Banbury Community Action Group

BCAG AGM 2026

July 7, 2026 CAG, Meeting Notes

Chair:Jim S  
Minutes:Harriet J  
Attendees:Jim S, Naseem H, Harriet J, Paul B, Jane B, Steve K, Chris M, Neil, Tila R

Minutes

Welcome from Jim

1. Chair’s report                                                                                                                           Jim

Jim gave the Chair’s report on BCAG activities 2025-26.

The text of the report is available on the BCAG website.

2. Final accounts and treasurer’s report                                                                        Naseem

Naseem, as treasurer, presented the BCAG Financial Report for April 2025 – March 2026.

The report is available on the BCAG website where it follows on from the Chair’s Report.

3. Voting in the new committee                                                                                                                                  

The new committee was voted in as follows:

CHAIR:               Jim Smith         

TREASURER:   Naseem Hussain          

SECRETARY:     Harriet Jordan

The meeting thanked the three BCAG named officers for their time in coordinating the Group over the last year.

The meeting also thanked those who have taken the lead on running the BCAG projects during the past year, in particular:

Paul for his amazing work making the Active Travel and Greener Streets project such a well-respected force for good;

Jim for keeping the spotlight on climate awareness and community resilience in Banbury;

Harriet for coordinating work on biodiversity and Nature; and

Sue and Harriet for their lead on the Water Quality activities.

4. ANY OTHER BUSINESS                                                                                                                            
  1. Bridge Street Community Garden

Tila presented the detailed Annual Report for the Bridge Street Community Garden.  The report reflects the continuing fantastic success of the Garden under Tila’s dedicated leadership.

The Report is available on the BCAG website where it follows on from the financial report under the Chair’s Report.

  • Amendment to the Constitution

The following amendment to the BCAG constitution was discussed.

Agreement by the meeting, to the change, was unanimous.

Proposal for an amendment to the BCAC Constitution

Put forward by:

Jim Smith, Chair; Naseem Hussein, Treasurer; Harriet Jordan, Secretary

Existing situation

The current constitution, adopted in November 2018, requires

  • BCAG’s Annual General Meeting to be held in April.

Part of the business of the AGM is to receive a report from the treasurer on the finances of the group.

The constitution also requires:

  • the treasurer to submit annual accounts to the CAG [Oxfordshire] project annually in April, once these have been reviewed by the BCAG group at the first meeting of the financial year; 
  • the accounts to be independently audited at the AGM or a special general meeting.

The constitution specifies that the financial year runs from 1st April to 31st March, and that meetings be held on the 1st Tuesday of the month.

Issue

There is not sufficient time between the end of the financial year, 31st March, for our volunteer treasurer to have audited accounts available for an AGM held on the first Tuesday in April.

In recent years, the BCAG AGM has been held on the first Tuesday in May to give time for the treasurer to finalise the group’s accounts.  Even with the AGM in May, it has not always been possible to have them independently audited in time.

Proposal

We propose that the wording of the BCAG constitution be amended such that the AGM is to be held by the end of the month of June.  This will allow for audited accounts to be available to the meeting.

We propose the requirement for annual submission of accounts to the CAG [Oxfordshire] project remain as April, but that they are sent ‘draft’ accounts rather than final audited accounts.  CAGOx has confirmed that they are happy with this arrangement (Jo Milton, Project Coordinator, Community Action Groups Oxfordshire, 09/03/26).  

As required by the current BCAG constitution, this proposal has been discussed with a CAGOx officer (Jo Milton, 09/03/26) and CAGOx will be informed should the proposal be accepted.

The existing and proposed wording for the constitution is as follows:

Banbury Community Action Group Constitution

Meetings

Annual General Meeting

The group shall hold an Annual General Meeting (A.G.M.) by the end of the month of April June.

Finance

The treasurer must submit draft annual accounts to the CAG project annually in the month of April, once reviewed by

the group at the first meeting of the financial year.

A full copy of the constitution can be found at: https://banburycag.org.uk/policies/constitution/