News: Chilbolton Community Land Trust AGM

With 26 members in attendance, including five Board members, and only 11 apologies from the 97 members, CCLT faced a mass exclusion of members who had not attended for the second year in a row, according to their own rules.

Reclassification of last year’s meeting

Martin Gossling, Chair of CCLT, opened the meeting saying “this is our first AGM”. He explained that the meeting on 13 May 2026 had mistakenly been described as an “Annual General Meeting”. It had, he said, been a “setup meeting”. This had implications for trigger points at future AGMs.

He said that the Board had the ability to reclassify the previous meeting on its own, but he wanted to put it to a vote of members.

A brief discussion took place with members supporting and opposing the proposal. It was put to the vote and was carried by a majority of members.

One of the main implications of doing this, is that rule C15.4 of CCLT’s adopted rules won’t be triggered this year. This specifies that members who fail to attend an AGM or send apologies, two years in a row, are automatically excluded as members.

It also affects the point at which present Board members will be put up for re-election.

Current status

Mr Gossling said that CCLT does not currently have any land upon which to build. Nor was it yet clear how it would be acquired - by being gifted or being purchased.

He took the meeting through the latest version of the “schematic” which represents parties who have an interest in the development of both affordable and market homes in Chilbolton. These parties include landowners, local authorities, CCLT and the Parish Council.

A member asked “what does social housing mean, is there a definition?”. Mr Gossling said “That changes every three months. It could be seven or eight properties. The sizes of properties could be one, two or three bedrooms. That’s why we’ve set up focus groups.”

Membership and focus group

Mr Andrew Bradley, Trustee responsible for communications said that there were 97 members registered, including six Trustees who are on the Board. A continuing issue was how the Trust could encourage new members to join, and also expand the Board of Trustees.

A community focus group was hosted in June. The aim was to talk to people who are actually on the social housing list. Posters had been placed round the Village with QR codes, and Maureen Treadwell had gone door-to-door. In the end eight potential future residents attended the session.

Themes from the session included:

• Affordability - rents should be below those for private rental, be realistic for lower incomes
• Local Connection - homes should be available only to those with a strong connection to Chilbolton
• Family support - a key reason is being near family, friends and carers
• Outdoor space - gardens are important for growing food, well-being, children and pets
• Smaller homes - there is a need for one and two bedroom homes, not just larger family homes
• Choice of tenure - shared ownership was mentioned as an option, alongside affordable rent
• Running costs - Energy-efficient homes are important, but bills need to stay affordable too

Asked by a member what the latest figures were on the social housing list, Mr Bradley said four one-bedroom homes, two two-bedroom homes and three three-bedroom homes.

Financial report

Maureen Treadwell reported on CCLT’s finances, saying that the Trust had received £660 in grants during the year, and now had net assets of £375.35.

Expenditure had been insurance, membership of the Community Land Trust Network, website costs, hire of the Village Hall and administration.

The accounts were unanimously approved.

Future costs would include £3,000 to transfer freehold title from the developer to the Trust. A further £8,000 to £10,000 to grant a lease of the land to the housing association.

This means that CCLT will have to pursue funding from partner organisations.

She said that it was currently possible for members to make gifts to the Trust. She also floated the idea of offering community shares which would provide short-term bridging funding for the Trust. For example, blocks of £100 which would attract 5% interest and would last for two years.

A member suggested that CCLT enquire of Test Valley Borough Council about £1.3 million that they had made from the sale of right-to-buy properties. He suggested asking for £0.5 million.

New Trustees

Two members had put themselves forward for election to the Board of Trustees: Peter Collis and Graeme Henry. They were invited to speak briefly about themselves.

Peter Collis

Mr Collis said he had lived in Chilbolton for 23 years, and that both of his daughters had attended Wherwell School. He felt is was important to contribute within the Village, and that he had become involved with the Parish Council’s Community Development Committee.

He had served as an operating board member of two UK plc businesses, one FTSE 500 and the other AIM listed.

Mr Collis was unanimously supported by members present.

Graeme Henry

Mr Henry said he had live in Chilbolton for 11 years, and that he had retired four years ago. His experience was in turning around failing information technology projects. During one such project, he was able to save £500,000 in the first week.

He said he frequently had to deliver to tight timescales. He said “I like conflict, because it means you’re dealing with passionate people.” He added that he welcomed change.

Mr Henry was unanimously supported by members present.

Changes to Board Terms of Reference

Martin Gossling then said he had been contacted by two members who wanted to limit the number of Parish Councillors on the Board of Trustees. Accordingly, he was putting the following amendment to the meeting:

He said the highlighted words were an addition to the existing Board terms of reference. It required a vote by members to approve the change.

Two members said that section 6.2 did not exist in the Board’s current terms of reference which was agreed on 25 Oct 2025 and is known as version 2. Therefore a vote would have to take into account the entire clause, not just the highlighted words.

Another member suggested voting on the non-highlighted section of the text. The two members replied that there were other clauses in the new terms of reference which would significantly affect operation of the board.

One clause said that Parish Councillors could not be Chair, Vice-Chair or Treasurer of CCLT. A second said that the Board could only be quorate if there was a non-Parish Councillor present.

This, they said, would effectively establish “A” and “B” directors, which may not accord with CCLT’s rules in the eyes of the Financial Conduct Authority.

They added that the new version of the terms of reference was distributed by CCLT to members as a link to documents in a login-only area of the website. Only three members had viewed the document according to the filesystem.

After some discussion, Mr Gossling said that the proposed terms of reference would be discussed at the CCLT board meeting in September and would later be put to a members’ vote.