Consultation - democracy in practice

SPERA is an Association (not a company) and it is an association of neighbours. It is very important that our actions and decisions are driven by members’ / residents’ opinions. There are a number of measures that we take to ensure this.

The main control that members have is that they elect the Committee at the AGM. If the Committee does things that members don’t like they can throw them out and elect a new Committee.

But that’s a bit of a blunt instrument and would only be used in extremis. More normally the Committee has a duty to try to act in accordance with residents’ opinion (and if not they will be thrown out!). So we consult with and inform residents as best we can. The trouble with consultation and communication is that no matter how much you do it’s never enough – but this is what we do:- 

  • We post copies of the minutes of Committee meetings on the web site (click here) and on the notice board by the entrance to the estate.
  • We issue periodical newsletters to all residents with news and information.
  • Occasionally we send round circulars with reply slips to check consensus on a particular issue.
  • We conduct electronic straw polls by testing issues on those residents who have given us an e-mail address.
  • Very occasionally (only once in living memory!) we call a general meeting to decide a particular issue.
  • And we of course hold an Annual General Meeting which decides on annual maintenance fees, election of Committee members and anything else that is currently to be decided.

But what do we mean by “residents’ opinion”? In principle it means a majority in a vote but most issues are decided without benefit of a vote – that’s what residents elect the Committee to do. And here we have to be careful that we are not simply taking the opinion of a vocal minority. And probably to avoid taking decisions that are supported by only a slim majority – we do try to ensure that what we do is supported by a substantial majority of residents. We can’t please everybody all the time but we can aim to please most people nearly all the time!