Constitution

  1. NAME

The name of the organisation shall be Kensal Rise Residents’ Association (KRRA) (hereafter called “the Association”).

  1. OBJECTIVES

To improve, safeguard and promote the interest of residents and local business in the Kensal Rise area on matters concerning housing, transport, streets, safety, planning and the environment. In order to do this we are committed to representing the views of residents in our area of operation.

The Association will uphold equal opportunities and work towards good relations amongst all members of the community, specifically prohibiting any conduct which discriminates or harasses on grounds of race, religion, disability, political belief, sex or sexual orientation. The Association is a non-sectarian, non-political, non-profit-making community organisation established to promote a better quality of life in the Kensal Rise area and can raise funds for this purpose.

  1. MEMBERSHIP

    1. Membership shall be open to all residents, irrespective of tenure, by the neighbourhood bounded by and including : Chamberlayne Road, Hardinge Road, College Road and Mortimer Road (hereafter referred to as the area)

    2. All voting members must be at least 16 years of age.

    3. Membership shall cease immediately upon a person leaving the area defined in paragraph 3a)

    4. Membership shall be £10 / year per household or business within the area. Subscriptions are due by 1st June and collected by the Secretary

    5. Associate Members Associate membership is open to any adult living outside the area who pays a valid subscription. Associate members have full rights of participation in the activities of the Association, to speak at Meetings and to be members of action committees; but do not have the right to vote at meetings, nor to hold office in the Association unless agreed by the committee

    6. No member shall make use of the Association name to raise, secure, borrow, lend money or property unless voted upon by a Meeting or in an emergency by two officers who report back to the committee

  1. THE COMMITTEE

    1. A committee shall be elected at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the group and shall serve for 12 months. The Chair will not be eligible to serve for more than three consecutive terms as such.

    2. The committee shall consist of at least three members, who shall have the power to co-opt other members on to the committee, during the course of the year. All members will have voting rights.

    3. The committee shall elect from within their number a Chairperson, Vice-chairperson, Secretary, Treasurer, Planning officer, Transport officer, Events Officer, Environment officer, Social Media Officer. No committee member shall fill more than two positions.

    4. The committee and office bearers shall make and carry out decisions in accordance with the objectives of the group.

    5. Meetings of the committee shall be open to any member of the group who wishes to attend.

    6. There must be at least three of the committee members present for any decisions to be made at a committee meeting.

    7. Councillors may attend committee meetings as and when invited by the committee, Non-voting members may be co-opted onto the committee from council staff.

    8. Voting members may be co-opted from residents to fill casual vacancies throughout the year.

    9. Committee members can be voted off if they have not attended three consecutive meetings without good reason and have not submitted their apologies.

    10. Committee members must declare any interest they may have in the topic under discussion and the committee will decide if they need to forfeit their right to vote on this occasion.

  1. CONDUCT OF BUSINESS OR STANDING ORDERS

    1. Members may speak only through the Chair.

    2. Decisions will be agreed by a simple majority, voted in through a show of hands, or a secret ballot.

    3. Meetings will end at the time agreed by the committee unless all those present agree to extend the meeting.

    4. Any offensive behaviour, including racist, ageism, sexist or inflammatory remarks will not be permitted.

    5. Any member who brings the group into disrepute or refuses to comply with the constitution shall be expelled on a majority vote of the full committee.

    6. Any such member will have the right to appeal within 28 days of the expulsion. The appeal shall be heard by the membership at a Special General Meeting called for that purpose.

    7. The Secretary shall deal with all correspondence to the members of the group, and will operate and own the members email distribution list in accordance with the data protection act. The committee will vote on whether to correspond with the membership on adhoc topics (those beyond regular meeting, agenda and minutes notifications)

    8. Agendas will be distributed to the membership at least four days before a meeting, where possible. Items for the agenda should be forwarded to the Secretary and Chair seven days before the meeting, where possible.

    9. Minutes will be distributed to the membership 10 days after a meeting

    10. A Meeting may set up Action Committees for special purposes and may affiliate to and support organisations or groups whose aims and methods are consistent with those of the Association.

  1. Action Committees

    1. Action Committees can be set up by  a Meeting and can include full members, Associate members and non-members in their ranks.

    2. Any decision or action by an Action Committee which may commit the Association to any expenditure or liability is to be agreed beforehand by a quorate  Meeting or if exceptionally urgent by two officers (one of whom must be the Treasurer) who report back to the next  Meeting.

