Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of Business in Action
4th March 2009 at the Old Lodge at 6.00pm
Present Denys Townsend in the chair
And 16 Businesses of whom 7 were members
Apologies. -Tracey Holroyd
Chairman’s report – See annex 1
Treasurer’s report –See annex 2
After presenting the accounts a proposal to accept the accounts was made and seconded. The resolution was passed unanimously.
Membership report – Malcolm Chalk reported membership as stable at 20 businesses.
BIA must aspire to a high level of a number of members to make it a powerful representative of the business voice in the town.
MC and DT have a membership promotion programme in hand, including a proposal to reduce the membership to £5 to make sure that the membership fee is not a barrier to membership.
In an answer to the question from John Collins, MC expanded on the ‘sales pitch’ that BIA makes to prospective members. Tim Sinclair questioned the reference to retail businesses in the Chairman’s opening remarks with a recommendation that it should be clear that BIA is open to businesses wider than town centre retail. Reading from the draft constitution, RB confirmed to the meeting that the objectives of BIA include all businesses in Malton and Norton.
Committee Election – there were no new nominations for committee members and the existing committee was therefore considered re-elected.
Chairman Election – there were no new nominations for Chairman and Denys Townsend was re-elected.
Deputy Chairman Election - no new nominations for the post and therefore Malcolm Chalk was re-elected.
Secretary Election – no new nominations for the post of secretary and therefore Tracey Holroyd was elected.
Amendments to the constitution – the Chairman recommended proposed changes to the members, gaining approval at each stage. Significant changes were the reduction of the membership fee to £5 and the creation of a new form of ‘manager membership’ to make it easier for managers of multiples to participate in BIA.
Ordinary Resolution
a. That the following clause/s be deleted
i. Paragraph 4.2
b. That the following changes be made to the constitution
i. Renumber Paragraph 3.2 , 3.3 as 3.4, 3.5
ii. Add ‘3.2 Manager Membership is open to businesses in the Malton and Norton Area who are branches of regional or national firms and who submit a completed application form and subscription.’
iii. Add ‘3.3 Honorary membership may be granted by the committee at their discretion.’
iv. Amend 7.1.7, 7.2.5 and 7.3.5 to read ‘The chairperson will have a second and casting vote.’
v. Amend 4.1 to read ‘Subscriptions are payable on 1st April each year and will be fixed at the AGM. For 2008 the subscription is £40’.
vi. Add ‘4.2 Manager Membership is £1 p.a. payable on 1st April each year.’
c. That all references to ‘Full Members’ in the constitution after paragraph 4 be changed to ‘ Full and Manager Member
The resolution was proposed and seconded.
The resolution was passed unanimously.
Any other business and questions.
R B asked a question about the relationship between the BIA committee and BIA Ltd. He asked for reassurance that members of the committee had no responsibility or liability to the limited company status of BIA Company Ltd. DT thought not but agreed to check legal advice and report back at the next meeting.
The meeting was closed at 6.25pm
The AGM was followed by two presentations.
· A presentation by Ian Shepherd Associates outlining the results of their retail research of Malton town centre and the promotional programme (developed targeted as a result of that research) that they will be implementing.
· Michael Skehan, Clerk to Malton Town Council, addressed the meeting outlining the latest position with the proposal for a ‘Town Ambassador’ for Malton.
Appendix 1
Malton and Norton Business in Action
Chairman’s Report for 2009
Our principal objective is the promotion of retail trade in Malton and Norton.
This year we are facing many challenges. The main risk is that to the jobs of our customers without whom we have no trade.
But we should look at the recession as an opportunity. Our customers may be more inclined to shop locally and this is a theme that is to be developed this year as you will hear later. The District Council is investing substantially in Public Realm improvements in Malton town centre at present and we the businesses can contribute with cosmetic improvements to our premises both inside and out.
We now have a Sainsbury Local which should help encourage shoppers to the town.
We have assisted in or organised several activities in the last year. In no order these have been - re-publishing a Malton and Norton Trail; Prepared and distributed Shopping leaflets for Malton which are to be reprinted this year. We are shortly going to produce a shopping leaflet for Norton. New signs to Wentworth Street have been erected guiding visitors to Town Parking. The town website at Maltonandnorton.com continues to be developed and is our main line of communication with members and the outside world. Thanks to Simon and Malcolm Chalk.
We have continued discussion with the District on a number of issues. At this time last year The Chief executive and the Leader of the Council ask us to say what business saw as the three main issues which the Council could help with. We replied to them –
1, Lack of inexpensive car parking
2. Ensuring a thriving Saturday and Farmers Market.
3. To increase Tourism.
To date we have not had a full reply nor has any help in these areas been put forward.
Besides this we have contributed to a number of issues raised by the district Council. We have been a party to the development of the alternative proposal for the relocation of the livestock market and the suggestion of A64 access from Broughton Road. As well as servicing Residential development it would give easy access to the Showfield industrial estate and the school. Through traffic would be removed from the town’s peripheral streets.
We are developing strategies to improve town with the Malton town council. One of which Mike Skehan will tell us about later. It is good to see both town councils becoming more active in community affairs.
I very much regret that we do not have much contact with colleagues in Norton.
We have a very good relationship with the local media including the Gazette, the Mercury, Minster and BBC radio stations. Particularly the Gazette who always find time and space to mention our activities.
Our finances are strong but do not enable us to mount significant promotions without seeking contributions from those who will get a benefit.
Our thanks go to The Old Lodge for allowing us to hold our meetings without charge.
Thank you to all those who have contributed time and resources to help the Group and myself in the past year.
We look forward to the next year which promises to see important changes to our towns. The presentations to be made shortly will I hope receive your support.
Appendix 2 – Annual Accounts
| Business In Action | 20th July 2006 | ||||
| Summer of Activities | to | ||||
| Year Ended 31st December 2008 | 31 December 2007 | ||||
| Receipts | |||||
| Member Subs | 720 | 1440 | |||
| Grants etc... | 209 | 441 | |||
| Xmas Promotion 2006 | - | 1690 | |||
| Celebrate Malton | 12 | 1135 | |||
| Xmas Promotion 2007 | 288 | 250 | |||
| Town Trail | 280 | 859 | |||
| 1509 | 5815 | ||||
| Payments | |||||
| Office Expenses | 1 | 29 | |||
| Membership Costs | - | 137 | |||
| Event and Liability Insurance | 150 | 150 | |||
| Xmas Promotion 2006 | - | 1653 | |||
| Celebrate Malton | 90 | 442 | |||
| Website Launch | - | 140 | |||
| Xmas Promotion 2007 | 940 | - | |||
| Survey | 250 | - | |||
| Town Trail | 544 | - | |||
| 1974 | 2551 | ||||
| Funds Brought Forward | 3263 | - | |||
| Surplus (Deficit) for the Year | -465 | 3263 | |||
| 2798 | 3263 | ||||
| Represented by: | |||||
| Balance at Bank | 2763 | 3228 | |||
| Cash | 35 | 35 | |||
| 2798 | 3263 | ||||
| Notes: | Grants are included when received | ||||
| Expenditure recorded when paid | |||||
Author:Malcolm Chalk
Date:13/03/2009
