The Charity Commission has written to Cardiff council after concerns were raised by locals over its trusteeship of a sports charity.
Cardiff council is the sole trustee of Maindy Park charity, which stewards the land on which a velodrome originally built for the 1958 Commonwealth Games sits.
The council previously bid to expand the local Cathays High School onto the land of the historic cycle track, which was vigorously opposed by local residents.
While the plans have been dropped, campaign group ABC Maindy Park has accused the council of mismanagement, prioritising its needs over the charity’s and damaging public trust.
In July last year, after concerns were raised, the commission told the council that it was expected to complete an independent review of its charity governance arrangements.
The commission opened a compliance case as the council began its review but has continued to receive complaints about the level of service and conditions at Maindy Park, including the velodrome.
Last month, it wrote again to the council, urging it to ward against conflicts of interest and recommending that it should consult with the charity’s beneficiaries.
In a letter seen by Civil Society, the commission’s head of regulatory authority Christine Barker confirmed that the regulator had raised ongoing risks of reputational damage, relationship friction and confusion with the council.
“On 13 April this year we issued further formal advice to the trustee,” Barker wrote.
“This sets out the steps we expect it to consider and act upon as a matter of urgency to address governance risks and ongoing disputes and complaints.
“We have emphasised the importance of the trustee clearly separating its role as trustee of the charity from its role as local authority, to avoid confusion and conflicts of interest.”
‘Hugely damaged’ public trust
Speaking to Civil Society, ABC Maindy Park member Jeremy Sparkes accused the council of mismanaging the charity in recent years.
“Its interests as local authority have been given precedence over those of the charity,” he said.
“Public trust and confidence has been hugely damaged and it cannot be repaired while the council continues to act as sole trustee.”
Sparkes said his group wanted to see the charity “move to modern governance with independent trustees as a minimum”.
A Cardiff council spokesperson said the local authority had been acting in line with the commission's request.
“A governance review of the Maindy Park Trust [the charity] is being undertaken within the timescale requested by the Charity Commission,” they said.
In August 2024, the commission wrote to all English and Welsh councils to set out “urgent” steps they needed to take after seeing a “significant number of cases where local authorities have failed to comply with their legal duties as charity trustees”.
