Constitution of the Zig Zag and Leacroft Road Association
(FORMERLY ZIG ZAG ROAD FUND)
ISSUE NO 2 May 2019
1 Preamble
Zig Zag Road Kenley CR8 is an unadopted highway and a Private Street and as such its maintenance is the responsibility of the residents, as defined below. Leacroft Close is a Public Street and is a spur road requiring to use Zig Zag Road for access and as such shares responsibility for its maintenance along with 2 other properties flanking Zig Zag Road and Welcomes Road numbered 68 and 70 Welcomes Road. Since it is impractical for residents to maintain their own section of the road, this task has been entrusted to a Road Committee.
The name Zig Zag Road Fund was changed to Zig Zag Road and Leacroft Close Road Association at a General Meeting held on 19th February 2017.
All residents whose property fronts onto or has a boundary with Zig Zag Road or Leacroft Close are members of the Association.
The members (referred to hereafter as the ‘Residents’) elect the management committee (referred to as the ‘Road Committee’) at an Annual General Meeting which works within the guidelines established at an AGM or Extraordinary General Meeting of the residents.
The scope and authority of the Committee is as follows:
2 Aims
On behalf of the Residents who recognise the need to maintain Zig Zag Road as a viable carriageway by ensuring that Zig Zag Road is kept in good repair and to meet the costs of doing so, such cost to be equitably shared between Residents or varied as agreed from time to time by the Road Committee. As and when considered appropriate the Road Committee will take such action as may be necessary to preserve, maintain and improve the environment in the general interests of Residents.
To achieve these aims, the Committee will work to the following objectives
1 To ensure that all the activities of the Committee are within the scope of the terms of reference agreed by an Annual or Extraordinary General Meeting of Residents.
2 To develop plans for the annual maintenance and periodic resurfacing of the roads and implement them in a cost effective way and to deal with any environmental matters relevant to the Residents.
3 To respond to proposals, questions and actions related to the roads raised by the Local Authority and other Statutory Bodies, consulting the Residents where appropriate.
4 To collect the agreed annual levies from all Residents to cover the costs of the above and to pursue developers in the area for compensation for routing HGV traffic along Zig Zag Road in recognition of the resulting extra wear and tear
5 To ensure that funds so collected are properly administered and spent only in ways approved by an Annual or Extraordinary General Meeting.
6 To implement agreed decisions taken at Annual and/or Extraordinary General Meetings.
3. Modus Operandi
1 An Annual General Meeting of The Association shall normally be held before 31st August each year and shall constitute the policy making body for the Association. A minimum of 6 voting members will constitute a quorum.
2 Extraordinary General Meetings may be called at any time by the Committee, or at the request of 10 or more voting Residents whose payments are up-to-date as at 31st March. 28 days notice (except in exceptional circumstances) shall be given of such meetings together with an indication of the subjects to be raised.
3 Voting at Annual and Extraordinary General Meetings shall be on the basis of one vote per person present at the meeting providing that no more than one vote is registered for each property. At the discretion of the Committee, voting rights may be limited to those who are up-to-date with their levy payments. Actions agreed by the majority of those attending a General Meeting will bind all Residents.
4 The Committee will consist of a minimum of 4 members and a maximum of 8, of whom the majority will be resident in Zig Zag Road or Leacroft Close elected at an Annual or Extraordinary Meeting of Residents.
5 The Committee will appoint from its members a Chairman, a Secretary and Treasurer. Or as it considers appropriate to the needs of the Association for the time being.
6 The executive responsibilities of the Committee will be vested in the Secretary and Treasurer.
7 The Committee will formulate plans for the day-to-day upkeep, annual maintenance and periodic resurfacing of the roads and develop appropriate budgets for their implementation.
8 A budget proposal will be presented to each Annual General Meeting for discussion and approval, together with a proposal for the levy to cover the expenditure and establish a contingency fund for future commitments.
9 The Treasurer or Treasurers will be responsible for the collection of the levy and the disbursement of funds to cover authorised expenditure. Cheques must be signed by two of any three persons authorised by the Association through the working Committee.
10 An independent examiner of the annual accounts may be appointed by a majority vote at a General Meeting of the members
11 The Committee will give formal reports of its activities to the Annual General Meeting and answer questions. Adoption of the reports will be by a majority decision of those present.
12 The Treasurer or any other member of the Committee will prepare Annual Accounts to 31st March each year presented to the Annual General Meeting for approval. Any reasonable request for inspection of supporting documentation will be met.
13 The Secretary (or other nominated member of the Committee) will organise the day-to-day work of maintenance of the roads and will obtain two competitive quotations for work costing up to £30,000 for consideration by the Committee or for sums over £30,000 by an Annual or Extraordinary General Meeting.
14 Notices of the amounts due under the annual levy agreed at an Annual General Meeting will be sent to all Residents within one month of that meeting, or as soon thereafter as practicable and will be payable within 28 days. Where payment has not been made by the end of the financial year (31st March) the Committee have the right to charge for loss of interest at the current rates from that date. The Committee will take whatever steps are deemed appropriate (within an overall cost allocation in the approved budget) to secure payments that are overdue. Any overspending on legal costs or charges must be ratified at the next Annual General Meeting.
15 The Committee will act as the channel of communication with the Local Authority and Statutory Undertakings on general matters affecting the roads, consulting Residents where deemed necessary.
16 The Committee will keep Residents informed of its activities during the course of a year and of other developments by means of a periodic emails circulated to all households.
17 In respect of action taken by the Committee, members will be indemnified against claims that may be made against them.
18 The Committee will continue to maintain a Public Liability Insurance Policy.
NOTICE is hereby given that no liability will be accepted by the Chairman or any member of Zig Zag Road and Leacroft Close Road Association Committee, either individually or jointly, in respect of any actions taken, or advice or information given by them, in good faith, while performing functions on behalf of the Association in accordance with its constitution including any breaches of General Data Protection Regulations May 2018 though the Committee will protect the privacy of the individual except where the law requires the divulgence of information on them. Members have given the Committee their email addresses voluntarily and consent for the Committee to continue to contact those members by email is assumed until otherwise instructed. A record will be kept of any breaches of privacy and reported as required to the Information Commissioners Office.
Important Note: Section 230 of the 1980 Highways Act empowers the highway authority (Croydon Council) to order frontagers to carry out repairs to a private road which are needed ‘to obviate danger to traffic’. The legislation also empowers the authority to carry out repairs itself if the order is ignored and to recover the cost of the work incurred from the frontagers.
The Court of Appeal in Goodman v Elwood 2013 also reaffirmed the doctrine of benefit and burden originally established in the case of Halsall v Brizell, in 1957 . In other words a member using the road must pay an equal share of the cost of building and maintaining said road.
The Road Association has been created to keep the road private which is understood to be the wish of the majority of the residents who thus accept the burden of paying for its upkeep as a private road on a cost sharing basis.
Note No formal general meeting of members was deemed necessary in 2016/17 given the overwhelming financial support given to the project by members and no objection has ever been raised to the establishment of the current Committee. The same Committee remains in place today -2019. The election of this Committee is therefore assumed to be valid by default in the absence of any formal objection. Any resident who would like to serve on the Committee is most welcome to join to ensure the continuance of the Road Association. And of course a General Meeting can be called by 10 fully paid up members at any time in terms of the Constitution.