A DISPUTE between Yorkshire villagers and the diocese of Leeds will probably be the topic of a High Court hearing on 23 April.
It concerns the ownership of a former primary school in Rathmell, which was closed by its governing body in 2017, owing to unsustainable pupil numbers. The constructing has since turn out to be a community centre, operated by locals and the Rathmell School Trust (News, 27 November 2020; 28 July 2023).
Because the college operated as a voluntary aided school with a Christian ethos, the diocese of Leeds argues that it was a part of the diocesan provision, and needs to be transferred “right into a restricted fund for use solely and for the advantage of other Church of England Schools. This is normal practice where schools close and is provided for within the Education Act 1996 (s554).”
The school, nonetheless, operated as a part of a longtime trust, with energetic trustees, who say that the college has reverted to them under the unique terms of the trust deed. “This school was a longstanding feature of the village, and was never church land,” Jacky Frankland, one in every of the trustees, said. “We have maintained it for years, and we’re not going away now simply because they need us to.”
The trustees and their supporters say that the college was endowed by a neighborhood landowner, Christopher John Geldard, in 1869. The Victorian school initially operated in a cottage on his estate, then gained its own purpose-built school constructing through investment by his son in 1874.
Additions were made over time: the trust now comprises the old skool constructing, the previous schoolmaster’s house (which is let), and a 15.5-acre field, a few of which is rented for arable farming. Revenues have been remitted to the trust and controlled by the trustees, who’ve, over time, given funding to the college for equipment and activities.
The diocese says that it has “at all times treated the college as a Church of England School and has invested a whole bunch of hundreds of kilos in it. In the ten years before it closed, over £550,000 was given to fund improvements to the constructing (that are benefiting everyone still). All of this was done on the premise that legally it was a Church of England school and to assist the trustees meet the goals of the Trust.”
Voluntary aided status was introduced by the 1944 Education Act. In the Fifties, Rathmell village school entered into an arrangement with the then diocese of Ripon. It is known that the local vicar served as chairman of the trust by convention, although that isn’t any longer the case.
It appears, nonetheless, that these assets weren’t appropriately logged with the Land Registry. Since the dispute arose, the trustees have taken steps to rectify that, and have undergone the obligatory procedures.
Mrs Frankland, who describes herself as a farmer’s wife and drives a college bus, is happy with the college’s continuing use as a community centre. “We have a Sunday lunch club that repeatedly collects £500. A recent One centesimal-birthday party for somebody had guests from everywhere in the world, and the youngest was three years old.”
She also points to the centre’s use for social and academic initiatives resembling sewing, cooking, singing, land management, and first aid.
Because the trustees have operated the positioning responsibly throughout its history, Mrs Frankland believes that they need to proceed to achieve this, for the advantage of the community and academic purposes. Otherwise, many local people fear that it is going to be sold by the diocese without regard to the impact on the local area.
The diocese, she says, has suggested that the trustees “sign over the premises in order that we, the locals, can lease it back for 15 years on a peppercorn rent. But why should we try this?”
A spokesperson for the diocese of Leeds said: “At no point has the diocese said it will flatten the college and sell it to a developer. This is solely not true. In fact, several years ago the diocese suggested to the trustees there could also be a strategy to lease or sell the positioning to a recent community trust so it could proceed to serve the community. The trustees decided to not follow this through.”
Mrs Frankland alleges that a former school near by within the village of Horton, in Ribblesdale, which also closed in 2017, is now in a state of “rack and spoil”. It was a diocesan school with local trustees, and, in consequence of disputes, the positioning has suffered neglect and disrepair, she says.
The diocese considers itself to be following the right procedure with Rathmell. “We have sought to work with the trustees throughout. The school closed seven years ago, and all we’ve sought to do is to be sure that the legal responsibilities of all parties are met.
“The diocese stays willing to work to seek out a resolution and ensure the college site is out there for community use; nevertheless it cannot achieve this whilst the trustees proceed to assert as invalid the terms of the unique trust.”
The Education Act 1996 (s554), which the diocese is referring to, allows the Secretary of State discretionary powers to differ the terms of an endowment or school trust where “the premises of a voluntary or grant-maintained school (inside the meaning of this Act) have ceased for use for such”.
It is unclear why the diocese has not applied to the Secretary of State for an adjudication, but as a substitute has filed for a hearing within the High Court.
Under the 1841 School Sites Act, any land grant of as much as an acre to trustees to be used as a college could immediately revert to the unique donor’s descendants should it stop to operate. This principle was tested in 2006, when the diocese of Canterbury lost its claim over St Philip’s C of E Primary School, in Maidstone. That school had closed in 1995, and its land was sold on for £120,000. Ten years later, it was sold again for £400,000 (News, 2 November 2006; 27 September 2007). In Rathmell, one in every of the Geldard descendants is a college trustee.
The diocese of Leeds has also declined to say how much the litigation has cost to this point. Its filed accounts for the 2022 financial yr showed a shortfall of £1.6 million. It has clarified that it “wouldn’t itself profit financially from taking responsibility for the trust’s assets. These would legally should be reinvested to learn children’s education inside our many colleges within the diocese.”
The Rathmell trustees say that their very own costs have exceeded £63,000, which have been met by fund-raising and donations. They hope to lift one other £50,000.
Mrs Frankland says that she has been contacted by “quite a few others” across the country who’ve experienced similar disputes with dioceses over land rights and ownership. She accuses diocesan leaders of getting “no morals, no ethics, no care and kindness”. The diocese of Leeds has dismissed most of the trustees’ claims as “deliberately misleading and misrepresentative of the facts”.
The diocesan statement says: “This is a dispute of fact which, regrettably, can only be resolved in a court. This is the topic of current proceedings before the High Court, which will probably be determined later this yr.”
