Constitution

1. NAME

The name of the Association shall be the “Emerson Park and Ardleigh Green Residents’ Association” (hereinafter called “the Association”).

2. OBJECTS

The objects of the Association shall be:-
a) To be non sectarian and not aligned with any political party.
b) To watch, protect, and further in every legitimate manner the general interests of the residents of the wards* of Emerson Park and Ardleigh Green, in the London Borough of Havering, and to organise and promote action for this purpose.
c) To foster and maintain active interest in local affairs and to afford opportunities for discussing problems affecting the wards.
d) To advocate and encourage efficiency and economy in all tiers of local government administration.
e) To establish effective communication with all relevant local authority and public bodies connected with the wards and to bring to their notice all matters affecting the residents which are considered by the Committee of the Association to concern such authorities.
f) To arrange functions for furthering the objects of the Association and to encourage and promote social activities for the benefit of residents.
g) To give help, information, and advice to any residents of the wards on any matter connected with local government or the above named objects.
h) To do all such other lawful acts and things as are conducive or incidental to the attainment of the above objects.

3. MEMBERSHIP

Any person being a resident in the wards of Emerson Park or Ardleigh Green, shall be eligible for membership of the Association and, upon payment of the annual subscription, in accordance with Rule 4 hereof, shall be deemed to have been duly enrolled as a member.

4. SUBSCRIPTIONS

a) The subscription of the Association shall be for twelve months ended on 31st day of March each year and falls due on the 1st day of April in each year, or on enrolment.
b) The amount of the annual subscription shall be the sum of £2.00 (Two Pounds) per household, or such other sum as may from time to time be determined by the Association at an Annual General Meeting.
c) A member may become a “Lifetime Member”, upon payment of the sum of £25.00 (Twenty-Five Pounds) per household, or such other sum as may from time to time be determined by the Association and in such case no further subscription shall be payable by the said household for the duration of that member’s continued residence in the wards of Emerson Park and Ardleigh Green.
d) There shall be no refund of the subscription paid, or part thereof, to a Lifetime Member or any member who moves address and consequently no longer resides within the wards of Emerson Park and Ardleigh Green. A Lifetime Member moving from one address to another within the wards of Emerson Park and Ardleigh Green may continue to be a Lifetime Member without further subscription payment.
e) Any member whose subscription remains unpaid at 31st March in any year shall, at the discretion of the Committee, be deemed to have resigned membership of the Association.

5. MANAGEMENT

a) The management of the Association and its funds shall be entrusted to an Executive Committee comprising of:-
i) Officers, being a Chairperson, Deputy-Chairperson, Honorary Secretary, Honorary Treasurer, and may also include a President who shall also be an Officer; and
ii) Up to twenty five members of the Association or such other maximum number as may from time to time be determined by the Association at an Annual General Meeting.
b) The members of the Committee shall be elected annually at the Annual General Meeting. The retiring Committee members shall be eligible for re-election but a member not wishing to be re-elected must give the Honorary Secretary at least three months notice of his/her intention.
c) A person may hold the office of Chairperson or Deputy Chairperson for up to four consecutive years after which one year should elapse before he/she is eligible for re-election to that office although the Committee may at its discretion extend the four consecutive years by a further twelve months.
d) The Committee shall have powers to fill any vacancies during the year up to the maximum permitted number.
e) The Committee may appoint sub committees to deal with such matters as shall be deemed necessary and shall fix the composition and quorum thereof.
f) Nominations for election of Officers must be sent in writing to the Honorary Secretary not less than fourteen clear days before the date of the Annual General Meeting, signifying the consent of the person nominated, and specifying the proposer and seconder. Any nominee, proposer or seconder must be a member of the Association. In the event of no prior nomination, the Chairperson may accept nominations at the Annual General Meeting.
g) No member of the Association holding office in a national political party or group affiliated to  any national political party or group shall be eligible for election to the committee

h) To be eligible for election to the committee a person must have been a paid up member of the Association for at least 3 years preceding the AGM

 

 

