A Hughenden Councillor has expressed her concern over the way a charity has advertised its intentions to change its regulations.

In a letter sent to the Hon. Secretary of The Allotments for the Labouring Poor (AfLP) charity, Hughenden Valley Ward Councillor Linda Derrick expressed her disappointment that AfLP did not give prior warning to Hughenden Parish Council that they were placing the advertisement.

She fears that residents may not have been aware that they could make comments on the draft proposal, which will allow AfLP to sell or lease land.

The scheme will apply to the Common Road amenity land plus a strip of land at Great Kingshill's Recreation Ground including the junior and senior play areas, together with four of eight allotment sites - Louches Lane, North Dean, Walter's Ash and Windmill Lane.

The dispute over the ownership of allotments in Hughenden Parish between Hughenden Parish Council and AfLP has been ongoing for many years, but this year, it has been agreed that the ownership of the land will be transferred from HPC to AfLP.

She said: “It would have been good to have had sufficient time to include the draft regulations in the village newsletters so that all our parishioners knew what was happening and had time to comment. As it is, most parishioners will not have seen the advertisement in the Bucks Free Press and will have little, if any, time to prepare comments.

An advert advising Hughenden residents that they could make comments about the draft of the proposed scheme was placed in the Bucks Free Press on October 10, but Councillor Derrick believes the advert was unsatisfactory.

She said: “I realise that an advertisement in the press may be all that is legally required but it is disappointing that AfLP took such little effort to consult parishioners, including HPC and the proposed beneficiaries of the charity.”

Councillor Derrick now fears that with housing being a contentious issue in Wycombe district, the land may now be vulnerable to development, ruining its ‘rural character’.

She said: “There may no longer be a need for allotments for the labouring poor but there is a need for allotments which charities could help fulfil.

I understood that HPC was assured by the Charities Commission that transferring the land back to AfLP would preserve its rural character. However, this transfer appears to make the land more vulnerable to development and less able to preserve its rural character.”

The Chair of Trustees of AfLP argues that these regulations have existed for many years, with the exception that the ability to lease or sell land has been included, said: “AfLP have a duty to maximise income from its assets and are considering selling the site as pony paddocks. They appreciate that if ownership of the site falls into other hands neither they nor HPC will have any control of what might happen to it in the future. To safeguard this for the benefit of the community AfLP have offered the site to HPC for either £40,000 or other land of equal value.”

In response to the draft scheme, Councillor Derrick has called for:

- All trustees (of AfLP) to be resident in the parish and to relinquish their trusteeship if they move outside the parish

- There to be at least six trustees

- The quorum to be four trustees and the casting vote could then remain

- There to be a legal requirement to consult before major changes of use, leases, or sales. Consultation should be with beneficiaries, users of the land/facilities, tenants and with the Parish Council

- There to be a legal requirement to take the views of consultees into account

- Papers and minutes of the meetings of AfLP to be made available and preferably published by AfLP.

The draft can be viewed on Hughenden Parish Council’s website www.hughendenparishcouncil.org.uk.

The deadline for comment on the draft scheme is Friday, November 7. 

Comments on the proposal must be sent to Mrs L. Marchant, Brambles, Grange Road, Widmer End, High Wycombe, HP15 6AD.