News & Views
In the Courts - Charity Commission
No lease extension for Alexandra Park Trust
The high court has struck down an order made by the Charity Commission authorising the Trustees of Alexandra Park and Palace to grant a lease to developers in 2004. The judge held that wider consultation about the scheme had not been effective or fair. He explained ‘I am not saying that all of the lease and the project agreement, every single clause had to be disclosed. I am saying that sufficient information about what is contained in the lease and the project agreement must be disclosed to consultees to enable them to make a meaningful response.’
At the time the original order was approved by Parliament the ministerial promise of consultation was made to ‘meet the concerns of those who were opposing the passage of legislation’. It was because the consultation process was ‘very seriously flawed’ that the order was quashed.
