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2023-04-05-accounts

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I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above
charity ("the Trust") for the year ended `
Responsibilities and As the charity's trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the
basis of report accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011
("the Act„).

KIRKHAM STREET FIELD COMMUNITY TRUST TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 5 APRIL 2023

Charity registered number: 1185712

KIRKHAM STREET FIELD COMMUNITY TRUST CONTENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 5 APRIL 2023

Page
Administrative details 1
Trustees’ Annual Report 2
Independent Examiner’s Report to the Trustees See covering Form IER
Financial Statements 7
Notes to the Financial Statements 8

KIRKHAM STREET FIELD COMMUNITY TRUST ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS

Charity registration number 1185712

Principal Office

Riverside Pesters Lane Somerton Somerset TA11 7AB

Email

info@kirkhamstreetfield.org.uk

Website

www.kirkhamstreetfield.org.uk

Independent Examiner

Lindsey Wright MAAT ACA Blue Lias Accounting Limited Walker House Market Place Somerton Somerset TA11 7LX

1

KIRKHAM STREET FIELD COMMUNITY TRUST Trustees’ Annual Report for the year ended 5 April 2023

Kirkham Street Field Community Trust (the Trust) was registered as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation by the Charity Commission in England and Wales on 9 October 2019.

The trustees are pleased to present their annual report together with the financial statements for the year ended 5 April 2023.

Objectives and activities

The Trust’s objective, as stated in its constitution, is

To preserve Kirkham Street Field as an amenity green space located within the town, including its environmental benefits; in order to provide facilities for informal recreation and other leisure-time occupation in the interests of social welfare with the object of improving the conditions of life for the Community of Somerton

The trustees confirm that they have complied with the requirements of section 17 of the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to the public benefit guidance published by the Charity Commission for England and Wales.

Kirkham Street Field (the Field) is situated close to the conservation area in the old market town of Somerton, Somerset. The Field was used as a school playing field until spring 2021 when the school relocated to new premises in the west of the town. Prior to being a school playing field it was used as the town cricket ground and before that for travelling fairs. The Field covers about 1.5 acres and is owned by Somerset Council who had budgeted to sell it to developers.

In February 2019, following a public consultation about the new school, Somerton Town Council (STC) received a letter from a member of the public asking whether it agreed that the Field represented ‘the best, and possibly the last, chance to create a new public park in Somerton’. STC agreed and decided the project to save the Field for the community should be a community led project. A community action group was formed and STC also applied to South Somerset District Council (SSDC) to register the Field as an Asset of Community Value. Following the local government re-organisation in April 2023 the activities of SSDC have been taken over by the new Unitary Authority – Somerset Council (SC).

The action group arranged several well attended public meetings that established there was widespread support for saving the Field for the community. This was confirmed by a Public Consultation in April 2019. That a community park is needed is also supported by the SSDC infrastructure delivery plan update document in 2016 that identified a shortfall of 3 acres in the provision of informal open green space in Somerton.

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KIRKHAM STREET FIELD COMMUNITY TRUST Trustees’ Annual Report for the year ended 5 April 2023

Based on the Public Consultation the trustees consider the potential benefits of the Trust’s objective to be:-

These benefits are sought for all the community and would be compliant with the Disability Discrimination Act 2010.

The Field was added to the register of Assets of Community Value on 16 April 2019. The registration expires on 16 April 2024. This status requires SC to give notice when it decides to sell the Field. If notice is given it triggers the community right to bid for the Field. If the community expresses a wish to bid it then has 6 months in which to raise funds and develop a bid. After that period SC is free to sell the property. The right to bid does not oblige SC to accept the bid. Up to the date of this report SC has not given notice of an intention to sell.

Rather than wait for the community right to bid procedure to be triggered, the action group entered discussions with SC about the possibility of purchasing the Field for the community. The outcome was that SC set a price of £750,000 for a community purchase. The action group agreed to set up a charity to purchase the Field and SC offered the community a period of a year to raise the purchase price starting from the date the charity was established. The charity established is the Trust which was registered on 9 October 2019.

By 31 December 2020 the Trust had not raised sufficient funds to bid for a sufficiently large part of, or the whole of, the Field. SC declined to extend its offer beyond 31 December 2020.

In January 2021 the Trust was approached by Anna Anderson and Sam Hampson. Anna, who has family in Somerton, and Sam want to see the field used for the community and to avoid the alternative of a commercial developer building as many houses as possible on the Field. Their proposal is to develop about a third of the Field to generate funds to cover the construction costs and the cost of buying the land from SC and to create a community park on the remaining two thirds of the Field. Since then, they have been assessing the feasibility of this idea with their professional advisers. SC has informally indicated that it would be willing to consider this approach if it is supported by the community.

3

KIRKHAM STREET FIELD COMMUNITY TRUST Trustees’ Annual Report for the year ended 5 April 2023

Two public meetings were held in the afternoon and evening of 17 February 2022 at which Anna, Sam and their architects presented their ideas to the community. These were attended by a total of some 80 people including our local MP and the Chair of STC.

On 18 May 2022 another pair of public meetings were held in afternoon and evening. These were led by the architects and set out their overview of the different ways the residential development on a third of the field and the park on the remaining two thirds might be implemented.

Feedback from the public meetings was generally favourable towards the idea of saving two thirds of the field and to the initial ideas of how residential development on the remaining one third might work.

At the time of the May 2022 meeting it was intended to hold community workshops over the following six months to test various ideas and community support for them. However, it was decided that the approach outlined then was too broad and a better approach would be to enter discussions with the planning authority (in conjunction with a professional planning consultant) to establish how a third of the field could be developed in ways that would be likely to gain planning consent. A more focused public consultation could then be carried out in the light of that knowledge.

