Summary of our Annual General Meeting 2025

We were thrilled to have over 40 residents come to our 2025 AGM. Thanks to those who attended for their support and involvement in the discussions.

What we reported

Picture of the 2024 AGM (because we forgot to take one this year 🤦)

Graham, John, James and Iain gave the presentation above. We explained a little of the history of the organisation and how it came to be in its current form. After explaining why a residents association is particularly important for Eddington, the chair emphasised that we need more volunteers. This will allow us to keep up with the growing opportunities and teething pains of our neighbourhood as it continuously expands.

We were keen to emphasise that the ERA only does what it does because of the interests of those involved. The existing committee lacks diversity, and because of that it does not represent the full set of residents’ interests. Anyone with a cause, event or initiative to champion should volunteer to do that thing as part of the ERA, and receive the support of the committee.

What was discussed

Grant Funding for several new activities was secured with the assistance of the Association. In previous years our overheads were covered by contributions from each event run, funded by the Council. This year our expenses were paid from the Estate Management Charge, working out at about 10 pence per person!

Defect Database returned to active discussion, with multiple residents supporting the creation of a communal register of housing issues and paths to resolution. Please let us know if you would be interested in contributing.

Food and Garden Waste continues to be a tricky issue for residents. The committee relayed a summary of discussions from the preceding Portal Residents Forum. Trials of food-waste bins in Key Worker housing were suspended due to repeated issues with contamination (people disposing of non-compostable waste in the bins). Forthcoming national legislation will require all councils to provide some level of green waste collection in the coming years. While there is a proposal on how our existing bin infrastructure can be modified to allow this - including a new bin design and additional collection vehicle - there’s no convincing solution to the communal contamination issue.

Tenants of Private Landlords were at risk of being omitted from important communications from Portal, we heard. The ERA will review this with Portal in an effort to improve consistency of communication across all categories of resident.

ERA’s Social Media Presence presents an unexploited opportunity to bring different local groups into our orbit. Our current lack of skills in this area is a weakness we’ll look to improve this year - please get in touch if you would be interested in contributing.

A number of other queries and ideas were raised, which you can find in the full minutes.

Who was elected

Six of the seven committee members stood for re-election without competition and duly re-elected. We’re still looking for someone to take the reigns of our social media accounts - please get in touch if you are interested.

Everyone is welcome to stand for election, but you don’t have to wait till next year to get involved. Becoming a champion of a local cause or volunteering to help at an event is a great first step. And after getting some experience you might consider joining the committee in future.

Pieter Desnerck
Support
2023 to current

John Atkins
Secretary
2023 to current

James Strachan
Comms
2023 to current

Iain McMath
Chair
2023 to current

Patrick Sweeney
Support
2022 to current

Graham Horton
Treasurer
2020 to current

What’s next

A number of volunteers stepped up to support initiatives raised; to support future events; and to help run the ERA. We’re grateful to all who want to do more - interested parties are invited to our next committee meeting. It’s in mid-May - let us know if you would like to come along.