Information on Loughborough

Renewed offer on Breedon community facilities

Posted on 29/04/2009

Leicestershire Councty Council Chief Executive's

24 April 2009

Renewed offer on Breedon community facilities

A renewed offer was made by the County Council today in a bid to agree access arrangements to community facilities in a North West Leicestershire village.

The agreement offered to the Breedon Community Association relates to the future use of St Hardulph's School and community centre.

Under the terms, the association can remain in the community wing and charge users as they see fit, as long as they pay a peppercorn rent and costs connected with their use.

The association disputes a number of issues and turned down a similar offer in the autumn of 2007 -  following a Council decision in December 2007, it brought court proceedings against the County Council and school governors.

The association wants to occupy the community wing, control use of the school hall -  which includes a classroom and the school grounds - when not used for the school, for this to be provided to them at no cost and to be able to charge users.

The question of use is important because any decision taken has implications for the way in which the local community, including the Community Association, uses facilities at St Hardulph’s school and for the County Council’s budget.

The County Council has never denied residents access to the facilities and, together with the school governing body, is committed to encouraging the on-going community use of school buildings and facilities at St Hardulph's.

After reviewing the options available and taking residents' views in to account, the County Council's Cabinet agreed to make the offer at a meeting this afternoon.

The Council encouraged as many people as possible to take part in a consultation earlier this year and invited residents to a public meeting.

Background:

From 1960-1991

The County Council built St Hardulph’s school in the early 1960s. In the 1950s the local community decided to pay £3,000 to the County Council towards the costs of building the school on the understanding that community facilities would be incorporated into the building.

The school and community centre was constructed and opened in the early 1960s. To guide the ongoing use of the community facilities at the school the County Council established arrangements for a Community Association to assist in the running of the community programme. All individuals and organisations involved in activities at the school and centre were eligible for membership and officers were elected annually. Disagreements over school use and community use were to be resolved by the County Council.

The Community Association subsequently paid the County Council the sum of £3,000, plus around £220 for flooring and other items. Total building costs for the school and community facilities were £18,000 - £19,000.

At the beginning, the County Council paid the majority of the premises and staffing costs relating to the community facilities and community education activities at St. Hardulph’s and the other 27 primary community centres around the county on a discretionary basis, although they were not under a statutory duty to do so. The Council reserved the power to charge for heating, lighting, cleaning and caretaking costs for social events. The County Council allowed the Community Association to raise money from the use of the premises by charging user groups to use the facilities in order to use that money to support and develop a community programme. Over the years, the Community Association has expended funds on the community facilities, the school hall and facilities in the school grounds.

From 1991-2004

In the late 1980s the law changed and school governors had to take increased responsibility for the school budget and management. New arrangements were made by the County Council in 1991 to reflect these changes:

- the Community Association could retain an annual affiliation fee from user groups to support the community programme;

- any hiring charges levied by the Community Association had to be paid to the Governors who used it to pay the bills connected with their use;

- a delegated community budget was provided to the Governors by the County Council to subsidise the community programme.

The change to the law meant the school governors were not at that time, and still are not, permitted to use any part of the school budget to meet the cost of community use of the facilities.

From 2004-2007

In the early 2000s following a review and national changes relating to part of the community programme the County Council decided that youth work and adult education would now be centrally managed, although other aspects of the community programme and a reduced budget remained delegated to schools. Then during the preparations for the 2004/2005 budget, it became necessary to make major savings across the County Council’s services. After a series of consultation meetings, the Council decided that it should concentrate its education resources on its statutory duties, and that funding should no longer be provided by the Council to subsidise community use.

However, the Council’s Shire Grant Scheme was also extended at the same time, so that certain groups using community centres could apply for financial support. The Shire Grants Scheme is aimed at recognised youth groups and financially and socially disadvantaged groups, who are able to access funding to help them pay hire charges in connection with the use of community facilities.

Since the budget cut everyone who uses the facilities at St Hardulph’s and other schools or community facilities in the County has been required to pay a non-profit charge to cover heating, lighting caretaking and some maintenance costs associated with their use.

The Community Association did not seek to overturn the County’s 2004 decision at the time and paid for use of the community facilities between 1991 and 2005. It has subsequently refused to meet hire charges and claims back all the money it has paid towards the school’s bills since 1991.

From 2007 to the present

During 2006/07 relationships between the Community Association and the school regrettably deteriorated. This has inevitably affected the ability of the Governing Body and the Headteacher to manage the school and take decisions in the best interests of the children attending the school.

Numerous attempts were made to reach agreement as to a way forward. As part of these efforts, the Community Association were given exclusive control over part of the school known as the community wing in the summer of 2007. This includes the community room, toilets, kitchen, storage and the office. The Headteacher moved into a PortaKabin on the school car park. Unfortunately none of these efforts achieved an effective outcome, and the Community Association continued to refuse to pay for any of the costs of the community wing or hire charges in respect of the hall.

In view of the fact that it was not possible to reach any agreement with the Association concerning payment for the use of the community facilities, and the fact that there had been a breakdown in relationships between the Governors and the County Council on the one hand, and the Community Association on the other, which affected the Governing Body’s ability to manage the school, the County Council decided in December 2007 to give the Community Association 12 months’ notice to leave the community wing, and to give them the sum of £92,197 representing the current value (rebuilding costs plus professional fees less an amount for wear and tear) of the original £3,000 contributed towards the construction costs. The County Council also said that if the Community Association did not agree that figure, it would abide by the sum that was determined by a jointly instructed independent quantity surveyor or by the Charity Commissioners. The County Council also confirmed that the Governors would continue to make the community facilities available, so far as that was consistent with school needs and use, to all those agreeing to pay the standard County Council recommended no profit charge.

The Community Association did not accept this proposal. It still occupies the community wing, and says that it is not required to pay the hire charges. The County Council has given the Community Association free use of the community wing for the whole of 2008 as a gesture of goodwill. We understand that the Community Association levy charges to other users of the community wing and that those charges have now been raised above the standard non-profit charge.

The Community Association has challenged the County Council’s December 2007 decision through the Courts. It claims that it has private law rights in respect of the premises and also that it has a substantive legitimate expectation in public law that it will be able to continue to use the premises on certain terms (including that it should not have to pay any charges for the cost of hire of the premises). Those proceedings have not yet been decided by the Court. The County Council’s view is that it holds the premises on trust for two purposes in unequal shares; for charitable community purposes as to approximately 17.5% and as to approximately 82.5% for educational purposes. As a result, the Council has powers of management conferred by the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996. These powers of management enable the Council to manage and regulate the use and occupation of the premises. And the Council’s view is that whether or not the Community Association has the substantive legitimate expectation that it claims, the Council is entitled to change the arrangements provided it acts reasonably and fairly, and does not abuse its power. In deciding what to do, the Council has to weigh the requirements of fairness against the reasons in favour of the changes.