The Hampstead town hall building

‘Legal threat’ in charity row

Driving force behind multi-million renovation decamps to rival building

THE Heath and Hampstead Society – the driving force behind the multi-million refurbishment of old Hampstead Town Hall – has fallen out with the management and is now refusing to use the building.

At a meeting of the Heath and Hampstead Society on Tuesday, chairman Tony Hillier said that communication between the former partners had ended.

Mr Hillier is also a member of the Friends of Hampstead Town Hall, one part of a ‘dream ticket’ – alongside educational charity Interchange Trust and Camden Council – set up 10 years ago to convert the former town hall in Belsize Park into a flagship community centre.

In a deliberate snub to the Trust, the Heath and Hampstead Society took the unusual step of holding its key annual meeting at Rosslyn Hill Chapel in Rosslyn Hill – instead of at Hampstead Town Hall.

He told the meeting: “The last local trustee has had to resign from the board and on legal grounds all dialogue  has been terminated.”

He was referring to a behind the scenes row between the management of Hampstead Town Hall and the society which has led to threats of action for libel.

Mr Hillier, who accused the charity of failing to deliver on its original promises, added: “Their management was meant to be not just for their own purposes but to accommodate, at affordable rates, the many and varied local aspirations for which substantial sums were raised.”

The beleaguered building has been at the centre of a number of recent complaints – including accusations of over-high rents and inadequate use of its facilities.

Concerns have also been expressed about the future of the centre if one of its main projects, the Weekend Arts College (WAC) separates from the Interchange Trust, as has been proposed.

While both sides say the separation is amicable and based on improving funding for the arts college, WAC is one of the main occupiers of the centre – leaving a significant void if it decides to move out of the building.

At least two resident charities are known to have difficulties meeting the rents charged at the centre. Worried members of the University of the Third Age contacted the New Journal after their subscriptions were raised to cover a “substantial” rent increase.

Omar Yousef, from the Somali Community Centre, said his group had moved out of the building to larger, cheaper premises – keeping a “very small room” at the hall as an office.

One interested party who did not want to be named blamed Interchange’s board of trustees for failing to manage the running of the centre.

They said: “The trustees are not exercising their role of scrutiny and governance in any way.  The centre is simply not living up to all the commitments that were made when the partnership was established.”

Dr Alan Tomkins, the director of Interchange, was unavailable for comment yesterday (Wednesday).

But Janet Wallace, former head teacher at Haverstock School who has been chairwoman of Interchange’s board of trustees since 2000, said: “All our charities have signed new leases which they would not have done if they were unhappy with the rents. We do have a sliding scale of charges for local groups. As trustees we are required to set viable economic rates.

“We provide resources for young people and legal services at a considerably reduced cost. We are trying to get on with the development work we have to do. No organisation can claim to be perfect but we do have a tremendous number of visitors every week.”