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Liquidators take control of debt-ridden King’s Cross regeneration charity
LIQUIDATORS have seized control of a trust set up to safeguard residents’ interests during the regeneration of King’s Cross that has racked up more than £130,000 in debts.
Problems at the King’s Cross Community Development Trust which represented some 75 community groups in Camden and Islington, came to the fore in July last year when Camden repossessed their premises in Cromer Street.
Rent accumulated during a two-and-a-half-year-long dispute over the building’s state of repair amounted to £42, 000, some of which has been recuperated, according to the council.
However, the trust carried on out of an office in Caledonian Road in Islington until this month.
In October, the trust, which began in 1998, was reported to the Charities Commission after a member of King’s Cross Voices advisory board became alarmed by the trust’s accounts.
But on Tuesday morning the extent of the trust’s debts were aired at two closed-door meetings for trust members and creditors at the offices of accountancy firm David Rubin and Partners in Bedford Row, Clerkenwell.
The trust’s treasurer Ryan Kemp attended the crunch meetings where accountants revealed that £15,000 of the trust’s total debts – some £133,785 – was still owed to Camden and £33,000 to the Inland Revenue.
It is thought that a large portion of the remaining debts are owed to affiliated organisations, with one struggling minorities organisation believed to be owed £15,000, although the financial details have yet to be registered with Companies House.
One creditor who runs an arts project is still owed £500 after cheques from the trust bounced, despite reassurances by one of the trust directors that he would be paid.
He said: “That this has gone on is very disturbing and very hard for people in voluntary or near voluntary budgets and it sadly reflects badly on this kid of work.”
He added that he believed warning signs about the trust’s finances were not addressed, adding: “I fear general politeness may have been the determining factor in the sinking of the ship.”
Several associates of the trust have criticised the fact that two full-time directors were employed on salaries of at least £40,000 after the previous director left, doubling management costs.
Meanwhile, two employees of an affiliated oral history project King’s Cross Voices, are still owed wages by the trust.
Camden Council has taken over the management of the Voices project to allow the staff to complete their work. It has been temporarily re-housed in Holborn Library’s Archives Department since being out of the Cromer Street premises.
The trust is currently under investigation by Camden Council and the Charities Commission.
Glyn Middleton of David Rubin and Partners confirmed the trust had gone into voluntary liquidation. The trust’s directors and several of the trust’s board members have not been available for comment.
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