## **Queen’s Park and Charminster Neighbourhood Forum (a charitable incorporated organisation)**
**Trustees’ Report and Financial Statements For the Year Ended 31 March 2022**
**Charity Number: 1193653**
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|**Contents**||
|---|---|
||**Page**|
|Report of the Trustees for the Period Ended 31 March 2022||
|Achievements and Performance|2|
|Plans for Future Periods|3|
|Our Aims and Objectives|3|
|How our Activities Deliver Public Benefit|5|
|Financial Review|5|
|Risk Management|5|
|Structure, Governance and Management|5|
|Reference and Administrative Information|6|
|Financial Statements||
|Statement of Financial Activities for the Period Ended 31 March 2022|7|
|Balance Sheet as at 31 March 2022|7|
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## **Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 March 2022**
## **Achievements and Performance**
The Queen’s Park Neighbourhood Forum was designated by Bournemouth Borough Council on 6th April 2018. In the year prior to this, a number of public consultation activities took place, which indicated positive support for the establishment of a neighbourhood forum for the Queen’s Park ward area.
A local authority reorganisation formed Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council on 1[st] April 2019 and local ward boundaries changed with effect from that date. The Neighbourhood Forum’s Designated Area remains the former Queen’s Park Ward boundaries, which are Charminster Road in the East, Queen’s Park Avenue in the North, Wessex Way to the West and the railway line to the South. The exception to this former ward boundary is that our Neighbourhood Forum’s Designated Area takes in both sides of Charminster Road, as an important local district for shopping, eating and other recreation.
In 2019, the Neighbourhood Forum’s Annual General Meeting agreed to seek registration as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) and to rebrand as Queen’s Park and Charminster Neighbourhood Forum, which was felt to be a more representative name for our area.
A public meeting had been planned for March 2020, but sadly this had to be cancelled due to the National Lockdown associated with the global coronavirus pandemic. The pandemic also meant that there was a pause on the Charity Commission’s approval processes and it wasn’t until 24[th] February 2021 that our application was successfully registered and Queen’s Park and Charminster Neighbourhood Forum became a Charitable Incorporated Organisation.
A public meeting of the Neighbourhood Forum was held in March 2021 by Zoom. Whilst it was positive to try to keep dialogue going during the pandemic, the format of virtual meetings inevitably had an adverse impact on the level and content of public engagement.
A face-to-face meeting was planned for March 2022, but the prevalence of Covid-19 cases at that time meant there remained a nervousness regarding public gatherings and regrettably this meeting did not happen.
From 10[th] January to 25[th] March 2022, BCP Council held a Local Plan Issues and Options Consultation, which our Chair submitted a personal response to. This consultation related to the development of a Local Plan, something which should set the Strategic Planning policies for the conurbation, which any Neighbourhood Plan must be in general conformance with. The existing Local Plan for Bournemouth is very old – a Bournemouth Core Strategy dated 2012 which incorporates some saved planning policies from a 2002 Local Plan is the ‘current’ Local Plan for the area. BCP Council’s aim had been to have a new Local Plan covering Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole adopted by summer 2023, but this target date has now slipped to Winter 2024, partly because the response rate to the Council’s Issues and Options Consultation was poor.
It is evident from the number of objections which some individual planning applications receive that many members of the general population have strong views about planning decisions and their impact on where they live. Also, the attendance that our Neighbourhood Forum achieved when we have held public meetings in the past strongly suggest that people value having the opportunity to get together to discuss what they appreciate in their locality and what positive changes they would like to see. Local residents have shown their support by delivering leaflets to promote Neighbourhood Forum meetings and thanks go to everyone who has provided such assistance over the years.
Unfortunately, the support which exists for the Neighbourhood Forum to continue has not galvanized into the identification of a critical mass of people with the time, interest, skills and Page **2** of **8**
commitment to make progress with the drafting of the neighbourhood planning policies which would comprise our Neighbourhood Plan.
As we close the year ended 31[st] March 2022, the Queen’s Park and Charminster Neighbourhood Forum is at a watershed point. The four Trustees, whilst they each firmly believe in the Charitable Incorporated Organisation and the value which it has the potential to bring to the locality, do not alone have the capacity to advance our organisational aims.
## **Plans for Future Periods**
Our Annual General Meeting will be held on Saturday 9[th] July 2022 at the Woodpecker Café, Queen’s Park, Bournemouth. This will be an opportunity for the four Trustees to share with attendees the crossroads which we have reached.
We will seek to identify what appetite exists for the Queen’s Park and Charminster Neighbourhood Forum to continue, in particular whether any people within our neighbourhood area are willing and able to take on the role of Charity Trustee and what skills and experience anyone would be able to contribute which could make a tangible difference to the development of the neighbourhood planning policies which are required to underpin the drafting of a neighbourhood plan.
During the 2022/23 year, we will follow with interest any progress which BCP Council makes towards the development of a Local Plan for the conurbation. In particular, if opportunities present to contribute views in respect of our Queen’s Park and Charminster neighbourhood we will respond to these.
We will continue to liaise positively with our local councillors and will seek opportunities for funding, such as via the council’s Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL), to be applied to improvements in the public realm which would benefit people who live or work within our neighbourhood area, for example to seek to secure safe pedestrian routes to access Queen’s Park, an amenity space that the pandemic affirmed to us positively impacts on the health and wellbeing of the local population.
