A petition has been set up to release a building from its lease with a children’s charity that is in the process of closing down.
The BBC reported this week that the building previously used by Parc (Essex) has been unused for more than a year as the charity still holds the leasing rights for the property.
Braintree District Council, which owns the building, has said it is unable to use the building as Parc (Essex) still owns the lease.
This comes after the charity was ordered by a tribunal to pay £166,000 to 21 former employees earlier this month.
Property unused
The property at Great Notley Country Park near Braintree has been closed since the charity’s contract with Essex County Council was terminated last year.
A petition set up this month reads: “The former Parc building has been left unused for a year now (over growing and quite literally left to rot).
“Someone needs to be held accountable for this – but the most important need is for the building to be released so that the services and facilities can once again be provided to disabled children across Essex and their families.”
Braintree District Council, which owns the building, told Braintree and Witham Times it was working to regain the lease.
Resources and performance boss Kevin Bowers said: “Since last summer we have been continually asking for the trustees to be clear on their legal position so we can regain control of the property from them and bring it back to use.”
Tribunal outcome
Meanwhile, a tribunal ruling published this week shows that 21 employees successful brought claims against the charity for unfair dismissal, for a redundancy payment, protective award for failure to consult, breach of contract, unpaid holiday pay, pay in lieu of notice, and unauthorised deductions from wages.
At a preliminary hearing on 17 November 2022, Parc (Essex)’s acting chief executive Chris McCann said that he was preparing papers to put the charity into voluntary liquidation.
The tribunal states he “expressed sympathy” for the claimants and said that the charity did not seek to challenge their right to payments for redundancy, unpaid wages and all other related claims and that the charity did not challenge the sum of any such payments that the tribunal considered were awardable.
There were separate awards for each member of staff who brought a claim ranging from £231 to £18,000.
Charity Commission data shows that the charity’s reporting is overdue by 454 days, but in May 2020 its income was £615,000.
Civil Society has contacted the charity for comment.
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