ORACLE ANNOUNCE COMMUNITY WORKSHOP TO DISCUSS FUTURE OF PM
It was reported in the Leatherhead Advertiser today that the new owners of the
Parsons Mead site are planning to hold a community workshop at some point to discuss the future of the site. Whilst we welcome this chance to express an opinion we
do not believe that it will result in bringing back a community or educational role for the site. Oracle Homes paid £16 million for the site, it is unlikely that
any school no matter how high the fees would generate enough from fees to cover this cost. However, it may be that Oracle will come to regret their purchase if all
our elected representatives keep to their opposition of any form of housing on the site. This is a largely green space unspoilt by roads or housing, it should
remain so especially as so much of Ashtead's green space is coming under pressure for housing.
There is a logic in the minds of the developers that is flawed. They flock to provide housing in popular areas like Ashtead. What they seem
to fail to understand is that by building in these areas they make them less popular since they concrete over the reason for their popularity. But we must never
forget a developer rarely lives near anywhere he builds on.
MP CONTACT
The Parsons Mead Action Group has contacted Chris Grayling the MP for Epsom & Ewell
(which covers Ashtead as well). We have asked him to take up the following issues:
- Public Accountability and Liability of Trustees - there appears to be none.
- The Charity Commission is not clear and transparent in its dealings with the public - failure to disclose transfer
of ownership
- There are clear conflicts of interests that are allowed to occur in the area of Trusteeship - VET governors flood
PMET board and then give school to VET
- Section 36 of the Charities Act - sale to highest bidder ignoring local planning, possible breech of section 36 -
no apparent evidence of a strict open marketing of the site
Chris Grayling has responded saying that he has sent details of our concerns to both the Department of Justice and the Charity Commission.
The Parsons Mead Action Group have been contacted by a Chartered Surveyor who has previous experience of asset sales under Section 36 of the Charities Act. He would have expected to have received notification that the building was for sale and would have had clients who would have probably been interested in the site. He says that the Act requires strict proof of open marketing. I believe he will be contacting the Charity Commission with his concerns.
PARSONS MEAD SOLD FOR £16 MILLION
STATEMENT FROM VERNON EDUCATIONAL TRUST
The Vernon Educational Trust has today announced that Oracle Homes (residential) Ltd has purchased the former Parsons Mead school site for approximately
£16 million.
Parsons Mead School closed in July 2006, following a steady decline in pupil numbers and a substantial rise in the financial deficit. Under Section 36 of the Charities Act, Charities are obligated to act on an arms length basis and the Vernon Educational Trust has completed the transaction at a commercial rate. The disposal of the assets was assessed independently in line with Charities Commission regulations.
Proceeds from the sale will pay off the accumulated financial deficit and the remainder will be retained by the Trust for future charitable and educational development in the area.
Last year the Trustees announced the intention to use some of the money to establish an open access fund for the education of deserving children in Surrey who would benefit from private education but whose parents cannot afford the fees. With the disposal of the Parsons Mead assets now nearing completion, plans for this fund will begin to take shape.
Mr William House, Secretary of the Trust said:
As a charitable educational trust, we are committed to continuing to support and provide a high standard of education in Surrey. We hope that, going forward, the Trust will be able to assist deserving local children in receiving a quality of education that might otherwise be unavailable to them.
Now that this complex transaction is complete, the Trustees will focus attention on how best to take forward our charitable and educational responsibilities.
Press coverage in the local press this week has been good. The Leatherhead
Advertiser carried the story of the sale and the reaction to it as a half page article on page 3, the number two story after the foot and mouth outbreak. This
included photographs that first appeared in last year's closure piece. The Epsom Guardian also carried the story. This one concentrated more on the amount of
money that had just fallen into the hands of the Vernon Educational Trust. Both articles gave a brief mention to the new owners, Oracle Homes and suggested that
would be facing an uphill struggle to get planning permission. At present the Epsom Guardian article is not available on their website. Lastly the Esher News
concentrated on what VET had been up to and how much money they stand to make. All articles are now available on line - simply click the links above.