The Neighbourhood Forum was designated for an initial period of five years. In April 2023, we anticipate that the local authority will contact us regarding whether or not the present Queen’s Park and Charminster Neighbourhood Forum should continue, and if so whether there should be any changes made to its designated area. Both of these questions will require careful consideration, with input from our membership and the wider neighbourhood population.
## **Our Aims and Objectives**
The object of Queen’s Park and Charminster Neighbourhood Forum, as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) is:
1. To promote high standards of planning and architecture in or affecting the Neighbourhood Area.
2. To educate the public in the geography, history, natural history, culture and architecture of the Neighbourhood Area.
3. To secure the preservation, protection, development and improvement of features or areas of historic or public interest in the Neighbourhood Area.
In furtherance of the above objects, but not otherwise, the trustees shall have the power to establish a neighbourhood forum for the Neighbourhood Area (within the blue boundary lines on the following map) to promote and or improve the social, economic and environmental well-being of the area.
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## **How our Activities Deliver Public Benefit**
We deliver public benefit through holding Neighbourhood Forum meetings which facilitate community engagement in dialogue about i) promoting high standards of planning and architecture in or affecting the Neighbourhood Area; ii) educating the public in the geography, history, natural history, culture and architecture of the Neighbourhood Area; and iii) securing the preservation, protection, development and improvement of features or areas of historic or public interest in the Neighbourhood Area.
## **Financial Review**
During the year, the CIO’s activities were curtailed by the impacts of the global pandemic. Expenditure incurred was limited to IT website costs, public indemnity insurance and bank charges. Costs of these items totaled £255.
The CIO recognised income from two sources during the year ended 31[st] March 2022. Grant funding of £285 was received from Groundwork UK, the organisation which administers the Government’s programme for the development of neighbourhood forums. Additionally, on incorporation the CIO received the benefit of £1,315 unrestricted income which had previously been provided to its predecessor organisation. The original source of this money was Bournemouth Council’s Local Improvement Fund (LIF) and we remain grateful to our ward councilors for arranging for this to be allocated to advance our aims.
The surplus for the 2021/22 year was £1,345.
## **Risk Management**
The Trustees have considered the major risks to which the charity is exposed.
Recent years have seen a rapid change in planning law and national planning policy, such as changes to what is permitted development. The ability of the emerging Local Plan to appropriately respond to these changes is a risk consideration, as decisions made at this conurbation-wide level will impact on the formation of a Neighbourhood Plan for the locatity, due to any neighbourhood planning policies being required to be in general conformity with the adopted Local Plan.
The most significant risk faced by our CIO is the availability of people with the time, skills, knowledge and commitment to dedicate to advancing the charity’s work. The present Trustees have reached a watershed point whereby they need considerable additional input from others to positively take forward the neighbourhood planning agenda.
## **Structure, Governance and Management**
## Governing Document
Queen’s Park and Chariminster Neighbourhood Forum is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation – a CIO Association, registered with the Charity Commission on 24[th] February 2021.
## Charity Trustees
Every charity trustee must be a natural person aged 16 or more. There should be not less than 3 nor more than 12 appointed trustees. Subject to this maximum number, the members or the charity trustees may at any time decide to appoint a new charity trustee.
The charity trustees shall manage the affairs of the CIO and may for that purpose exercise all the powers of the CIO.
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## Trustee Induction and Training
All Trustees are provided with a copy of the Charity Commission’s guidance, CC3 – ‘The Essential Trustee’ and C15b – ‘Charity Reporting and Accounting: The Essentials’.
In addition, Trustees have access to a range of Bournemouth & Poole Council for Voluntary Services (CVS) training courses, such as ‘Being a Charity Trustee’ and ‘Better Governance’.
## **Reference and Administrative Information**
Charity Name Queen’s Park and Charminster Neighbourhood Forum Charity Registration Number 1193563 67 St Alban’s Avenue Registered Office Bournemouth BH8 9EG Trustees Julie Currin Sarah Newell Michael Rowland Roger Tomlins Bankers HSBC 59 Old Christchurch Bournemouth, BH1 1EH
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## **Financial Statements**
## **Statement of Financial Activities (SoFA) for Year Ended 31 March 2022**
|**Income**
**Income from:**
Predecessor unincorporated organisation
Groundwork UK
**Total Income**
**Expenditure**
**Analysis of Expenditure:**
IT internet costs
Public liability insurance
Bank charges
**Total Expenditure**
**Net surplus for the period**
**Balance Sheet as at 31 March 2022**
Cash at bank and in hand
Current assets
Creditors
Repayment of Groundwork Grant Received not Expended
Deferred Income – Co-Op Community Fund
Bank Charges
Total assets less liabilities
**Total net assets**
**Charity Funds - Unrestricted reserves**|**2022**
**£s**
**1,315**
**285**
**1,600**
**2022**
**£s**
**154**
**81**
**20**
**255**
**1,345**
**2022**
**£s**
**13,481**|
|---|---|
||**13,481**
**9,715**
**2,416**
**5**|
||**12,136**|
||**1,345**|
||**1,345**|
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