Can a Parish Council divest themselves of the responsibility for making a decision about a Parish Poll

Question

I was the proposer for the Thornbury Parish (S. Gloucestershire) Poll held on the 26th of May 2022 concerning the future of Armstrong Hall, a local Arts facility and Theatre, which was closed by its Charitable Trust (Trustee: Thornbury Parish Council) in 2019. The result an overwhelming 94% of those that voted requesting that Thornbury Town Council carry out a consultation about the future of Armstrong Hall.

To date they have not done so despite the result of the Parish Poll being quite clear that the people of Thornbury be consulted about the future of Armstrong Hall.

I twice wrote to the Clerk of Thornbury Council on June 17 and August 25 requesting information about the poll and the Parish Council’s decision and eventually got a reply on the 22^nd of September.

In a full council meeting held on the 25^th of June this year the Council issued the following statement.

 “Thornbury Town Council (as a local authority) is not responsible for the decisions around the Armstrong Hall. Thornbury Town Council will write to the Armstrong Hall Trust asking them to respond to the result of the Parish Poll”.

The above Council’s statement makes it quite clear that they are not just consulting the Trust for its advice on the matter but have shifted all responsibility for the decision to the Trust. Is it not the legal responsibility of the Town Council to respond to the poll whatever the decision and not to simply pass that decision by delegating this to a separate legal entity namely the Armstrong Hall Charitable Trust (Registered Charity Number: 272883)? 

 

Answer 1

Assuming the poll arose from a Parish meeting, had the right number of voters etc then as far as I can see the general concensus of various sources is that

The outcome of the poll is no more and no less than an expression of the views of the electorate of the parish who have voted in the poll. It is not binding.

Which suggests to me that they do not have to do anything - but have done something by involving the Trust.

Answer 2

I'm not an expert in these matters but if the property is in the ownership of a charitable trust, even if the council is sole managing trustee, it is still the Trust (albeit the council sitting as the Trust) that has the only jurisdiction over the property, in accordance with Charity Law.

Comments

But it is still possible to enact a consultation, which is what the Parish Poll called for.

Answer 3

In a word Yes.  However doing nothing may tarnish their reputation amongst their electorate even if they initially asked somebody else to act on their behalf with respect to the outcome of the poll.

Answer 4

Bob   As the Hall is a charity you need to engage charity law in order to query the future of the hall.  While the council is the Sole Trustee, when they take decisions in that capacity they are acting as the charity not the council.   Hence the those asking for a review of the decision to close the facility (is this a village hall) should be addressed to the charity using the mail address on the charity commission website.  Asking for a village poll has IMHO no legal basis in terms of charity law.

I am surprised that the charity did not consult its users prior to closure (or whoever is the target audience under its charitable objectives), but the charity has a duty to do for such an event, and to make sure the reasoning for closure is well documented and communicated.

Likewise the charity should investigate any complaints sent to it and if you are not happy you can then complain to the charity commission.

Looking at the PC minutes 2021 I am guessing that the council was not always sure of its legal requirements vis a vis the charity (as they had to ask for legal advice - there was talk of appointing trustees and reference to the custodian trustee) so the history behind all this looks interesting.

So - overall, if you want action chase it down through charity law and if things are progressing somewhat glacially, ask the council (under charity law) what training the clerk and councillors have had to act as charity trustees.  It may seem somewhat convoluted, but it will be just as troublesome for the councillors I expect who may not have imagined they were on the hook for the charity.