Reply
to comment, Carol Osgerby
Written
for the Blog by a Preston resident.
Hi Carol
I’m pleased I was correct about the AGM,
though I was unaware you had attended any committee meetings. Are you saying it
is the Council and not the charity that is responsible for the Hall? I pulled
up the chatty details in 2010 and looked at the legal side which I must say I
struggled to understand, I considered there were problems on the issue of land
which the charity documents seemed to indicate the council could dispose of if
certain conditions were met, which of course they can’t because it’s not
theirs?
As this blog states over and over our aim
is to get better representation of residents at council level, we would like to
have definitive answers to such questions as, are residents able to sit as
trustees on the charity (both Preston Charities), my current level of
understanding is that they can so long as they don’t outnumber managing
trustees (councillors). I know you indicated they already do in your last
comment but I have made enquiries since then and am assured there are no
residents listed as trustees, on the management committee of the hall certainly
but not charity, there never has been as we understand it.
We would like to make a case for having
residents as trustees to enable a flow of information and interaction between
residents and trustees, at the moment there doesn’t seem to be any flow of
information either way. Despite asking Trustees to enquire on the issue over
two years ago (at the AGM) we are still waiting for an answer, which of course
will never arrive.
Should you feel able to assist us in that
regard it would be greatly appreciated.
Yes I do keep referring to ‘our’ or ‘we’ when I’m writing, that’s because I write almost all postings
but there are a small number of us involved but, as is often the case, a lot of
people don’t wish to make their faces known and want to remain in the
background, I’m sure they will ‘emerge’
when ready.
Thank you for your response.
No, I am saying that the Community Hall Association as an independent charity is responsible for managing the community hall (aims and objectives can be seen on Charity Commission website). However, the lease to the building is between Church of England (landlord) and Preston Parish Council (tenant). The charity which manages the hall therefore has no right of tenure; if the PCC wanted the building for another purpose, the charity could be removed. I don't understand your comments about no residents being trustees: the members of the management committee of the Community Hall Association are de facto trustees of the charity. At least, I understand that was the situation up to summer 2012; I have had no information relating to the composition of the committee since then.
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