Meeting documents

STATEMENT TO THE BATH & N.E. SOMERSET CABINET MEETING FEBRUARY 6^TH 2008 ON BEHALF OF THE TRUSTEES OF THE GENESIS TRUST

Steve Bruce-Jones, Trustee

The Genesis Trust is a registered charity founded in 1990 by the churches in Bath. Its objective is simply "to support people in need in the City of Bath". It is a local organisation that has helped to mobilise over 500 volunteers to be involved in their community. We estimate that Genesis supports a total of 2,700 people a year. Almost all are unemployed and many have substance misuse issues, mental health problems, or are homeless or vulnerably housed.

• The Genesis Trust helps people to move forward in their lives by helping them:

• to have food when living on the streets,
  
• to find accommodation,
  
• to receive furniture at low cost,
  
• to give up drugs and alcohol,
  
• to build their personal self-worth and to learn life skills,
  
• to have work experience,
  
• to find a job, and to be part of a supportive, caring community

We work closely with Julian House and the Drugs and Homelessness Initiative as well as over 30 other agencies amongst whom our services are well-respected.

In 2004 we leased 5-6 Green Park Road from the council. In April `07 our projects operating there had to be relocated at short notice as this property was sold to developers. The council kindly leased the Trust a unit at Riverside Business Park as a substitute but this property was also earmarked for redevelopment and we had to move again to 1-3 James Street West in August 2007. Genesis now believe that this property too may be sold by the council in the near future and, while the Trustees wish to express our gratitude to the council for its support over the years we are concerned that the work of the Trust is now threatened by uncertainty over its continued presence in the city of Bath.

Understanding the Council's need to realise the full value of its commercial estate, the Trust approached Somer Housing Group to discuss if they would be interested in working in partnership to secure the site. A paper has been submitted to brief council officers of our proposal for Somer to purchase 1-3 James Street West from the council and then to redevelop the site for the Genesis Trust and to produce additional affordable housing. We believe that our initiative can meet a number of objectives that the council are committed to achieving.

We urge the council to work with Genesis and Somer to deliver a'win-win' solution to the disposal of 1-3 James Street West in order to protect the future of this important local charity and to develop much-needed affordable housing whilst still raising significant capital for the council.