Restrictive covenant on Falinge Park ensures ownership passed to council if community asset transfer fails

A restrictive covenant on Falinge Park ensures that ownership will pass to Rochdale Borough Council if a controversial community asset transfer fails.

The ‘not-for-profit social enterprise’ run by Vintage Worx Community Development Trust, which hopes to lease Falinge Park through a community asset transfer, has held a lease and operated from Falinge Park since 2006.

Falinge Park has been protected by a restrictive covenant since 1911, preserving the value and enjoyment of the land as a public park, which would still apply if leased out on a community asset transfer.

Samantha Powers, director of Vintage Worx, said: “We are registered with Companies House as a company limited by guarantee to ensure we are financially accountable and comply with due diligence, as are many charities and social enterprises.

“We have raised funds and self-developed a number of buildings there in order to provide a wide range of services and activities for the local community.

“Our activities aim to reduce isolation, improve health and wellbeing, increase skill levels, advance people toward sustainable employment, encourage enterprise, promote community development and foster heritage and environmental awareness.

“The restrictive covenant on Falinge Park, protecting it as a community park, shares these values.

“Community asset transfers are common practice nationally: Norden Library, Castleton Baths and Hebden Bridge Town Hall are all community asset transfers. They can rescue buildings and spaces and protect them to ensure they remain in the public domain, and importantly they give community members a chance to get involved as well as have a voice in any and all future plans.

“As volunteers with limited financial resources, we are unable to widely promote our events and future plans but do encourage feedback and always welcome a tea room chat with our community residents and park users.

“Through ongoing community consultations, park visitors are given surveys and we hold stalls in the to hear the opinions and ideas of those who may not visit the park.

“Although we have heard some fantastic ideas from our young park users, the next step is to visit local schools to gain a better insight into the views of our future park users.

“We have been overwhelmed by the encouragement and support of regular park users.

“Over this winter we are creating a mood board of some of the different ideas that have been put forward so that people can comment on, add to and/or amend. This will be on display in the tea rooms and from November we will be holding open days every Saturday morning.”

 

 

Councillor Cecile Biant, appointed as a director of Vintage Worx on 9 May, said: "As the Council-nominated trustee appointed to the board of Vintage Worx CDT, I am there to not only support the group but to protect a public asset.

"I am well aware of the fantastic work done by these volunteers. They roll their sleeves up and get stuck in, unlike the negative people who criticise and thwart positive progress.

“Asset transfers promote community ownership, they encourage involvement from local people at every level, enable community organisations to access funding not available to local authorities and foster ideas and activities that would otherwise lay dormant.

“In a time of extreme cuts by government to councils, asset transfers are a lifeline to public assets ensuring facilities are improved and maintained.

“The council, in line with all councils who issue community asset transfers, have included the strictest agreements to safeguard the public asset. Vintage Worx will be a lessee, with the council retaining the right to take it back should procedures be broken, or progress not be made."

Mark Widdup, director of neighbourhoods at Rochdale Borough Council, said: “This covenant will allow the community development trust, Vintage Worx, to press ahead with exciting plans to further improve this important area by restoring both the park and its many heritage buildings, as well as creating spaces for local people to develop new skills.

“The covenant, which we are currently developing, sets out key principles which govern the way the park will be used in future to ensure that nothing changes for the many people who enjoy this wonderful local space.

“The covenant ensures that residents and visitors can continue to enjoy the park in exactly the same way they always have, and that the many events which currently take place there, such as the fairs and car boot sale, continue to take place.”

Philip Massey, chairman of Spotland & Falinge Area Ward Forum said: "The volunteers at Falinge Park and Vintage Worx have worked tirelessly for more than ten years to improve the park for the local community.

"They have raised funds to restore disused buildings and are now able to provide community rooms, a tea room and meeting space for residents.

"Our parks and green spaces in Rochdale are really something to be proud of and Falinge Park, with the help of its hardworking and enthusiastic volunteers, will be up there with the best of them in coming years.

"What is being suggested is a community asset transfer. That means that the council will still own the land and oversee work, but it will give local residents more say in how the park is run. This can only be a step in the right direction.

“Instead of criticising an obviously positive scheme, maybe it is time to pitch in and get involved in shaping the future of the park for the good of all."

For the people

According to Historic England, the land was first donated for use as a public park in 1902 by Alderman Samuel Turner, along with £3,628 towards the laying out of the grounds, which were designed by Thomas Mawson. 

In 1911 Alderman Turner donated a further five acres on the occasion of the coronation of King George V, and the grounds were further extended in the same year.

The park has remained in public use ever since, yet no public discussion of the plans have taken place, causing concerns over the park’s future to be raised, should a community asset transfer go ahead.

https://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/122338/feasibility-study-into-controversial-ownership-transfer-of-falinge-park-not-completed

The topic first reached the public at the Spotland and Falinge Forum in February after a local resident asked what safeguards were in place for open spaces, such as Falinge Park.

However, as the park was donated to the people of the town, some residents feel it is not for the council to decide if Falinge Park is transferred via community asset.

Carl Faulkner, who stood as an independent candidate for the Spotland and Falinge ward earlier this year, raised concerns after the February forum.

Speaking at the time, Mr Faulkner said: “Falinge Park was donated to the people of this town over a century ago. It therefore belongs to the people of this town. It is not a council purchased capital asset.

“It is for the people of this town to have a say in how it is managed and whether or not its legal status should change.”

Following the May Spotland and Falinge Forum, local resident Mick Coats wrote to Rochdale Online, saying: “It appeared to me that the issue of Falinge Park could have been dealt with in a more even-handed way.”

https://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/129/letters-to-the-editor/117766/letter-excluding-the-press-and-public-at-rochdale-council-meetings