Meeting documents

Address to the Board of Trustees of the Recreation Ground, Bath

09.04.2008

Ian Nockolds

Flat 5 Greenway Court, Chaucer Road, Bath

Following the last Board meeting, and the receipt of the Charity Commission's letter dated March 7^th, the future of Rec appears to centre on the issue of whether the benefits of Option 2 significantly outweigh the detriments. Clearly, understanding what constitutes a `benefit' is central to resolving this conundrum.

The Charity Commission assure me that you, the Trustees, are well aware of what they mean when they ask you to provide them:

"... with a specific proposal that includes a detailed list and analysis of both the benefits and detriments arising to the Rec from the proposed lease of the additional land to the (Rugby) Club and the basis upon which it believes that the former outweigh the latter".

Having read the report that accompanies the corresponding agenda item for this meeting, I'm not sure whether the Trust, and potentially the Charity Commission, has grasped the essence of the very real benefit that Option 2 of the Strategic Review provides.

The Trust report makes only one reference, in paragraph 4.8, to the charitable nature of `on pitch activity', defined as amateur sport and recreation. Yet understanding the potential benefit of on pitch activity should be at the very heart of this proposal.

I do not believe that there is any need to overcomplicate this matter. The Rec debate has been overcomplicated enough and, as a result, I fear that the opportunity to deliver a truly ambitious resolution, which would benefit generations of Bath citizens, will be drowned in a sea of legalese and political hogwash.

How the Rec is to be used to benefit the citizens of Bath was most succinctly written 52 years ago, in the 1956 Conveyance.

I'm sure we are all familiar with the terms to which I refer. Trustees have been accused of breaking them at every meeting I've attended so far.

The Conveyance is clear that the Rec is to be used for "games and sports of all kinds tournaments, fetes, shows, exhibitions, displays, amusements, entertainments or other activities of a like character."

In plain English these activities can be described as; school sports days, intervarsity football, touch rugby, hot air ballooning, choral concerts, sheep dog trials, civil war battle re-enactments, village cricket, kite flying, poetry reading and amateur dramatics.

The proposal to improve the stadium facilities on the Rec provides the opportunity to show case all the activities I have just referred to. If properly managed by the Trust, Option 2 makes increased utilisation of the Rec more, not less, likely.

This is the benefit that we should all be focussed on.

Without this facility an opportunity will be missed. The proof of that is how underutilised the Recreation Ground is today. Detractors of Option 2 often talk about the limitations on the Rec brought about by the presence of Bath Rugby, yet these same detractors will never say what legitimate use of the Rec beneficiaries are being deprived of.

Perhaps an underutilised Rec is what some people want to see. Not so much a village green, rather a glorified back garden. "Keep off the grass, you're spoiling my view." I don't remember reading that in the 1956 Conveyance.