Anna and Sam are bearing the full costs of their professional advisers and the costs of the public meetings to discuss their proposals. The Trust supports their exploration of these ideas and the trustees are in regular contact with them.

The role the Trust could play if this idea were to go ahead will become clearer as a detailed plan is developed.

Fundraising

The main fundraising activities took place from the end of 2019 until the end of 2020. Further fundraising was limited by Covid restrictions and uncertainty as to how Anna and Sam’s proposals might be implemented. The Trust has undertaken to repay donations made for land purchase if it is unable to buy the Field.

The Trust has a website, kirkhamstreetfield.org.uk, that was set up to provide details of the project, reach a wider audience and encourage donations. Locally, the Trust communicates with the public through the STC magazine that is distributed monthly to all households in Somerton, through local newspapers and in previous years through posters and leaflets at pick up points around the town.

A few wealthy individuals have offered to provide funds totalling £55,000 if we get nearer the target of £750,000. The trustees are very grateful for these offers but unfortunately are not yet able to take them up.

4

KIRKHAM STREET FIELD COMMUNITY TRUST Trustees’ Annual Report for the year ended 5 April 2023

A campaign in 2020 to raise funds from local businesses was modestly successful.

Applications were made for grants from STC and SSDC (now part of SC). In July 2020 STC granted £25,000 conditional on a sale agreement having been secured with SC. In April 2021 SSDC granted £12,500 conditional on the project having been completed.

Our research into grant making organisations showed that, for land already owned, there are opportunities to obtain grants for the provision of new facilities and the refurbishment of existing facilities. However, such grants do not extend to land purchase. A notable exception was the National Lottery Community Fund. Our application of £100,000 was well received but eventually turned down in April 2020. One factor cited by the Lottery was the urgent need for them to support their existing projects which were facing financial challenges due to Covid.

The trustees continue to be grateful to those members of the community, including STC and SSDC, who have supported our campaign by attending meetings, contributing to discussions and making or promising donations.

Design

The Trust has prepared designs for a community park guided by the information obtained in the Public Consultation of April 2019 and with expert assistance. These were circulated to every household in the town and residents invited to discuss them at an exhibition event in September 2020. Broad support was expressed for the main design ideas. These ideas will be considered again if the proposals made by Anna and Sam outlined above go ahead.

Financial review

At 5 April 2023 the Trust held £35,197 (2022: £34,188) of funds restricted to land purchase and £1,277 (2022: £1,871) of unrestricted funds. The restricted funds are held in an instant access deposit account and the unrestricted funds in a current account. Both accounts are with Unity Trust Bank. The Trust does not hold any investments.

The Trust did not actively fundraise during the year as the trustees are waiting to establish whether Anna and Sam’s proposals as outlined above are viable. However, donations and bank interest of £1,339 (2022: £2,697) were received in the year. If the Trust does not purchase the Field it has undertaken to repay donations made for land purchase.

Structure, governance and management

The constitution of the Trust is the Charitable Incorporated Organisation ‘Foundation’ model under which the trustees and the members are the same people.

The Trust does not have any employees. The trustees have had assistance from volunteers at public events. Appropriate Public liability, Employee (which covers volunteers) and Trustee insurance is in place.

Due to reduced activity the trustees currently meet when required.

5

Appointed Resigned Role
John Dippie 1 January 2021, re-
appointed 1 January 2023
Maureen Fletcher Initial trustee, re-appointed
30 November 2022
Judith Hurley Initial trustee, re-appointed Secretary
2 November 2023
Gillian Locke Initial trustee, re-appointed Treasurer
9 October 2021 and again on
2 November 2023
Suzanne Standen Initial trustee, re~appointed
30 November 2022
Margaret Chambers Initial trustee 10ctober 2021 Chairperson
Andrew Foyne Initial trustee 31 December 2020 Deputy chairperson
Jasmine Brain Initial trustee 21 September 2021

tatement of receipts andpaymentsfor the yearended5April 2023
Unrestricted
funds		 Restricted
funds		 Total
Total
2023ZOzz
f TE
Receipts
Donationsfor		 landpurchase 650 550 2,.580
Donationsfor
Bankinterest		 runningcosts
received		 330 359 330
3s9		 96
2L
Totalreceipts 330 1,009 1,339 2,697
Payments
lnsurance t20 124 254
lndependentexamine/sfees(twoyears) s40 s40
Websitecosts 180 180 180
Events t2 L2
Bank charges 72 72 5;
Totalpayments 924 924
Net-ofreceipts/(paymenB) (se4) 1,009 41s 2,208
Cashfunds atthe startoftheperiod 1,971 34,188 36,059 33,851
Cash funds attheend oftheperiod 1,277 35,197 36,474 36,059
tatementof Assetsand Liabilities at5April 2023
Unrestricted
funds		 Restristed
funds		 Total
2Az?		 Total
2022
e f €f
Cashatbank 1,277- 35,797 36,474 36,059
Cashin hand
1,277 35,L97 36,474 36,059

KIRKHAM STREET FIELD COMMUNITY TRUST Financial Statements

For the year ended 5 April 2023

Notes on the Financial Statements

1. These financial statements have been prepared on a receipts and payments basis.

2. Kirkham Street Field Community Trust (‘the Trust’) is not registered for VAT and accordingly costs include VAT where applicable.

3. The Trust has not given any guarantees nor granted any security over its assets.

4. The restricted funds represent amounts raised for the intended purchase of the Kirkham Street Field. Should the Trust be unable to purchase the Field it has undertaken to repay these donations.

8