Annual General Meeting

Annual General Meeting at Paisley

Report of the Meeting held on 26th April, 1971

The Annual General Meeting was held in the South Minor To",:n Hall, Abbey Close, Paisley, Scotland on Monday, 26th Apnl, 1971 at 11.00 a.m. meeting was opened by the Provost of Paisley, WIlham Divertie, Esq., who welcomed the 53 members who were present. He expressed the pleasure which it gave him and his authority that the Association had, for first tIme, chosen Scotland and in particular Paisley for Its Annual General Meeting.

Apologies Apologies were received from 21 members.

Minutes

The Minutes of the previous Annual General Meeting, as reported on pages 52 and 53 of the July 1970 Bulletin were accepted by the meeting.

Matters AriSing There were no matters arising from these Minutes.

Chairman's Report Mr. R. E. J. Roden, gave an outline of his dutIes durmg his year of office and in particular drew members' attention to the steady increase in local authority membership which had occurred during the past year. He spoke also of the increasing volume of queries and requests for advice which the Association's officers had dealt with. He made particular mention of the growing number of consultations between the Association and various official bodies which indicated the importance with which the views of Association were acknowledged elsewhere. The C?alrman drew members' attention to the fact that during of Office, the Honorary Editor, Mr. R. P. Holdaway a , after many years of extremely useful and valuable Work on behalf of the Association, decided to resign that office. Mr ROden 'd t 'b . . t . pal n ute to Mr. Holdaway's dedICatIOn t? a task which on many occasions was both onerous and Ime con . Th k summg. Members were told that Mr B W C ac e h d . . . . had h I' f b M e e t, to contmued take over this responsible task and to maintain the high standards set Yd r. Holdaway. The Chairman then thanked the officers an members of th A " . . d . h' e SSOclatlOn for theIr help and guidance urmg IS year of office.

Honorary Secretary's Report The Honorary . Se t . cre ary Informed those present that the of the Association now totalled 601 Local Hu OI'ltJes, 110 Associates, 38 "Bulletin" subscribers and 9 onorary Members a . b d · ' n mcrease of 35 Local Authority mem-el'S urmg the year H f . e re erred to the Chairman'S Report and the fact that the A ", '. ssoclatlOn s co-operation and comment ha? been mVlted during the year by the Home Office, the BntIsh Standards Institution, the Department of Trade and Industry (B.A.S.E.E.F.A.) and the Institute of Petroleum and that, for the first time, the Home Office had agreed that a member of this Association be included in the working party which was considering the 'compilation of a new Model Code for basement and multi-storey car parks.

The Secretary further reported that a considerable number of queries had been put through him to the Legal and Reference Committee of the Association and the Chairman of this Committee had made arrangements for a Questions and Answers Supplement to be published from time to time in the "Bulletin" in order that all members would have the benefit of his Committee's views on the various problems set them. The Secretary spoke at some length about the Association's educational programmes with particular mention of the two courses which had been held at Surrey and York Universities, both of which had been very successful and also of the proposed advanced seminar which was to be held at York University in July.

The Secretary concluded by thanking all the officers and members who had assisted him during his year in office. The Secretary's report was accepted by the meeting.

Honorary Treasurer's Report A written report together with statements of account had been previously circulated. The Honorary Treasurer, Mr. J. Forman, spoke briefly on his term of office. and thanked all members for the support which he had receIved. He ed however that due to the heavy volume of work whIch the post of Treasurer involved he had reluctantly to ask the meeting to accept his resignation.

Mr. Forman's report together with the statements .of account were accepted by the meeting and it was. WIth regret that his resignation was also accepted. The ChaIrman thanked Mr. FOl'man for his valuable services to the AssoCiation.

Honorary Editor's Report

The Editor reminded the meeting that he had been . In ffice 0 for only four months and that perhaps it would have more fitting to have received the report from Mr. R. . Holdaway the previous Editor.

It was most unfortunate that Mr. H Id Y was 0 awa unavoid. of ably absent . , this Annual but Mr. Thacker felt that on the occaslOnth t 'bute to e General Meeting he should pay n . t' services his predecessor d ha d d ren ere to the ASSOCla bl IOn t over the past ten years, hoping that he would be a e 0 continue the excellent standard set.

With the change of Editor, so had there been a change in Printers. The new firm seemed quite helpful and cooperative and we looked forward to a long and happy association.

Mr. Thacker was sorry that the delivery ?f his first publication had been delayed, but this was entIrely out of his control and he hoped that future issues would not be strike bound.

