newsletter in the coming months.
·
The Future of LERA
Earlier this year members
had been invited to participate in a survey seeking their views on how they saw
LERA’s role in future and asking for new volunteers to become involved. The survey
received a very good response with over 140 returns of which almost 100%
supported a continuing role for LERA. The results also confirmed that LERA’s
strategy of focusing on such issues as crime and anti-social behaviour, litter,
parking, planning issues, trees, and roads and paving should continue, and that
the website and Facebook group provided important communication tools.
A significant number of
members expressed an interest in getting involved in helping LERA and
undertaking various roles. As a result,
LERA’s future looks secure. We have nominations
for a new Chair and a new Secretary. We
are planning to appoint a Safer Neighbourhood Watch Co-ordinator to represent
LERA on the Safer Neighbourhood Panel, a Vice Chair, a Membership Secretary and
people to lead on Newsletter production, street cleaning, and trees management;
also, to represent LERA on outside groups
such as the Bromley Residents Federation and the Road Safety Consultative Panel. Members
offering to volunteer who have not yet been approached will be contacted by
Stephen soon.
The LERA Commemorative
Booklet, which we have been working on for some time and has been mentioned at
previous AGMs, is expected to be completed and available for distribution to
members this year.
The action that we have taken should enable us to
continue to have a strong Residents’ Association with a voice on matters that
impact on the Estate and which will look after members’ interests in the coming
year and beyond.
The meeting accepted the report.
6. Treasurer’s report
Diane Bex presented the accounts for 2018-19, copies of which had been
distributed at the meeting.
Although income was slightly lower and expenditure somewhat higher, LERA’s
financial position remained relatively stable.
Income over expenditure had produced a surplus for the year of £108. The main income continued to be the
membership subscriptions which had remained at £2.00. Expenditure covered
the usual administrative expenses, the increase mainly due to additional
spending on the AGM and the donation for the Community Funday (£200) which had
been partly offset by the absence of printing costs for the Newsletter which
hadn’t been produced during the year.
Total assets stood at £8,343 in the current account with NatWest.
The meeting approved the accounts.
Diane proposed that the membership subscription should remain at £2.00
for 2019-20. The meeting approved the proposal.
7. Election of Officers and Committee members
·
Chair
Nev Pitty-Rose
Nev said a few
words to introduce himself to the members.
Proposed by Peter
Skipp; seconded by Pat Pattenden; and was elected unanimously.
·
Secretary
Beryl Bloomfield –
Proposed by Pat Pattenden; seconded by Stephen Hodges; and was elected
unanimously.
·
Committee members
The following were elected/re-elected
unanimously:
John Crutchlow (Ridgeway Drive
and Treewall Gardens) Alex Margolies
(Oak Tree Gardens)
Mike Deves Richard Matthews
Sandra Downie Pat Pattenden (Lower Portland Road)
Margaret Hearn
(Leamington Close and Milverton Place) Michelle
Pike (Upper Portland Road)
Stephen Hodges
Clive Robeson (Website Manager)
Roy London (Neighbourhood
Watch Co-ordinator) Peter Skipp
Pam Lucken (Leamington Avenue) Peter Smith (Briary Gardens).
Theresa McWhirter (Oak Tree
Gardens)
The members above with roads indicated in brackets against their names also
serve as Street Representatives. In
addition, the following serve as Street Representatives:
Betty Donoghue (Broadlands Road)
Jackie Taylor (Ridgeway Drive)
Laurel and Roy Wretham (New Street Hill).
8. Appointment of Honorary Auditor
The meeting approved the re-appointment of Steve Mace as Honorary Auditor.
Stephen expressed thanks for his continued support to LERA.
9. Presentations on local youth services
·
Bromley and
Downham Youth Club and Community Centre (BDYC) - Philip Cheverton
BDYC is a charity that was originally
established in1934 in Bermondsey to provide opportunities for boys to develop their
potential and life skills with a focus on boxing activities. Since then it has based its premises in Valeswood
Road, Downham and opened up its membership to include girls. As well as boxing,
it now offers a wide variety of activities, including IT, table tennis, cookery and outside sport in
a floodlit area, for 8 to 21 year olds on weekdays, with young people with
special needs catered for on Wednesdays.
