Albemarle Allotment Association – Constitution

1. The name of the Association shall be The Albemarle Allotment Association.
2. The vision for the Association is that Albemarle Allotments is a place where we can all grow our crops and where we can share the pleasures of gardening for the benefit of our community.
3. The Association shall aim to:
   1. stimulate interest in and encourage a commitment towards horticulture in allotments.
   2. purchase supplies for the use of the members.
   3. foster the interests of its members.
   4. advocate the benefits of environmentally sustainable allotment gardening.
   5. foster good relations with residential neighbours and local statutory and non-statutory bodies.
4. In pursuit of these objectives, the Association shall be non-political, non-sectarian and non-discriminatory.
5. The membership of the Association shall be every tenant of a plot and every registered co-worker of a plot provided that there shall be no more than two members per plot or part plot.
6. The Association shall operate though:
   1. the Annual General Meeting
   2. Extraordinary General Meetings
   3. the Management Committee
7. The Annual General Meeting shall be called to:
   1. approve the Annual Report and Accounts
   2. elect members of the Management Committee
   3. discuss matters of interest to the Association.
8. Not more than fifteen months shall elapse between Annual General Meetings except in exceptional circumstances.
9. The Annual General Meeting shall conduct its business, whatever the number of members present, and shall be duly minuted. Resolutions shall require a simple majority of those voting.
10. The Committee shall implement the decisions taken by the Annual General Meeting, and undertake any actions or activities which are conducive to the furtherance of the Association’s objectives. It shall consist of a minimum of 10 and maximum of 14 members, elected by a majority vote at the Annual General Meeting.
11. The Committee will appoint a Chair, Secretary and Treasurer and such other officers as it needs. These may change from meeting to meeting. The Committee can set up sub groups which contain non Committee members and set out the limits of what each sub group can do.
12. The Committee will make sure that records of its decisions are kept and available to members.
13. The Committee will use the membership fees to purchase appropriate insurance for the Association.
14. The Committee will act as agents of the Council with regard to Tenancies and Lettings.
15. Committee members shall be elected for a one-year term of office and shall normally be eligible for re-election. The Committee shall co-opt a member to fill any casual vacancy for the remainder of the Committee’s term of office.
16. Decisions taken by the Committee shall be valid only when at least fifty per cent of the Committee members are present at the meeting and when those decisions attract a majority vote. In the event of an equality of votes, the status quo shall remain.
17. Only if a resolution to do so is passed, shall the present Constitution be altered or the Association be dissolved; this must be by a majority vote of at least two-thirds of the members voting at an Extraordinary General Meeting.
18. This Constitution was adopted at the Extraordinary General Meeting held on 3rd July 2021.