    3. Action Committees not initiated by the Meeting that desire recognition and support of the Association may ask the Meeting for recognition by stating in writing their aims and action strategies.

    4. Action Committees shall keep the Meeting informed of their activities and shall report their progress as required by the Meeting.

    5. Affiliated groups shall appoint a Liaison Officer and be entitled to send delegates to the Meeting, who may be required to report on progress. Unless a member of the Association, a delegate will not have a vote. f) The Association may withdraw recognition of an affiliated group whose aims or practices become contrary to those of the Association. g) The Association may allow any Action Committee to make use of property or premises held in the name of the Association.

  1. FINANCES

    1. The group may raise funds by obtaining grants from other bodies or by fund raising schemes. All money raised by or on behalf of the group shall be applied to further its objectives.

    2. All funds shall be kept in a bank account that shall be opened in the name of the group.

    3. The Secretary, Treasurer and the Chairperson shall be signatories on the account and all cheques shall require two of these signatures.

    4. Accounts shall be kept by the Treasurer, and brought to every committee meeting where they may be inspected. Failure to bring the books to a meeting on three consecutive occasions will mean the Treasurer will be asked to resign.

    5. All expenditure shall be agreed and controlled by the committee. Receipts should be acquired for all expenditure over one pound.

    6. All payments over ten pounds shall be made by cheque, not cash. Any exception to this rule shall be discussed and agreed by the committee.

    7. No officer shall sign a blank cheque – all cheques to be filled in before signatures are added.

    8. Once a year, the accounts will be audited and presented to the Annual General Meeting of the group. The Auditors will be either:

      • A Council Officer, Bank Employee or:

      • The committee of another constituted local community organisation.

    9. All correspondence of the group including the bank statement, shall be addressed to the secretary.

  1. PUBLIC MEETINGS

    1. Public meetings of the members shall be held to discuss matters of importance and to keep the members fully informed of the group’s activities.

    2. Members shall be given 7 days’ notice of a public meeting.

    3. All votes shall be decided by a simple majority of the members present. This applies to all meetings of the group.

    4. Any member, having the written support of 20 other members, may request the committee to call a Special Public Meeting of the group. The committee shall call the meeting within 21 days of this written request.

  1. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING (AGM)

    1. An AGM shall be held every year to discuss the activities of the group, to receive the audited accounts and to elect the committee.

    2. The AGM shall be held at a suitable venue to accommodate as many members as possible.

    3. The quorum shall be 51 % of members present, with a minimum of 5 attendees.

    4. At least 14 days’ notice needs to be given to members of the AGM.

    5. At the AGM the resignation of all committee members will be accepted and a new committee elected.

  1. CHANGES TO CONSTITUTION

    1. This constitution shall only be changed at a Special Public Meeting of the group, or at the AGM.

    2. For decisions to be taken there must be a quorum of at least 51% of members present, with a minimum of 5 attendees. The voting shall be by simple majority of those present.

    3. All members shall be given 14 days’ notice of the meeting and proposed changes.

    4. Proposed changes must be submitted to the Secretary in writing not less than 28 days before the AGM. The secretary must notify members of any proposed changes within 21days of the meeting.

  1. CHILD PROTECTION

    1. The group will ensure that any activities they are involved with will be a safe environment for children.

    2. If group activities are to involve children a Child Protection Policy will be adopted and a committee member will be appointed to take responsibility for its implementation.

  1. LEASES AND AGREEMENTS

    1. As trustees for and on behalf of the group, the current Chairperson, Secretary and Treasurer, may enter into leases and access agreements that are transferable to on-going elected office bearers to further the objectives of the group as set out in clause 2.

  1. DISSOLUTION OF THE GROUP

    1. The group may only be dissolved by a special meeting called for that purpose. Such a meeting shall come about following a proposal in writing signed by a simple majority of those remaining on the committee being submitted to the Secretary.

    2. All members shall be informed of such a meeting at least 21 days before the date of the meeting.

    3. Dissolution of the group shall only take effect if agreed by two thirds of the members present and voting at that meeting.

    4. Any assets remaining after meeting liabilities must be distributed among local charities or other community group with similar aims of the group nominated by that meeting.

    5. Any money received via funding bodies should be returned to the funders in relation to the funding criteria.

    6. On dissolution, any documents belonging to the group shall be disposed of in a manner agreed by that meeting.

This constitution was adopted at a committee meeting of the Kensal Rise Residents Association on 6th May 2015