Charities face uncertain futures as council plans to auction off their homes

By Joe Coughlan, Local Democracy Reporter

Charities are “shocked” and “upset” that a council plans to auction off their building.

Bromley council has decided to put a set of buildings it owns up for auction to avoid a £164m repair bill for the properties.

The Bromley Voluntary Sector Trust is a non-profit charity that was set up to manage Community House, in South Street, one of the buildings to be sold off.

The building hosts a series of charities from across the borough, often supporting those with various illnesses or disabilities.

Peter Ayres, the incoming chairman of the trust, said the charity only found out about the auction two weeks ago, when another board member read the agenda for a council meeting.

Mr Ayres said: “We thought we were negotiating for an extension to our lease, and we’ve been working on that with the council for the past two to two-and-a-half years. We haven’t been told that those negotiations are now off.”

Aastha Kamboj, business manager of Community House Bromley, said the sale of Community House would be an “absolute loss” to the borough.

She said: “So many wonderful people come and use Community House on a daily basis.

“It’s shocking that they’ve even considered that this [space] is not needed. I’m really struggling to understand what has led to this sudden decision.”

At a council meeting on December 12, council leader Colin Smith said no current users of the building would be “financially burdened” by the sale, and offered the groups to use council offices as a new space.

On the offer, Mr Ayres said: “Cllr Smith says none of the charities would lose out financially, but he’s not thinking about the disruption.

“Age Concern have got more or less a whole floor here, they’ve got a massive investment here. To stop everything they’re doing and move somewhere else, that’s going to take months.”

Ian Dawson, outgoing chairman of the Bromley Voluntary Sector Trust, said the council was “misunderstanding” that some vulnerable users of the buildings may find the change stressful.

He said: “Some of them are quite young, frighteningly young, who have got dementia.

“They come in for a party and a sing-song just to keep things ticking over. You couldn’t do that if it was just offices. You have to have space.”

At the December 12 meeting, Cllr Smith said groups from Community House had written to him saying they were “very keen” on the idea of moving into the new council offices.

Mr Ayres said he was unaware of any groups that said this.

A Bromley council spokeswoman said: “It is a shame that unnecessary scaremongering has brought concern to some voluntary groups, all of whom remain highly valued partners of the council.

“It should be noted that Community House is an investment property for the council, with the tenant having a lease and security of tenure, and this does not change during the existing lease, regardless of who owns the building.”

“There are many potential options for the voluntary groups and plenty of time as well to discuss all of this, with the council committed to working with these groups as we move forwards.”

Pictured top: Peter Ayres, incoming chairman of the board of trustees for Bromley Voluntary Sector Trust at Bromley Community House (Picture: Joe Coughlan)