June 21st 2007
The Vernon Educational Trusts Report and Accounts were published a few days ago on the Charity Commission website. An
examination shows some startling facts, things that perhaps should have been communicated sooner and should have been shown in the report by the Charity Commission on the
closure. Earlier today the Leatherhead Advertiser ran an article on the school, some of the information in there was also being reported for the first time.
After a year the wraps seem to be coming off the information that we have all be asking for since day one.
Parsons Mead Educational Trust gave the school site along with its debts and liabilities to the Vernon Educational Trust last year.
The school had been valued by Savills in February 2006 at £6 million- that is without a changing of planning use.
Parsons Mead Educational Trust had liabilities of over £2 million at the time of the transfer - this is somewhat different to what parents
were told at the beginning of the process with Cognita which essentially said that the school was not in financial trouble at present but if we don't do something
soon we will be in a few years time.
Robin Parfitt's life was insured for half a million pounds under a Top Man Policy. That means that in July and August last year the Vernon
Educational Trust picked up £6 million in assets (worth considerably more in the planning basis changes) and £500,000 in cash along with £2 million and change in
liabilities that could be financed at a much lower rate than PMET could ever achieve since as Robin Parfitt once said Danes Hill was cash rich and asset poor - I guess
that description goes out of the window now - at least until the Parsons Mead site is sold.
The £2 million figure crops up in a number of places - that was the Cognita offer for the school as well! It couldn't be that Cognita
were going to pay for the school by simply writing off the debt and then spending an additional £1 million on the fabric to bring it up to standard.
More later
That morning we
reported...........
The latest edition of the Leatherhead Advertiser (21/06/07) has a brief article denying that the
ongoing sale of assets from the school that has so far netted 85000 pounds according to the article is not a precursor to any planned demolition work - according
to Mr William House the Secretary for PMET and VET. The school apparently has debts of 2 million poundS and the Trustees are obliged to dispose of the
schools assets at the best price in order to clear these. The article did not refer to any potential purchaser for the site, however rumours persist in and
around Ashtead that the school is currently in the process of being sold for retirement flats to an as yet unnamed purchaser.
What is puzzling is that the 2 million pound debt has only just been mentioned, no figure was ever given to parents at the time of
the closure or in subsequent correspondence. However, it may be opportune for this to be let into the public arena now since the PMET accounts will shortly be with
the Charity Commission where they will be available for public inspection. The Vernon Educational Trust accounts have recently arrived at the same place.
Although the accounts are not on display yet the SIR document that goes with them is. Danes Hill had a good year and was aided by a significant charitable
contribution - hopefully not from PMET.
In light of the speculation regarding demolition local councillors have been checking the legality of demolition prior to planning
consent with the head of Mole Valley Planning. This level of attention to the sale and the clear disatisfaction it is starting to provoke will not necessarily
appeal to a developer who hasn't quite made up his mind on whether to commit to purchase the school for purposes other than education. Any opposition now will be
but a minor skirmish compared to the levels of opposition that will be encountered if a planning application is put in for anything but a community facility like a
school.
This has not yet made the ICSURREY website.
Previously we reported .........
VET (Vernon Educational Trust - operators of Danes Hill School) representatives are remaining tight lipped when challenged by the
press regarding the possible sale of the Parsons Mead Site to a company planning to build a retirement complex on the site. It has been suggested that around 13
million pounds has been offered for the site, whether it has been accepted or not is currently not general knowledge. Rumours have been around in Ashtead village
that the site has been sold for anything between 11 to 16.5 million pounds for the last few weeks. The articles first published in the press (The Post) on 23rd May
2007 seem to confirm these suspicions. Epsom & Ewell MP Chris Grayling, whose constituency covers Parsons Mead has promised to do his utmost along with Mole Valley
District Councillors to preserve the site for Educational purposes. He also said that other schools were interested in the site, we all know about Downsend,
but who else is looking - St John's?, Kingswood House?
