Sheffield Council & Charitable Trusts

[Tony]

I came across some information relating to St Luke's but I didn't want to clutter up that thread with something so off topic.

 

What's the reasoning behind moving assets such as parks, museums, art galleries, concert venues, etc into arms length charitable trusts?

 

I've heard all sorts of notions but the ones that seem overriding are that it limits the financial liability and direct culpability of the Council it it goes wrong, while allowing slightly more 'creativity' on fund raising.

 

As I understand it SCC still contributes financially, has virtual indirect control, so why create a system that allows them to pretend that they don't own or control?

[cgksheff]

Would it not be reasonable to expect ALL the Trusts and Charities that Councillors are trustees of to appear on the "list of the memberships of the various Council meetings and representatives on external organisations" which is a download file at the bottom of this page?

 

http://www.sheffield.gov.uk/your-city-council/council-meetings

[Heyesey]

In many cases - everything donated by Graves, to start with - it's because the council do not own the items in question. They're merely charged with looking after them on behalf of the Sheffield public. If they owned Graves Park, they could've sold it for housing years ago, and the arguments about the hospice would be irrelevant.

[Tony]

I found an interesting take on the homepage of Professor Simon Roodhouse.