The Avenue House Action Group is not aware of the ongoing dispute between Barnet Council and the Charity Commission over the future of the Avenue House estate referred to in your article of December 7.
Far from it. The Charity Commission has made it plain that the arrangement put forward by the council for the newly-formed charitable company Avenue House Estate Management (AHEM), to manage the estate, would bring the council into legal breach of its own trustee duty.
The Commission suggested, as long ago as mid-July, that either a freehold transfer or a long lease to the new charity would be acceptable. Indeed either of these would be satisfactory to AHEM. Since July the council has been exploring a third option, by which they would become custodian trustee and which would also be acceptable in principle to AHEM.
It is a long time since the leader told the council that its management of the estate had not been good. Nothing has changed. Gutters are still blocked and damage is occurring internally as a result, and the grounds are scarcely maintained.
The delay in handing over the estate to the new charity is not caused by the Charity Commission but by the council deciding which option to adopt. Alan Williams is doubtless aware of the real situation.
Andrew C H Brown
for the Avenue House Action Group
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