Castlegate Preservation Trust
Registered Charity Number 1170599
Annual report for year ending 31 December 2020
Registered Office: 30 Muskoka Avenue Sheffield S11 7RL
Trustees during the reporting year: Valerie Bayliss (chair), Neil Berry, Brian Holmshaw and Janet Ridler.
The Castlegate Preservation Trust is a charitable incorporated organisation and follows the Foundation model of governance. It was registered in December 2016, and has the following objects:
To preserve, for the benefit of the citizens of Sheffield and the nation, buildings or other structures of historic, architectural and constructional heritage that may exist in the Castlegate area of Sheffield and in furtherance of this object to foster and secure their restoration and re-use particularly, but not limited to, the Old Town Hall.
To advance education for the public benefit about the history, development, significance and future of the heritage buildings and sites of the Castlegate area.
To advance education, learning and training for the public benefit by developing the skills of persons involved in restoration and particularly those involved in historic building preservation projects in Castlegate.
Further such charitable purposes (charitable under English law) for the benefit of the community in Castlegate as the charity trustees see fit from time to time.
The Trust has not used any name other than the one under which it is registered.
Activities
The trustees confirm that they have complied with the duty in section 4 of the 2006 Act to have due regard to guidance on public benefit published by the Charity Commission.
In 2020 the Trust had intended as in previous years to continue to pursue its objectives by focusing primarily on providing opportunities for people to learn about the significance of Castlegate and its heritage buildings, via the usual provision of guided walks in the area during Sheffield’s Environment Weeks and during Heritage Open Days, which have always been well-supported. In addition it would continue to monitor developments affecting the Old Town Hall.
In the event the Covid-19 pandemic made the first of these impossible. Under the circumstances the Trustees did not feel it possible to undertake advance planning for the usual activities as the rules that would apply to gatherings at the relevant times were unknown at the point when commitment to activities would have been required. By the same token local groups to which trustees would have given illustrated talks about Castlegate were obliged to cancel their programmes and were not in a position to reinstate them during the period of this report. Trustees have however continued to contribute articles on the history of Castlegate to the local press.
The Trust continues to be represented on the Castlegate Partnership Steering Group established by Sheffield City Council. This body, which included representatives of the private, public, higher education and voluntary sectors, is central to plans to reinvigorate the run-down Castlegate area of the city centre. The Trust advises on matters such as the significance of some of the heritage buildings, listed or otherwise, in the area and is contributing to plans for future development that respect their heritage status. The City Council has begun to revive earlier plans to regenerate the whole area.
The new owner of the Old Town Hall obtained planning consent for a scheme of restoration in December 2019 and the Trustees maintained a watching brief on any work on the site. In the event no work appears to have been done beyond some basic cleaning out of rubbish. Since the end of the reporting period the developer’s company has failed and the property is now in the hands of receivers and is up for sale.
The trustees have maintained a working relationship with Sheffield City Council about its interests in Castlegate.
All the Trust’s work is carried out on a voluntary basis by the trustees.
Finances
The sale of the Old Town Hall in 2019 effectively stopped the Trust’s work on preparing to raise funds to buy the building. The Trust had no income, and therefore no expenditure, in the period 1 January 2018 - 31 December 2020. It follows that there are no accounts and the Trust has not opened a bank account. The Trust has no assets and no reserves.
Future Activities
We reported last year that the changed prospects for the Old Town Hall in principle removed one of the Trust’s major raisons d’etre but the trustees have determined to continue their monitoring of progress on the building. That remains the case.
The Trust will continue as opportunity permits to its more general work on the future of Castlegate as a whole, including through its representation on the City Council’s Castlegate Partnership and its educational work.