Every year around April or May, and occasionally June, all residents will receive a letter informing them of the date of that year’s Annual General Meeting. All residents are welcome to attend although it is contingent on the payment of the feu duties for the previous year. The committee will report on the previous year’s activities, detailing any monies taken in and accounting for all spending for that year.

There is an open forum for all residents to raise any issue or concerns they have and any necessary votes can be taken on courses of action that the assembled residents feel is required. Usually the level of Fue Duty for the following year will be discussed and voted on at this point.

Finally, the committee will officially dissolve and new nominations are sought for Chairperson, Treasurer, Secretary and additional Committee Members to serve for the following year.

During the course of the year, committee members will engage with contractors to ensure that grass is cut on communal areas of the estate, trees are maintained and any other maintenance work is carried out that effects those areas. The committee also ensure that Fues are being collected and allocated to correct addresses, a task that still takes up more time than it ought to.

It should be noted that the committee currently only consists of 3 people. It is the smallest the committee has ever been and, it is worthwhile pointing out that should the committee fail to be re-established each year from volunteer residents, then the Association as an entity would fail and cease to exist. Every feu payer from within the estate has a right to attend the AGM and give their opinions on what needs to be done with the common areas and yet year on year we see less and less attendees at it. This is really your only opportunity to use your voice effectively to improve your local area. It is disappointing that out of over 550 homes we can barely raise 20 people at an AGM and we would seriously encourage resident to try to take a more active role within the organisation.

Should the Association fail to form a committee at any time the responsibility for the maintenance of the land will revert to the land owners and any say you may wish for on the surrounding area will disappear for good. You will then receive factoring charges from whomsoever the landowners put in charge of the maintenance. These businesses are run on a for profit basis and your annual duty is more than likely to spiral upwards. Suddenly, you will long for the days of £70 a year. We realise that everyone has busy lives and things do to, but it is unfair to expect the same small number of people to shoulder all of the work all of the time. Serving on the committee is not a full time occupation and the more people that help, the less individual work will be required. People can step in and out at their leisure. As the saying goes ‘You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone’, and we fear that may be the case with the LWFA. In this day and age, people are very quick to criticise on social media, but are equally slow to actually make meaningful contributions if it involves effort or sacrifice. It’s always someone else’s job to fix it, it seems. So, come on. Join in. Get involved… even just a little.