The work of the Association & its Committee
As put in an article by Bill Wilson in the 1979 Newsletter ... There is a clause in the deeds of most of the houses in the Park which obliges owners to contribute towardsthe upkeep of the Park roads which are not adopted and, therefore, are not maintained by the Highway Authority. This condition is not included in the deeds of some houses which are outside the original Park area, but the owners of these houses have joined the association and have always contributed their share to the maintenance of the roads, trees, borders, etc.
The function of maintenance and repair of roads, some drainage, trees
and grass verges, is carried out for the benefit of all residents by
a committee which is elected each year at the Annual General Meeting,
usually in the month of May. Maintenance costs are kept to a minimum
consistent with the wishes of the members as resolved at the AGM, when
the Park rate to cover these expenses is fixed by a majority vote.
Custom & Practice of the Association There is no constitution but certain resolutions made at UPPA general meetings over the last 100+ years and other established custom & practice do control the process of this management -
How the committee was established and its role defined
From the early days of setting out the Park until the end of the 19th
century it appears that a rate was collected from proprietors
by ' a collector' but no accounts are known to exist. On 25 July 1899 a meeting of
Messrs J Smith (chairman); Edward Dean; William Shone & the collector
was called. A minute book incorporating limited accounts was started
and a formality established
for regular convening of proprietors.
The Associations Minute Book From 1899 until 1974 the minutes of both the committee and the AGM were recorded in a single bound book. These records have been summarised within the reference section. The basis for sharing the Association's costs Today the rate is equal for each household. Based on the Covenant; the rate was originally based on plot area but it appears that some owners with many undeveloped plots were often not paying and the system was seen as unfair. In 1928 the association changed the basis of the rate to be based on the Urban District Council set rateable value (RV) ie so much in the £. The Council would revise these periodically and as the decades passed; the newer properties which could command much higher rents; were having RVs several fold more than old property on larger plots. An equal rate was first formally proposed and discussed at the 1966 AGM but was rejected. Eventually though, the current equal rate was arrived at as the most acceptable when considering issues such as wear-and-tear on road caused by traffic and an acceptance that number of vehicles owned and number of motorised visitors was not related to the plot size or the previous RV (or today's tax band). Pre 1970s the rate fluctuated widely according to maintenance costs.In recent decades the policy has been more towards a steady increase to build reserve and avoid sudden large increases.
Commission & Honorarium
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