AGM 2026: Minutes

Minutes from the DGRA Annual General Meeting on 12 May 2026

By Quentin | Wednesday, May 13, 2026

Welcome and introduction

Simon Smith introduced the meeting and chaired until the Committee election.

Organisers and attendees started by extending their thanks to George, Alessio, and the previous DGRA team for organising the food trucks and for all the other work they have done.

The meeting had over 40 attendees, including:

The three candidates to the association’s Committee: Konstantina Stamati, Graham Steed, and Quentin Monnet.
Simon Smith, City Councillor for Castle ward (outgoing)
Cheney Payne, City Councillor for Castle ward
Rory Clark, County Councillor for Castle ward
Ann Muston, Girton Parish Councillor

Alex Sage, newly elected as City Councillor for Castle Ward, sent his apologies and had someone else from his team attend the meeting.

Adoption of the new Constitution

The new Constitution is similar to the one that existed for the previous DGRA team. Here are the key points:

The association covers Darwin Green (DG1), King’s Court, and Franklin Gardens
All residents over 18 are automatically members (they can opt out if they want), and can vote at the meetings - no registration required.
There must be at least three elected Committee members: a Chair, a Secretary, and a Treasurer. There can be additional Committee members as necessary.
In addition to the yearly Annual General Meeting, there will be at least 3 other General Meetings per year; Special General Meetings can be scheduled by the Committee, or at the request of 6 or more members.

The Constitution was signed by the new Chair, Treasurer, and Secretary right after the end of the meeting. Quentin will make the document available on the dgra.cam website.

Election of the Committee

Chair

Konstantina Stamati was the only candidate. She introduced herself, starting with thanks to Councillors, George, and Alessio, for building a strong sense of community. She wants to help the community get stronger and have a more organised voice. She highlighted that this is a team effort so she really hopes to get a lot of people involved, which is the only way for residents' associations to work.

Konstantina was elected as Chair by the assembly, and chaired the rest of the meeting.

Treasurer

Graham Steed was the only candidate. He introduced himself: he works as a tax advisor and is familiar with accounting. He’s involved in other charities, and hopes to make the residents’ association more active. He observed that the residents’ association in Eddington is quite active and that it would be great to move things forward to get something similar in Darwin Green, now that the development is more established.

Graham was elected as Treasurer by the assembly.

Secretary

Quentin Monnet was the only candidate. He introduced himself, explaining that he’d been doing the dgra.cam website and that he wanted to keep gathering and sharing information about what’s going on in the development, and giving a hand to organise occasional events.

Quentin was elected as Secretary by the assembly.

Other Committee members and volunteers

Additional Committee members were elected during the AGM.

Faith Oyepeju has been organising the Lego club, board games club, code club, and table tennis activities, all for children. She agreed to join the Committee and was approved by an assembly vote.

Joanna Gould will organise the food trucks going forward, on behalf of the association. She agreed to join the Committee and was approved by an assembly vote.

Lindsay R. helps with tree planting (through the Find Your Wild project) and was elected to join the Committee, although she’s not sure she can join at the moment for legal reasons, and will confirm at a later time.

Mel H. agreed to help with promotion of local events via social media for the association, without joining the Committee.

Any Other Business

Junior ParkRun

Zayd wants to organise a Junior ParkRun and was promised some money from the previous team of the residents’ association, and he would like to understand whether the offer holds. The Committee confirmed that they are aware of the offer and that it still stands; details will be sorted out with Zayd.

More context on the ParkRun:

Zayd would do an adult ParkRun as well if he could, but there are rules preventing several ParkRuns from taking place within a certain radius and it conflicts with the one in Eddington.
Zayd already has volunteers and approvals, he’s just looking for funds. He has secured £2.2k, but needs £4.8k to complete the project.
He reached out to primary schools, who replied they’re interested in the event.
Residents have raised concerns about parking when coming for the ParkRun. There’s not much that can be done about parking nearby, so runners are encouraged to come cycling.

Ann Muston raised the need for communication with Girton on this topic.

Safety in Darwin Green

We’d like to help address some of the security concerns in Darwin Green (bike theft and other anti-social behaviour). Carol L. has set up a local Neighbourhood Watch scheme for Darwin Green, and this is interesting to explore. One thing to clarify is what advantages, if any, would the scheme have over the existing WhatsApp group. It would offer a more direct way to report issues to authorities. Carol is looking for a manager for the local scheme: get in touch if you’re interested or want details.

Ann Muston reported that there is a regular get-together with police officers happening in Girton. Being in the Darwin Green community chat helps her report issues, but it would be useful to have someone directly from Darwin Green attending the meeting.

Development questions and updates

Questions were asked about the timeline for the opening of the library. Rory Clark replied that there is progress and that he is hopeful the library will open at the end of 2026, or early 2027. Can the frequency of the mobile library be increased in the meantime? Rory needs to ask.

Parking in Darwin Green has been raised as a recurrent concern, in particular in anticipation of the supermarket and primary school that may be built in Darwin Green one day. Residents also raised their frustration about fines received when parking in front of their homes. As a reminder, Darwin Green is a no on-street parking zone (no parking outside of designated visitor spaces and private drives).

Note that this sort of question will be addressed by Barratt Redrow at the next North-West and West Cambridge Community Forum, on 11 June 2026.

Activities and events

Faith talked about the existing events she’s been organising for young people in Darwin Green: Lego club, board game sessions, table tennis (which is the result of a conversation between residents).

Faith needs assistance from Barratt to decide where to install the outdoor ping-pong table. She also wants to start an activity around archery.

Faith explains that chess is getting quite popular, and that it would be great if more experienced players would come and “coach” the attendees. If you’re interested, please get in touch (board game sessions take place weekly on Saturdays, from 2 to 4 pm, at the Darwin Green Community Rooms).

It would be nice to get some dedicated space to store board games in the Community Rooms.

Central Park, trees

Lindsay is starting a project for tree planting and nature recovery, to “help strengthen the green corridor across North-West Cambridge”, including Darwin Green’s Central Park and surroundings. Residents are invited to connect, share ideas and get involved. For details, email moretrees@findyourwild.org or join the dedicated WhatsApp group here: https://chat.whatsapp.com/HkJ6Va7IVY33SyVC0S2kWg

Finance

[ Note: this section was not mentioned during the AGM, but is added as complementary information. ]

There is £1,799 in the association’s bank account, most of it coming from the fees paid by food truck owners.

This sum includes £750 promised to Zayd for the ParkRun.

Miscellaneous

Ann Muston reiterated the need of improved communication between North-West Cambridge, including Darwin Green, and Girton, deploring that the involved parties and authorities don’t coordinate, which sometimes results in absurd decisions. There will the Annual (Girton) Parish Meeting, open to all, on 22 May and she would love for some people from Darwin Green to attend.
Representatives from the Windsor Road Residents’ Association (WIRE) came to offer their best wishes for the association, highlighting how important it was to meet and know each other as neighbours. Thank you so much! They also highlighted that local churches had spaces to rent for activities, if necessary.
If you haven’t already, take a look at https://dgra.cam. The Constitution will be available from the website, and there’s generic information about the Darwin Green area, too. The contact form is open for feedback: don’t hesitate to reach out, your input is essential.
Consider attending the next North-West and West Cambridge Community Forum, on 11 June 2026.
Next meeting: a follow-up General Meeting is pencilled in for 14 July (to be confirmed).