Brixton Neighbourhood Forum Constitution
Updated May 2018 v2-4
1.1 The name of the group shall be the “Brixton Neighbourhood Forum” (“the Forum”).
1.2 For the purposes of this constitution, the Brixton Town Centre (“the Area”) shall be defined as the area bounded in red on the attached map.
2 Aims and Objectives
2.1 The Forum will
(i) further the social, economic and environmental well-being of individuals living, or wanting to live, in the Area; and
(ii) promote the carrying on of trades, professions or other businesses in the Area.
3 Membership
3.1 Group Members. Membership of the Forum shall be open to all organizations operating within the Area which represent: (i) individuals living, or wanting to live, in the Area, or (ii) trades, professions or other businesses operating in the Area; and which (i) have an open membership who elect their officers or representatives regularly, and (ii) are not party-political organizations, and (iii) agree to abide by this constitution.
3.2 Individual Members.
Membership of the Forum shall be open to all persons who live in or work in the Area and who agree to abide by this constitution.
4 Subscriptions
4.1 Group members shall pay an annual subscription of £25 per calendar year (or part thereof when a group joins part way through a year).
4.2 Individual members shall pay an annual subscription of £5 per calendar year (or part thereof when an individual joins part way through a year).
4.3 Individual concessionary members shall pay and annual subscription of £2 per calendar year (or part thereof when an individual joins part way through a year). Concessions apply to unwaged, student, state pension holder.
5 Operation
5.1 The Forum shall meet whenever and as often as is determined by its members but, in any event, at least once a calendar year.
5.2 Each group member shall have the right to send one or more representatives to any Forum meeting.
5.3 At any meeting where any group member has sent more than one representative, the chair of the meeting shall have the discretion to require only one representative from the group to speak should time pressures seem to the chair to require it.
5.4 Individual members shall have the right to attend any Forum meeting.
5.5 The Forum may invite any person or organization which is not a member of the Forum to attend any, or any part of, any of its meetings.
5.6 The Forum will uphold equal opportunities and work towards good relations amongst all members of the community, specifically prohibiting any conduct which discriminates or harasses on grounds of race, religion or belief, age, disability, sex or sexual orientation.
5.7 The Forum shall decide day-to-day policy matters by consensus except where this constitution provides for a vote to be taken, in which case each member organization shall have only one vote irrespective of the number of members it has at the relevant meeting and each individual member shall have one vote.
5.8 The Forum shall have five officers, elected annually by ballot:
(i) Chairperson
(ii) Vice-Chairperson
(iii) Secretary
(iv) Treasurer
(v) Membership Secretary
5.9 Minutes shall be taken at each meeting and copies circulated to all members.
5.10 At least twenty-one days notice of a meeting shall be given to members by the Secretary.
5.11 The quorum for a meeting shall be three or ten per cent (whichever is the greater) of the group members and three or ten percent (whichever is the greater) of the individual members.
6 Conduct of Members
6.1 All persons attending any meeting of the Forum (whether as a representative of a group or as an individual member) shall behave in a proper manner towards other persons present and, in particular, shall not behave in a violent or intimidating way nor in any way which breaches the Forum’s equal opportunities Rule (5.6).
6.2 Any person breaching Rule 6.1 may be excluded by the chair of the meeting from the remainder of the meeting.
6.3 Should a complaint that a person has breached Rule 6.1 on more than one occasion be made to the Secretary by three or more members, the following procedure shall apply:
(i) The Secretary shall put the complaint as the first substantive item on the agenda of the next available meeting and ensure that the person concerned is so notified and notified of his/her right to attend and answer the complaint.
(ii) After hearing the complaint and any answer by the person concerned, the meeting shall decide by a simple majority of members present and voting whether or not the complaint is upheld.
(iii) If the meeting upholds the complaint it may decide by a two thirds majority of the members present and voting to:
(a) in the case of an individual member, expel them from the Forum; or
(b) in the case of a person representing a group, notify that group that the person in question can no longer be accepted as a delegate to the Forum.
7 Annual General Meeting
7.1 The Forum shall convene an annual general meeting (AGM) where:
(i) the accounts examined independently by a person appointed by the Forum, will be presented for adoption;
(ii) the officers will be elected;
(iii) any other relevant business will be conducted.
7.2 The AGM must take place not more than 15 months after the previous AGM.
7.3 At least twenty-eight days’ notice of the AGM shall be given to members by the Secretary.
7.4 The quorum for an AGM shall be three or ten per cent (whichever is the greater) of the group members and three or ten percent (whichever is the greater) of the individual members.
8 Extraordinary General Meeting
8.1 An extraordinary general meeting (EGM) shall be convened if requested by: (i) a majority of the officers; or
(ii) three or ten per cent (whichever is the greater) of the group members; or (iii) three or ten percent (whichever is the greater) of the individual members.
CONSTITUTION – DRAFT 2
8.2 Any such request shall be made to the Secretary and shall include a statement of the matter(s) to be discussed.
8.3 At least twenty-eight days’ notice of the EGM shall be given to members by the Secretary. Such a notice shall contain an agenda for the meeting which includes the matter(s) referred to in 8.2 and any other relevant administrative matters but no other substantive matters.
8.4 The quorum for an EGM shall be three or ten per cent (whichever is the greater) of the group members and three or ten percent (whichever is the greater) of the individual members.
9 Finance
9.1 All monies for and on behalf of the Forum shall be applied to further the aims of the Forum and for no other purpose.
9.2 The day-to-day finances of the Forum shall be in the hands of the Treasurer, who shall prepare a proper and accurate account of financial matters and shall report them to Forum meetings.
9.3 The Treasurer and two other members designated by the Forum shall be signatories of cheques or other financial instruments on the Forum’s behalf, and any two of these signatories shall be sufficient to validate a cheque or other financial instrument.
9.4 The membership fees shall be payable on joining and then annually on 1 January.
9.5 Any member failing to pay its membership fee on time may be deemed by a simple majority vote of the Forum to have resigned.
9.6 The Forum shall have the power to raise monies by any legal means except by borrowing.
10 Amendments to Constitution
10.1 Any amendments to the constitution shall be made only at an AGM or EGM.
10.2 Any three group members or any three individual members may propose an amendment to the constitution to be considered at an AGM by writing to the Secretary before the notice of the AGM has been given.
10.3 Any proposal to amend the constitution to be considered at an EGM shall be made by following the rules for calling an EGM.
10.4 Amendments to the constitution must be agreed by a two-thirds majority of the group members and a two- thirds majority of the individual members present and voting at the AGM or EGM, except that any change to the subscription rates in Rule 4 may be agreed as follows:
(i) a change to the rate for group members may be agreed by a simple majority of the group members present and voting, and
(ii) a change to the rate for individual members may be agreed by a simple majority of the individual members present and voting.
11 Dissolution of the Forum
11.1 A proposal to dissolve the Forum shall only take effect if:
(i) it is proposed by at least three or ten per cent (whichever is the greater) of the group members, or
(ii) it is proposed by at least three or ten per cent (whichever is the greater) of the individual members; and
(iii) notice of such a proposal has been circulated to all members at least 28 days in advance of an AGM or EGM convened for that purpose; and
(iv) the proposal is passed by a two-thirds majority of the group members and a two-thirds majority of the individual members present and voting at the AGM or EGM.
11.2 All surplus funds of the Forum shall be transferred to similar not-for-profit organisations preferably in Brixton having aims and objects similar to those of the Forum but not necessarily restricted to the area of the Forum.
11.3 Upon dissolution, its records shall be passed to the Archives of the London Borough of Lambeth or other suitable archive.