Havercroft with Cold Hiendley Parish Council

Minutes of the Extraordinary Meeting of
Havercroft-with-Cold Hiendley Parish Council held remotely on Wednesday 25^th
November 2020 at 7:00 p.m.

Present: Councillors P Stockhill (Chair) R Massey (Vice Chair) E Brown, Mrs T
Tams-Hedges, D Pointon, M Beecher and A Pointon, R. Cotton

In attendance: N Stansby, Ward Richards, Andrew Williamson, Maureen Cummings, Shawna
TT (Press)

Minute 115        PUBLIC REPRESENTATIONS

Minute 116        To receive apologies and
reasons for absence

116.1
Councillor Ian Sanders sent his apologies.

Minute 117        To confirm the minutes
of the last meeting as a true record

117.1 The minutes of
the last meeting were accepted as a true record, proposed by Cllr Brown and
seconded by Cllr Massey.

Minute 118        Statement from the Parish Council regarding Unit 5 at the
Havercroft & Ryhill Community Learning Centre

118.1   Cllr
Cotton read out the following statement on behalf of the Council:

Dear Parishioners,

In light of recent events concerning the Havercroft and
Ryhill Community Learning Centre (referred to henceforth as the €œLearning Centre€)
and, in particular, a mis-leading and inflammatory Facebook post by the
Learning Centre on 16 November 2020, the Parish Council has deemed it necessary
to publicise a statement.

The statement is sub-divided as follows:

1. Parish Council€™s Objectives;

2. The Learning Centre€™s Lease;

3. Notice to Vacate;

4. Attempted Mediation;

5. Events on 16 November 2020;

6. The Allegation: and

7. Next Steps.

We will explain each in turn.

Parish Council€™s Objectives

In 2007 the Parish Council became the owners of various
business units at Mulberry Place. It was, and still is, the Parish Council€™s
aim to allow local businesses and charities to lease the units for the purposes
of providing services to the community.

One of the units, known as the €œtraining room€ or €œunit 5€,
had been leased by the Parish Council to a photographer until November 2019.
Upon that lease ending, the Parish Council had already been exploring the
possibility of unit 5 being used by the Parish Council as a central office. At
present, the Parish Council does not have a centralised address whereby
parishioners can send correspondence, nor does the Parish Council have a secure
place to store all its records. The latter is particularly important given the
data protection requirements brought in by the Data Protection Act 2018. Unit 5
was identified as the most suitable location.

The Learning Centre€™s Lease

A lease was entered into between the Parish Council and the
Learning Centre on 8 August 2012 (the €œLease€). Under the Lease, the Learning
Centre was granted possession of a unit at Mulberry Place known as the
€œCommunity Learning Centre€. This is the unit which the Learning Centre
operates the community library and its training services from. The lease
granted to the Learning Centre also includes a corridor leading to double
doors, but it does not include unit 5. The Learning Centre is therefore
occupying a unit which it is not legally entitled to and did not ask the Parish
Council for permission to use, it simply claimed it as its own.

Notice to Vacate

The Parish Council is very grateful for the work which the
Learning Centre does in operating the food bank, and it is our aim to assist
with the food bank so it can continue to be a vital lifeline for some
parishioners. It brings us great sadness that the Learning Centre food bank is
so widely used, and its popularity is only set to increase during these
difficult and uncertain times.

That being said, the Parish Council sees no reason why the
Learning Centre cannot operate the food bank from the areas which are granted
to it under the Lease. Further, there is a large shipping container in the car
park which the Learning Centre can use to operate the food bank from. This
would enable the food bank to continue and would mean that the Parish Council
would finally have a central office.

In October 2020, upon receiving legal advice, the Parish
Council served on the Learning Centre a notice to vacate unit 5by 19
October 2020. At the request of a Learning Centre trustee, the Parish Council
agreed to extend the deadline for vacating unit 5 until 12 November 2020. The
Parish Council firmly believes that it has acted more than reasonably, and even
offered to help the Learning Centre move its items into its unit and related
areas.

Attempted Mediation

To resolve the unit 5 issue (and various other issues
between the parties) councillors for the Parish Council, and a trustee for the
Learning Centre, attended a virtual mediation on 3 November 2020 which was
facilitated by professional mediators, Nova. Unfortunately, the mediation was
not successful. The Parish Council cannot disclose what was discussed as the
mediation was confidential.

Events on 16 November 2020

Upon expiry of the notice to vacate, and following a
resolution by the Parish Council, councillors for the Parish Council attended
the Learning Centre with professional security and a locksmith for the purposes
of regaining access to unit 5 peacefully. It has been alleged that this action
was taken for intimidation purposes however this could not be further from the
truth. The presence of security was an appropriate measure to protect the
safety of everyone. The Learning Centre refused to allow peaceful entry and so
the Parish Council withdrew.

The Allegation

For the avoidance of any doubt, the Parish Council is not
trying to close the food bank. The Parish Council would take this opportunity
to point out that it makes decisions by way of majority vote by its councillors
at council meetings. At those meetings, discussions and votes are accurately
recorded, and those recordings are known as meeting minutes. The Parish Council
is confident that its minutes show that its councillors have never voted, nor
even discussed, attempting to close the food bank. The Parish Council€™s meeting
minutes are freely accessible to any members of the public.

The Parish Council respectfully requests that the Learning
Centre withdraws its false allegation that the Parish Council is attempting to
close the food bank. It is simply not true and only exacerbates matters.

Next Steps

The Parish Council sincerely hopes to resolve this issue
quickly so that both parties can focus on doing what they do best, helping the
community. The Parish Council would like to work with the Learning Centre, and
will assist so far as able, to ensure that the food bank continues to operate.
However, the Parish Council is resolute in that unit 5 must be vacated.

Please note that the Parish Council is open and transparent.
Parishioners are encouraged to attend our monthly meetings to raise any queries
they may have.

Yours faithfully,

Havercroft with Cold Hiendley Parish Council

118.2
 Discussion commenced between Ward
Richards (Trustee of Havercroft & Ryhill Community Learning Project) and
members of the Council. It was agreed that inflammatory comments against the
Council should be removed from Facebook, before the debate continued.

118.3  It was suggested and provisionally agreed
that two representatives from the Council and two from the Learning Centre,
would meet at the unit to further discuss a way forward. Mr Richards  would propose two potential dates by 5pm
Friday, 27^th November 2020.

End

Paul Stockhill

Chairman to the Parish Council