AGM Summary

The Village Association (VA) AGM was held on Wednesday 26 November 2025 at The Officers Mess, Coldstream Road.

The meeting was attended by VA Directors and representatives from Anthem Management and the Warden Service and residents from circa 14 properties joined the meeting.

Jane Stephens chaired the meeting and started by introducing the Directors. Thanks, and a round of applause was extended to Danny Ellis for his time, work and commitment to the VA over the last 2 years as a Director.

 This was followed by a review of the VA’s work during 2025 which included:

●      The focus this year has been to increase the reserve funds in terms of planning for future repairs and maintenance. Therefore, only essential maintenance work was undertaken such as the removal of a tree behind Townhill Medical Practice and repairs to the drains beneath the tree, repairs to damaged visitor parking signs and other road signs and clearance of drains and gullies to avoid flooding. The final work resulting from the 2023 tree survey was also carried out along with some additional work to the trees in Stirling Drive.

●      The other key piece of work this year has been the Director recruitment campaign carried out in August/September. The number of directors had dropped to a level where for the VA to continue with optimum efficiency and to protect its future we urgently needed to recruit more directors.  Four residents have expressed an interest, and we hope they will be co-opted as Directors early in 2026. Unfortunately, no new Commercial Directors or landlords of the social housing properties came forward.

●      The Board also reviewed the VA’s Articles of Association with a view to making amendments to avoid the Board being in a position where it is unable to make future decisions as a result of not being quorate. The Board proposed the following amendments:

1) To remove the requirement that each directors’ meeting must include one resident director and either one commercial director or one social landlord.

2) To remove the requirement that there should be one social landlord director, two commercial directors and two resident directors.

3) To add the requirement that only where possible will there be directors from all three categories.

4) To amend the wording so that decisions can still be made with these changes to the director categories and that alternate directors are also covered by the insurance policy.

●      An overview of the work and challenges dealt with by the Warden team over the past 12 months was given. This included anti-social behaviour, anti-social driving, warden-observed issues while on patrol, parking incidents and complaints, resident-notified crime and public drug use. In total, 128 crimes were formally reported to the Police in the last 12 months with a sharp increase in anti-social behaviour particularly dangerous and illegal driving.

●      An overview of the work and challenges faced throughout the year by our landscaping contractor, Acacia, was also provided.

●      Finally, an overview of the VA’s engagement with residents and members undertaken throughout the year.

The VA outlined its plans and focus for 2026 which includes:

·       Reviewing capital expenditure with a view to increasing the reserve funds in terms of planning for future repairs and maintaining the site.

·       Carrying out essential maintenance.

·       Completion of work to update the VA website.

·       Focus on onboarding the new Directors to the Board. 

·       Ongoing engagement with residents, CBCT, Tandridge DC, Surrey CC, Surrey Police and the two Parish Councils.

Finances

Simon Nunn presented the year end accounts for 2024 and the 2026 budget. The final spend for the year to 31 December 2024 was reviewed and discussed as was the budget for 2026, with a specific mention to increasing the reserve funds and the service charge.   

Resolutions and voting for appointment and re-appointment to the VA Board.

• Andy Buchan was re-appointed as a Resident Director for the next three years.

• Sue Pozzoni was re-appointed as a Resident Director for the next three years.

• Mark Bishop was appointed as a Resident Director for the next three years.

• The Special Resolution detailing the amendments to the Articles of Association was approved. 

The meeting was followed with a general Q&A session where questions included resident engagement and feedback from CBCT, whether the service charge included the cost to maintain the playground, the fee for paying services charges by direct debit, the need for road markings to be repainted by SCC and parking spaces in Weston Drive, parking issues and service charge arrears.   

The VA board wish to thank all those who attended. We look forward to continuing our engagement with residents, businesses, and all users of The Village over the coming year.