Trustees of a charity that manages a community allotment did not always fulfil their legal duties to act in the interests of the charity, a regulatory inquiry report found.
The Office for the Scottish Charity Regulator began investigating Deansmeadow Allotment Association after the regulator received concerns about the charity’s governance between July and August 2024.
Deansmeadow Allotment Association has been registered as a charity since 1991 and operates in the Deans area of Livingston, West Lothian.
The charity manages a community allotment where residents can have their own plot.
The regulator said there were regulatory issues that needed examining, including allegations of trustees not following their constitution and a lack of transparent decision-making by trustees due to a lack of record-keeping.
“It was clear from the information received by OSCR that some of the charity’s members were unhappy with how the charity was being run,” the regulator said.
“In the course of our inquiry, it became apparent that the charity trustees lacked understanding of their charity trustee duties as set out in the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and did not understand the importance of following their constitution.”
The trustees’ lack of decision-making led to meetings not being held as required by the charity’s constitution and to a breakdown in communication between the trustees and the membership of the charity, the inquiry found.
The regulator said it was aware of a desire among some of those who had raised concerns to become involved in the management of the charity, both in terms of running it and removing the current trustees.
“We met with the charity trustees alongside the local Third Sector Interface, Voluntary Sector Gateway West Lothian, who have been supporting the charity, to gather information regarding the governance of the charity,” the regulator said.
The meeting allowed the regulator to understand the situation and have an “open and constructive dialogue with the charity trustees on a range of governance issues”.
The inquiry found that the events of the past few years had been “difficult for everyone involved”.
Trustees told the regulator that the “volume and confrontational nature” of the complaints from the charity’s members had been “upsetting and difficult to manage”.
While there are improvements that need to be made to how the charity is managed, there is now “greater understanding and appreciation” by the trustees of how the charity needs to be run to avoid further issues arising, the inquiry found.
“OSCR has concluded that it is not necessary or proportionate to take formal action in relation to the failure of the charity trustees to meet their charity trustee general duties in the past,” the regulator said.
“We have issued the charity with several recommendations about its governance, and we will follow up with the trustees in due course to understand the progress they have made.
“It is important that the charity trustees are allowed time to implement the recommendations and that they are given a fair opportunity by all concerned to make the necessary improvements.”