One of Downsend's directors - Charles Robinson is reported to have said, "We would buy it tomorrow but cannot go higher because we
would have to spend an additional 1 million pounds doing work on buildings now closed for nearly a year."
According to the press Independent Mole Valley Councillor - David Howell said of the Parsons Mead site "It can only be
developed within the existing building's footprint, land remaining for recreation as laid down by the district plan." He went on to say "Mole Valley Council has
also placed tree preservation orders on all the trees."
At least one newspaper speculated that the current governors face a huge moral dilema - whether to sell the site for 2 million
pounds so that it can continue as a place of education for the residents of Ashtead and the surrounding areas, or whether to accept 13 million pounds from developers and
do what with the money..........?
See press coverage
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PM UNIFORMS FOR UGANDA
As well as giving some of the PM uniforms to Rianna's fund in Kenya others went to a school in Uganda - below are some pictures and
a letter from the Head Prefect.
PM DRESSES FOR RIANNA'S FUND IN KENYA
Lynne Cross - a former teacher at Parsons Mead - made a visit to Kenya earlier this year. She took with her a number of school uniforms and presented them to the girls at Rianna's Home. Rianna's fund would like to thank both Parsons Mead and the parents of the girls at the school for donating the dresses. The winter uniform was sent to a school in South Africa. Rianna's Fund was supported by the girls at PM whilst it was still open and these dresses are from the uniform that everyone donated at the time of the closure. Thanks to Rianna's Fund for use of the photograph linked directly from their website, in keeping with their policy you cannot right click to download the pictures on this page.
In January 2003 Rianna, just eight years old, died tragically when a tree fell at her school West Ashtead.
Rianna was a very special little girl with a particular awareness of the fact that there were other children in the world that didn't receive the love and affection in addition to the material things that she and her sisters did. She knew that there were children in the world who literally have nothing.
Many people were very kind and gave donations in her memory and Rianna's Fund was established. The intention of the Fund is to help underprivileged children around the world to reach their full potential.
The first project was to provide a home for orphans in Yala, Kenya. Click here if you would like to see pictures of how the
building work was carried out. The Fund is also responsible for providing the
education and boarding fees for sixty orphans, who would not otherwise have the opportunity to go to school.
For more information click here to visit the website.
Help Us to Help You
We will certainly need some funding towards the cost of legal advice so please consider donating something to the group. Details of how to donate are on the
website.
If you wish to take part in a survey of what you want to achieve please fill in the questionnaire
by clicking this link or going to the tab marked what next
Need to contact us then email us at info@pmparents.co.uk
If you have any comments that you wish to share publicly please use the forum which is accessed via the Comment menu -
or use this link. If you have anything you wish to share privately with the committee please use contact the committee through
this link
Tree Protection Order placed on Parsons Mead Site
Mole Valley District Council have placed a Tree Protection order on all trees with trunks over a certain size at the Parsons Mead site.
(click the link for the full finding)
"There do not appear to be any issues that merit the opening of an Inquiry or further investigation"
Background
This site was created for and by the parents with
children at Parsons Mead School during the summer term of 2006. On 6th June 2006 it was announced that the school would close. A committee of parents was set
up to understand what had occurred and to try to determine what could be done - the role of that committee was reaffirmed by another larger meeting of parents two weeks
later (22/06/06).
Objectives
At a meeting at St George's Church Hall in Ashtead on June 22nd 2006 a meeting of a large number of
parents concluded that the main objectives were to gain more information about what had occurred, examine methods for individuals claiming financial compensation and
exposing any wrong doing through one of the regulatory bodies. With the sale of the site some of these objectives have been reassessed.
All are still valid objectives, the ways of achieving them may have changed.
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