6. GENERAL MEETINGS

a) A General Meeting, to which members of the Association are entitled to attend, shall be held on the first Thursday of each month, with the exception of the month of May (Annual General Meeting), unless otherwise determined by the Committee.
b) A quorum for a General Meeting shall be four members of the Committee including at least one Officer.
c) Except when prevented from doing so by illness or other emergency Committee members shall undertake to attend a minimum of six General Meetings a year or half of the total number of meetings, whichever is greater. If a Committee member fails to attend either the undertaken number of General Meetings or three consecutive General Meetings without a satisfactory explanation or apology, the Committee shall, treat that member as having resigned his/her place on the Committee.
d) The Chairperson or in his or her absence the Deputy Chairperson or any other Officer shall preside as chairperson of a General Meeting.
e) Any member of the Association shall be entitled to speak, or permit a guest to attend and speak, at a General Meeting. Guests may attend and speak but not vote at a General Meeting.

f) Only members of the Association who have paid their subscription during the 12 months immediately preceding the A.G.M. are entitled to vote at the A.G.M.

7. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETINGS

a) An Executive Committee meeting, to which all Committee members shall be invited to attend, may be called by the Chairperson giving the Committee members at least seven days notice of the date and venue of the meeting.
b) A quorum for an Executive Committee meeting shall be four members of the Committee including at least one Officer.
c) Only Committee members may attend an Executive Committee meeting, unless the Committee at its discretion invites members or guests of the Association to attend and speak.

8. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING & SPECIAL GENERAL MEETINGS

a) An Annual General Meeting of members shall be held not later than 31st May in each calendar year, upon a date and time to be fixed by the Committee, to receive the Annual Report and audited Income & Expenditure Account and Balance Sheet and to elect the Officers, Committee members, and Auditors for the ensuing year. Not less than fourteen days’ notice of the Annual General Meeting shall be published in the Association’s periodical journal or in one local newspaper.
b) A quorum for an Annual General Meeting shall be four members of the Executive Committee including at least one Officer.
c) The Committee may, whenever they think fit, call a Special General Meeting of members. A Special General Meeting shall also be called upon receipt by the Honorary Secretary of a requisition in writing, specifying the object of the meeting, signed by not less than one-tenth of the then existing members of the Association. Any such requisitioned meeting shall be held within twenty-eight days from the receipt of the requisition. Not less than seven days clear notice of any Special General Meeting shall be published in the Association’s periodical journal or in one local newspaper and such notice shall state the object for which the meeting has been called. The business to be transacted at any such meeting shall be confined to the purposes embodied in the notice convening the meeting.
c) Ten members being present and having a right to vote shall form a quorum at any Special General Meeting of members of the Association. If, within fifteen minutes from the time appointed for the Meeting, a quorum is not present, the Meeting, if convened upon the requisition of members shall be dissolved. In any other case, it shall stand adjourned until the earliest possible date that can be arranged by the Committee and if, at the adjourned meeting, notice of which shall have been published in one local newspaper, the quorum is not present within fifteen minutes from the time appointed for the meeting, the members present and having a right to vote shall be a quorum.
d) The Chairperson or in his or her absence the Deputy-Chairperson or any other Officer shall preside as chairperson of the General Meeting. In the event that the chairperson or other Officer of the Committee is not present within fifteen minutes after the time appointed for holding the General Meeting, the Committee members present shall elect one of their numbers present to be chairperson and, if there is only one Committee member present and willing to act, he shall be chairperson. If no Committee member is willing to act as chairperson, or if no Committee members are present within fifteen minutes after the time appointed for holding the meeting, the members present and entitled to vote shall choose one of their numbers to be chairperson.
e) Each member of the Association, up to a maximum of two persons per household, is entitled to attend and speak at any Special General Meeting.
f) The Committee shall at its discretion allow a guest of the Association to attend and speak at any General Meeting.

9. MINUTES

The Committee shall cause Minutes to be kept of the proceedings of all General Committee, Executive Committee, Special and Annual General Meetings, which minutes shall be submitted for approval at the next relevant meeting and, if approved, shall be signed by the Chairperson of that meeting.

