Annual General Meeting3rd March 2015

7pm

Beechwood Community Centre(Halton) CICFormally Beechwood West Management Ltd

Welcome from your Chair

• Councillor Chris Loftus - opening comments

• Introductions• Format for the meeting• House keeping• Home owner – voting cards• Approval of Notes from the last meeting

Election of non executive Directors

• Rationale for seeking director support from beyond Beechwood West

• Acceptance by the home owners • Proposed and seconded by...

Our pledge to you in October 2013

• An eighteen month business plan • Professionalism• Honesty • Transparency • Leadership • Accountable to you

We Delivered !

What has been happening since we last met in October 2013

• The journey the highs and the lows• Here and now business overview we are doing ok ! headline facts and figures.

1. PROGRESS

• Change in legal status – CIC Beechwood Community Centre (Halton) CIC is now our trading name, all our legal Company and

homeowner responsibilities remain the same. • Established stronger business footing • Levy debt ... All but four home owners have or are

paying the required and agreed costs set out in October 2013

• Introduction of auditors on stock to ensure profit margins are maintained.

2. Progress

• Clearance of Debts– Brewery – Utilities– VAT

• Accessed grant funding• Staffing review - ongoing • Infrastructure improvements

3. Progress

• Significant increased in usage • Pool usage up increase in revenue • Established Beechwood Swim School • Bar services revenue increased - • Function booking up with dates already in for

2016• Improved ambiance and user feed back

HOME OWNER RESOLUTIONS FOR DISCUSSION AND CONSIDERATION

Financial overview

Heading in the right direction ....• Total income - £348,570• No debt... • Homeowners ‘ 2013/15 levy’ up to date• Grants funding - £30k• Greater scrutiny of expenditure• Greater scrutiny of user hire fees • Greater control of staffing costs

Our finances – to 30/04/2015

• Bar/function room income - £167,144

– Up £61,800 on 2013

– Profit on sales £81,152

– Up £48,122 on 2013

Our finances – to 30/04/2015

• Other income - £95,566– Up £26,492 on 2013

– Beechwood Swim School established April 14 predicted profit for end of 2015 - £48K

Our finances – to 30/04/2015

• Utilities significantly reduced in 2014 £21,816 a saving of £9594 on the previous

year.

• A further negotiated decrease for 2016 means an overall saving of £10869

So what does this all mean

SWOTAnalysis of our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities

and threats Shows that we are

• a viable business with potential for growth and improvement

• a significant community resource and a venue of choice for a variety of celebrations/functions

Key Issues

• The building is 40 yearS old with some areas becoming unfit for purpose

• Health and safety issues • This is a threat to be business and probably us as owners• Like many of our homes after 40 years our

community centre needs a make over !

Standing Still is not an option

Given that we now know that the only way we relinquish our legal responsibility is either to demolish, sell or give the building away.

Lets look at these options

OVERVEIW OF THESE OPTIONS AND THE ASSOICATED RISKS

• Demolition will have significant financial implications : demolition costs £150K approx landscaping costs £10k approx dowry to HBC for ongoing maintenance £40k

approx

unknown legal costs

OVERVEIW OF THESE OPTIONS AND THE ASSOICATED RISKS

• Attempt to sell the building : Value not known at this point Unable to determine usage Should at some point in the future the new

business fail we could be left with an unused building which would immediately be boarded up and in a very short space of time subjected to vandalism etc.

OVERVEIW OF THESE OPTIONS AND THE ASSOICATED RISKS

• Give the building to a charity or another non profit making venture

There are organisations who would like to have such a space but are reluctant to ‘bite our

hand off’ because of the basic running costs Most of small to medium sized charities are on time

limited funding streams so can never assume longevity, We could be left with an unused building which would

immediately be boarded up and in a very short space of time subjected to vandalism etc.

The risks are too high

You don’t miss something until its not there !Apart from the costly demolition the other options carry

too much of a risk Irrespective of where you live on the estate the potential

for having a boarded up! un-owned building! in the middle of it would definitely have a negative effect on the value of our properties and become a blot on the Beechwood

landscape for all to see .

So what’s the alternative • We move forward! When we bought our homes on this estate we accepted the legal

premise for the requirement for the Company to raise income from the homeowners. This is enshrined in the covenants within the deed of trust which states : the buyer hereby covenants with Beechwood West Management Limited (now Beechwood Community

Centre (Halton) CIC it being the intention that the expenses of maintaining and administrating the Beechwood West Community Centre and the amenity lands shall be divided according to the number of dwellings (537) erected on the Beechwood West estate. (The requirement relating to the amenity lands was removed in the mid 90s)

The future

• We need to change how we view the community centre its A POSITIVE NOT A NEGATIVE A GOOD HOUSE SELLING FEATURE A WELL RUN COMMUNITY FACILITY it’s an ASSET NOT A LIABILITY WE WILL REMOVE THE WORD ‘LEVY’ AND REPLACE IT WITH WHAT WE PAY

AN OWNERS MANAGEMENT FEE

Home owners management fee

We will contribute to the expenses of maintaining and administrating the Beechwood West Community Centre

• Business rates• Building and public liability Insurance• Security • Maintenance• Managing Directors fee• Professional and administration costs• A small contingency fund

THE DAY TO DAY BUSINESS

• Board of directors providing leadership, scrutiny and governance

• Effectively managed by motivated and flexible staff• Self sustaining • Robust cost centre approach to its finances• A ‘living and working’ business plan that will be

regularly reviewed and amended as necessary.• Good and regular communication with you as main

stakeholders

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

• Community engagement is not just about raising funds its about raising awareness of the needs of people around us. It’s about wanting to belong. It’s about be happy doing something but not everything.

the best way to develop a community is from the inside out, utilising assets from within and those that can be found from the outside

People of all ages have individual gifts that they can bring to our community and build on its development.

LOOKING BACK TO MOVE FORWARD

For many years Beechwood was viewed as great community to live in, parents grandparents and children saw the centre as their own and enjoyed using the facilities.

If the Community Centre is to become ‘the Centre of our community’ we have to own

it and get involved

The Business Plan

• The Homeowners fee for 215/16

• The expansion and refurbishment of the Community Centre

In order to continue developing we need to safeguard and improve our facilities by:

• Expanding and refurbishing the existing changing rooms.• Expanding and refurbishing the existing toilets.• Creating a wet room for disabled users.• Creating a versatile space to encapsulate;

– a viewing area taking people off poolside, – a coffee shop – extra capacity for wedding ceremonies and functions.

HOW WILL THIS BE FUNDED

• Via.. The Charity Bank which was set up 12 years ago to offer financial support to CICs and Charities.

• Attractive to us because :- No personal risk to Directors No personal risk to us as key stakeholders A charge on the building as Should at any point the Business fail, the liability will be met by

proceeds from the sale of the building

Directors recommendation

That we all: • Accept the concept of the home owners management fee and its principals • Accept that we make the fundamental shift in thinking

we have an asset not liability• Move forward with Improvement and expansion programme• So that we can

– protect and grow our income – enhance what is a homeowner capital asset– Attract new customers and revenue– Encourage YOU to engage with us to ensure we can develop the

Centre of our Community

OPEN TO THE FLOOR VIEWS – COMMENTS - QUESTIONS

THE FUTURE IS YOUR HANDS

• The decisions we agree to take forward• Nominations and election of directors

• Any other business• Chair’s closing comments.