ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING held on WEDNESDAY APRIL 26^th at 7.30pm at The Old Chapel, 3 Queens Passage, Chislehurst, BR7 5AP

Please note that the names of all residents other than committee members have been removed and replaced by their initials only. Council members names have remained.

1. Welcome from Acting Chairman:

Callum Sutherland thanked everyone for attending. Approximately 28 people attended so the meeting was quorate.

2. Apologies for absence:

Eight residents sent apologoes for thier absences in advance of the meting.

3. Adoption of Minutes of last AGM :

The Minutes for the meeting of 27^th April 2022 were adopted by all*.

4. Treasurer’s Report

Nick Muir presented the audited accounts dated 16^th March 2023 were distributed and are published below.

a. The accounts as presented were approved by the meeting*.

b. The Accounts have been audited by D. H. who has offered to continue as auditor for the coming year. His appointment was approved by the meeting*.

c. Callum indicated that one of our residents (R. G.) having expertise in this area had inspected the roads and found the condition good. However, inflation means that any costs to repair or resurface the roads in the future will not be covered by our current levy. The proposal was therefore that the annual fee be increased to £70 per year. After a short discussion it was agreed by the meeting that there should be an increase to £70*.

e. Many thanks to R. G. for his work on inspecting the road*.

5. Election of new Chairman      

Callum was voted in unopposed*.  Seconded by Bill Gatfield and Ellen Sena.

The meeting approved a vote of thanks to Tony McClarty for his time and service as Chairman.

Whilst Callum has been acting Chairman for a little while he introduced himself to the meeting – He has been resident since 1993 and involved in one form or another on the committee.

6. Election of Officers:

It was agreed that the committee should continue in its current form, no volunteers coming forward, accordingly:

Chairman        Callum Sutherland

Secretary         Gurjit Barn

Treasurer         Nick Muir

Committee Members are –Ian Coull, Eric Freeman, Hannah Brown, Ellen Sena Vince Lethbridge, Kate Bowen, William Gatfield, Eric Freeman.

Nick does intend to stand down, and believes that he may have a volunteer to take over the role, but currently will ‘shadow’ Nick to see if it will work.

7. Non-payers. Is this a serious problem?

Can anything be done? After discussion it was agreed that monies owed would be chased this coming year. There are 2 longstanding non payers who owe a large sum of money. Hopefully this can be recovered if/when they come to sell their houses.

8. Condition of roads:

P. W. raised the fact that there are certain areas of the road that flood regularly. There was a discussion around this. P. W. suggested that this is likely to be damaging the tarmac. He requested that the committee write to the people who have flooding outside their houses and suggest that they have a soakaway. Callum agreed to speak to R. G. and road experts to take advice.

9. Road signs

a. Someone (unidentified) had complained to the Council that as we are not a Private Road, therefore the signs had to be removed, which happened earlier this year. We are classified as an ‘Unadopted Highway’ or ‘Private Street’. Callum has spoken to Peter Garratt at the Council and read out his email. We can have new signs that say

“Unadopted Public Highway,

Maintained by Residents,

Please drive slowly”

The meeting was undecided about these signs and Callum agreed to make further enquires before any decision is taken.

Nick said that he has had a quote for changing the wording on the existing signs and replacing the one that was stolen. The price to cover existing signs with new graphics in cut vinyl would be £88.00 ex.vat each. The price for one complete sign (no posts) would be £157.00 ex.vat. Sub-contractors from UK Power Networks took two of our posts when they did some work in Sunnyfield Road, but they have agreed to replace them.

b. P. W. requested and was given copies of the emails from Bromley Council about this.

c. S. G. from Highfield Road is concerned about the amount of water that collects outside his house. He has requested that the Council clear the drains on Leesons Hill numerous times but had no response. Callum will speak to Peter Garratt about this.

10. Any other business.

a. A. K.   asked how estate agents can find a contact for the Resident’s Association – Nick advised that we are a Registered Association so should be found on the internet. Gurjit advised that 2 sets of solicitors have managed to make contact. Nick advised that there is soon to be website which should make it easier to find and make contact with the Resident’s Association. Nick said that we need to decide upon a collective name for our three roads, such as “Leesons Estate”, Leesons Park” etc and asked for people to send in some suggestions and we can then get everyone to vote for their favourite. He also asks whether anyone has any old photographs or historic stories about the estate for the website too?

b. Building of wall on the “ransom strip” at Carola, Southfield Road. An update from Bill. He thinks that the new wall has been built over gas and other utility pipes in the road. It is also unsightly. Bill has been communicating with the Planning Department of Bromley Council for the past year and not really had any progress.

c. P. O. mentioned that the verge at number 1 Sunnyfield is also a problem and encroaching onto the road. Mark Smith who is a local Councillor introduced himself and confirmed that the Council believe that the householders own the land to the middle of the road. Mark is keen to support residents if there are issues around the road. He can be contacted on [email protected] or 07971 560046

d. P. W. requested security information. Callum provided the crime statistics for our roads. We have a low rate of crime in our set of streets. Callum also said that he was prepared to remain as Safer Neighbourhood Watch Co-ordinator, there were no objections from the floor.

e. Ellen Sena announced that we will have a gathering to celebrate the Coronation. She will make the arrangements and inform all residents of the time and date via the Social WhatsApp Group.

11. Meeting closed at 9.00pm

12. Minutes.

Minutes will be distributed via the WhatsApp Group.

* Matters that were put to the meeting and passed unopposed

ACTIONS:

Item 8 – Callum to speak to R.G.

Item 9 – Callum to speak to Peter Garrett.

Item 10e – Ellen to advise re arrangements for coronation Street Party.

Leesons Resident’s Association Treasurer’s Report 2022-23

HSBC were charging monthly for the account and per cheque paid in, so we opened a new account with Metro Bank and closed the HSBC account, transferring all funds.

 We received an income of £6,085.15

 We have an outstanding balance of £1,917.00 from residents. Mainly from the 2 long standing non payers (who owe £1,301.00 between them).

 79 homeowners paid by bank transfer and 4 by cheque.

Balance now £50.940.43.

The roads were last resurfaced in 2011 at a cost of £55,000.00 and should

last 10-15 years (as far as I am aware), so would be due for resurfacing in 3 years’ time.

The most recent quote we have received is £102,000.00 on April 2022. According to the Bank of England Inflation Calculator (https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/inflation-

calculator) this would be approximately £108,000.00. in March 2023.

If we collect at the same rate (£65.00 per property x 91 properties) for the next 3 years we would have an extra £18,000.00, so a total of £69,000.00 roughly. This would leave us £39,000.00 short. If the roads last an extra 3 years (6 years from now), we would still be £21,000.00 short, even if prices do not increase further.

Realistically, we need to collect £140.00 per property per year over 3 years, but if the roads can hold out for 6 years from now, then we only need £70.00 par year, per property, although this is being very optimistic. I propose that we have a modest increase this year of £5.00 per property to £70.00 (it has remained at £65.00 for 6 years since 2017-18 when it increased from £50.00) and then have the roads assessed as to see how much longer they will hold out before we need to have a full plane-off and resurfacing done, and how much this is likely to cost before re-evaluating in time for a vote at next year’s AGM.

The penalties brought in last year for late payers are proving too difficult for me to apply as I do not have enough time to administer all this. If someone wants to take over the Treasurers role, then please do, but I will not personally have time this year and propose that this is scrapped and the few people that paid the late payer’s fee last year, be refunded.

I propose that everyone should pay direct bank transfer for this coming year and anyone who wants to pay by cheque, should do this themselves, ensure that they use their address as a reference and inform their road stewards that they have done so.