Campaigners have accused the Royal Voluntary Service of “running down the clock” on their attempts to save a community centre from closure.
Residents and local groups in Pickering, North Yorkshire, have been trying to save the Hungate Centre since it was put up for sale by RVS in March last year.
The £150,000 building was used by more than a dozen community groups before it closed.
The centre was originally built and paid for by the people of Pickering before it was handed over to the RVS to manage and look after.
A six-month halt to the sale was imposed after campaigners registered the property as an “asset of community value” to give the community a chance to retain it.
But that reprieve expired at the end of last month.
Ruth Hannah, who runs the Musical Memories charity with her husband Neil, accused RVS of not being very forthcoming when responding to their representations.
She said delays by RVS in sharing information, such as the value of the building, was a “deliberate attempt to run down the clock” on the community’s ability to respond.
The charity acknowledged a delay in recruiting an agent in relation to the sale process, but said this was mainly due to the pandemic and national lockdowns.
More than 1,500 people signed a petition to save the building, which is in a town with a population of about 6,500.
David Kerfoot, the high sheriff of North Yorkshire, sent a letter to RVS chief executive Catherine Johnstone on 4 December outlining his concerns about the sale process.
He said the community felt “in the dark” and that “barriers were being put up to prevent the purchase”.
At a full council meeting last week, Ryedale District Council resolved to meet the charity and halt the sale. Kevin Hollinrake, the local Conservative MP, issued a statement that read: “The RVS were custodians of the site. If it has no further use for it, it should not be sold, it should be given back to the community where it belongs.”
An additional email sent by the MP to Neil Hannah reiterated his desire to see the legal advice that underpins the charity’s current position.
On 1 February, Mel Bonney, chief executive of the local infrastructure body Coast and Vale Community Action, wrote to Catherine Nightingale, head of governance at the RVS, to appeal for the building to be handed over to Cavca under the terms of the original trust deed.
In a statement to Third Sector, Rebecca Kennelly, director of volunteering at the RVS, said the decision to close the Hungate Centre was not one the charity had taken lightly.
“Over the years the charity has been absorbing the substantial running costs of the building, which is no longer sustainable,” she said.
“We care a great deal about the local community in Pickering but, as a charity, we need to ensure that our resources are distributed in a way that creates the greatest positive impact and supports the greatest number of people countrywide.
“As the centre is a community asset, we have been in dialogue with centre users, external hirers and North Yorkshire County Council for over a year about our decision to close the centre, and are committed to continuing an open dialogue with nominated individuals and other local stakeholders in the process.”
RVS said it had extended the community asset process until the end of this month to give the local community more time to finalise any proposals.