10. VOTING POWERS

a) Each Officer and member of the Committee being present shall be entitled to one vote on each motion at any meeting of the Association.
b) A Committee member may motion the Committee to defer an issue at a General Meeting until the following meeting. The issue concerned shall not then be further deferred.
c) Each member of the Association, up to a maximum of two persons per household, being present at any General Meeting, Special General Meeting or Annual General Meeting shall be entitled to one vote on each motion at that meeting.
d) In the case of an equal number of votes being given for and against any motion at any Committee or General Meeting, the Chairperson of that meeting shall be entitled to a second or casting vote.

11. ACCOUNTS

a) The Committee shall cause proper books of account to be kept for the Association by the Honorary Treasurer in respect of:-
i) All sums of money received and expended by the Association and the matters in respect of which such receipts and expenditure take place.
ii) The assets and liabilities of the Association.
b) Proper books shall not be deemed to be kept if there are not kept such books of account and records as are necessary to give a true and fair view of the state of the affairs of the Association.
c) The books of account and records shall be kept at the residence of the Honorary Treasurer for the time being or at such other place as the Committee shall think fit and shall be open at any reasonable time to inspection by members of the Committee.
d) At the Annual General Meeting in every year the Committee shall lay before the Association a proper income and expenditure account for the period since the last preceding account made up to a date not more than three months before such meeting, together with a proper Balance Sheet made up as at the same date.
e) The Association shall not raise loans from any external agency, but may do so from individual members for specific purposes.
f) Cheques issued by the Association shall require signature by two of the three Officers nominated to that duty at the first meeting of the Committee following the Annual Meeting.

12. AUDIT

a) There shall be appointed at each Annual General Meeting one or more Auditors, who shall hold office from the conclusion of that meeting until the conclusion of the next Annual General Meeting. The Committee shall have power to fill any vacancy in this office. The Auditor(s) need not be members of the Association.
b) Once at least in every year the books of account and records of the Association shall be examined by the Auditor(s), who shall report upon every Income & Expenditure Account and Balance Sheet laid before the members in General Meeting during their tenure of office.
c) The Auditor(s) shall have a right of access at all reasonable times to the books, records, and vouchers of the Association and shall be entitled to require from the Officers of the Association such information and explanations as they think necessary for the performance of their duties as Auditors, They shall also be entitled to attend any General Meeting of the Association and to receive all notices of and other communications relating to any General Meeting which any member of the Association is entitled to receive and to be heard at any General Meeting which they attend on any part of the business of the meeting which concerns them as auditors.

13. SUSPENSION OF MEMBERS

The Committee may at any time by resolution passed by not less than three-quarters of the members present at an Executive Committee Meeting called to consider the case, determine that any member of the Association, the continuance of whose membership will in their opinion be prejudicial to the interests of the Association, shall be suspended from membership of the Association. The member shall have been given a reasonable opportunity of attending the meeting and being heard in his/her own defence.

14. ALTERATION OF RULES

a) No Rule may be added to, repealed, or otherwise altered except at an Annual General Meeting. The notice convening the Meeting at which the alterations to the Rules are proposed must specify the proposed alterations.
b) Notice of any proposed alterations of the Rules, specifying the alterations, must be given to the Honorary Secretary at least twenty-eight clear days before the date of the Annual General Meeting at which the proposal is to be submitted. A resolution to alter the Rules of the Association must be passed by not less than three-quarters of such members as are personally present at the Meeting and vote thereon.

15. EXTRA POWERS OF THE COMMITTEE

The Committee shall have powers to make byelaws not inconsistent with these Rules to deal with circumstances not provided for by the same, such byelaws to be published as soon as possible and ratified at the next General Meeting or Annual General Meeting.

16. DISSOLUTION

In the event of the Association terminating its existence by resolution of not less than three-quarters of members personally present and voting at a General Meeting, any funds remaining after all due debts and commitments had been honoured would be transferable to any organisation within the London Borough of Havering  on behalf of the residents of Emerson Park and Ardleigh Green, provided that it is not of a party political nature. A trustee for these funds must be appointed at that General Meeting.

* Ward boundaries are defined as those that subsisted in 2000.

[Based on the document dated May 1977, as amended at the AGM 4th April 1996 and revised for the AGM 1st May 2008]and amended at the AGM 2014