Election of Officers

(a) Chairman

Mr. J. Short, Paisley Burgh, sole nominee for the office, was elected to serve as Chairman of the Association for the ensuing year and was invested with his Badge of Office by the retiring Chairman. Mr. Short thanked the members for electing him to office and stated that he considered it not only a personal honour but also an honour to the Scottish

Branch which he represented on the Council. He also considered it his first duty to thank the retiring Chairman, Mr. R. E. J. Roden, for the outstanding service he had given to the Association during his year of office.

(b) Vice-Chairman

One nomination, that of Mr. R. P. Holdaway, was received and Mr. Holdaway was duly appointed Vice-

Chairman.

(c) Honorary Secretary

. . There being only one nomination, that of the eXlstmg Honorary Secretary, Mr. J. W. Frid was therefore reelected.

(d) Honorary Treasurer

There was one nomination for this post, that of Mr. C.

T. Peacock who was duly elected.

(e) Honorary Editor

One nomination was received, that of the present

Editor, and Mr. B. W. C. Thacker was duly re-elected.

(f) Honorary Liaison Officer

The Secretary reported that the present Honorary

Liaison Officer, Mr. G. N. Dean, had tendered his resignation from the post and that there had not been a further nomination. The meeting decided that this office be left vacant until such time as the Council decided on the need to fill it.

(g) Honorary Legal Adviser

Mr. P. D. Wadsworth, the present Honorary Legal

Adviser to the Association was re-appointed.

(h) Honorary Auditor

Mr. A. Senior, Chief Public Health Inspector, Hemsworth RD.C. was appointed Honorary Auditor.

Election of Council

Eight nominations were received for the eight Council

Representatives; the following were duly elected :E. V. Beeby, Rugby RD.C.

J. Beer, City of Worcester.

C. L. Davids, Greater London Council.

D. Hall, NewcastIe-under-Lyme B.

J. Hewison, Havant & Waterloo U.D.C. K. C. Hughes, Stafford B.

T. Kerr, Glanford Brigg RD.C.

RE. J. Roden, City of Birmingham.

Two Scrutineers, Mr. H. Martin and Mr. L. B. Wilson (City of Cambridge) were appointed.

Notice of Motion

That Rule 4(e) of the Association's Constitution and Rules be amended to read as follows :-

Ordinary Member - Any Local or Harbour Authority within the meaning of the Petroleum Acts shall, on payment of the relevant subscription, be eligible for Ordinary Membership of the Association, and shall be entitled to authorise one of its petroleum officers to act as its representative, such representative or his deputy shall be entitled to exercise the rights of ordinary membership on behalf of the authority. All other petroleum officers of member authorities shall be eligible to attend Association meetings and shall be entitled to speak but not to vote.

No proposer or seconder was present from the South East Midland Branch for the Notice of Motion, therefore in order that the matter could be discussed by the members present, the Motion was formally proposed by Mr. S. W. D. Harris, seconded by Mr. J. W. Frid, Honorary Secretary.

Mr. Hall, Chairman of the Constitution and Rules Committee spoke against the motion emphasising that the point in question was already covered under the Association's existing rules. The Motion was eventually lost, fourteen voting against, four for.

Any Other Business Mr. S. McGregor enquired if it was proposed in the future that nominated members of local authorities bet announced in order that the members eligible to vote are known by the meeting. Mr. Hall replied informing the meeting that his Committee were in the process of developing a procedure which will be adopted in the future in order that voting members can be known and noted at the meeting.

A further question concerning the storage of L.P.G. was held over in order that it could be put to Dr. G. J. Jeacocke during his talk at the afternoon session. The meeting then adjourned for lunch, the time being 12.15 p.m.

Civic Lunch Members present were entertained to lunch at the Brabloch Hotel as guests of the Corporation of Paisley. After lunch the principal guest, Mr. William Divertie, Provost of Paisley, made a short speech which was responded to by the AssOCiation Chairman, Mr. J. Short. The meeting re-assembled at 2.30 p.m. at the South Minor Town Hall.

Guest Speaker The afternoon session was taken up with a most interesting talk by Dr. G. J. Jeacocke, M.Sc., Ph.D., F.L.R.C., a member of H.M. Home Office Inspectorate which was followed by a number of most interesting questions which were fully and most adequately answered by Dr. Jeacocke.

In a short speech afterwards Mr. D. Hall thanked Dr. Jeacocke for his many enlightening words and also expressed the Association's pleasure at the excellent 'arrangements for the meeting, and also the hospitality extended to members by the Corporation of Paisley.

A proposal that a letter of thanks be sent to the Corporation of Paisley was unanimously approved.

The meeting closed at 4.30 p.m.