In 1971 the Duke of Edinburgh visited to open a new boxing gym and he
returned in 2012 to open an extension.
The Club operates with one
full-time youth worker and 8 volunteers under the auspices of a Board of
Trustees. It receives a grant from the
London Borough of Lewisham and raises other income from letting out its
premises to church groups and other outside interests to cover its £120,000
annual running costs.
·
JusB - Ned McWhirter
JusB was founded in 2003 as a
charity that has premises based in College Road, Bromley. It aims to serve the young people of Bromley to enable them to develop their identity and self-esteem; avoid
involvement in crime and anti-social behaviour; discover new skills and
talents; and live in harmony within their local community. Its projects involve a wide range of on-site
and outdoor activities during term time and the school holidays such as a homework
club, cookery, gaming sessions, music, arts and crafts, rock climbing,
canoeing, walking and ice skating. It
runs a transition group to help youngsters with the move from primary to
secondary education. JusB also
undertakes outreach work to support homeless youngsters and help them get into
employment.
JusB does not receive any Council grant and has to
rely on self-funding. It was recently
successful in being awarded a National Lottery grant and uses innovative ways
to generate other income, including re-cycling stamps and jewellery. It also receives support from a City law
firm. Ned appealed for volunteers to
join the Board of Trustees.
Stephen thanked Philip and Ned
for their interesting and informative presentations.
10.
Update on local issues – Councillors Peter Morgan, Michael Turner and
Gareth Allett
·
Housing
development
Bromley is under considerable
pressure to provide more housing. Its
social housing was sold off 30 years ago and is currently managed by the Clarion
Housing Association. A contract was set
up with the Mears Group a few years ago to acquire additional properties with
400 having been purchased, mainly in the Medway and Orpington areas. It is planned to build 1,000 new dwellings
over the next 3 years, principally to house homeless families. Five areas
within the Borough have been identified.
The Council is considering investing in prefabricated homes which are
quicker to build than brick constructions although they are more expensive.
The Mayor of London has the
powers to direct the number of new properties to be built annually in each
borough. Bromley’s current target is 641
but the Mayor of London wants to double this.
Developments that are refused by the Council may be subsequently
approved by the Planning Inspectorate.
In response to questions from
members about the Planning Department’s failure to follow up breaches of
planning approval relating to properties in the Links Estate reported by LERA
and to respond to our questions and concerns, the councillors explained that the
Planning Department suffered from poor communication and that it was a
difficult and complex process for the Council to challenge breaches and may
have to involve court proceedings.
·
Car
parking
Enforcement action is being
stepped up to deal with the illegal parking by the Tesco Express store at the
Plaistow roundabout. There has been a
28% increase in parking permits for the disabled. Payment by phone for parking at meters is
being rolled out across the Borough which has the advantage of preventing cash
from being stolen.
·
Transport
The Mayor of London will
consider extending the Underground to Bromley only if the Borough builds an
additional 50,000 homes. This is
unlikely to happen.
Stephen thanked the councillors for
their informative and helpful contributions.
11. Open Forum
It was suggested that LERA
should make donations to Bromley and
Downham Youth Club and Community Centre and JusB, and also to the Community
Funday this year. Stephen explained that as this type of expenditure fell
outside LERA’s normal remit, special agreement would need to be secured from
members at the AGM for proposed amounts.
It was proposed that £250 should be donated for the Funday subject to
assurance being forthcoming as to what the money would be used for. It was also suggested that a donation could be
made to the King’s Meadow project on a similar basis. Peter Skipp proposed that the Committee
should be given delegated authority to spend up to £1,000 annually on
allocating significant amounts for such purposes.
In discussion, it was
explained that LERA’s reserves were intended to be used for unexpected
expenditure which it may incur in connection with its normal activities, such
as legal costs. By a show of hands there
was a majority vote agreeing in principle to donations being made along the
lines proposed. A number of members indicated
their opposition to LERA’s money being used in this way.
12. Any other
business
There was no other business.
The meeting formally closed at 9 15pm.
Following the
meeting, LERA members and the guests mingled informally and enjoyed refreshments.
Around 75 members
and guests attended.
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