Graves Park group makes complaint about Sheffield City Council “misconduct or mismanagement” to Charity Commission

The complaint referred to Norton Nurseries, the move to disposal of the freehold for Bole Hill Farm, restoration of the Rose Garden Cafe and a proposed lease deal for the park tennis courts.

The Friends group said: “These disposals are a significant threat to Graves Park’s assets and should be identified and investigated by the Charity Commission as apparent misconduct or mismanagement by the Trustee, instead of being condoned by the Charity Commission.”

The group have been fighting a long battle with the council, who are the sole charitable trustees for the city’s biggest park, which was gifted to the city by Alderman J G Graves, to complete their work of returning the nurseries site to parkland.

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They have opposed the disposal of the freehold of the farm and giving an outside operator a 25-year lease for the tennis courts because they fear an eventual sell-off of parts of the park. In their letter, the Friends said they cautiously welcome a council-community partnership to restore the cafe but argue it got into a poor state through council neglect and worry it will be endangered in future.

The letter states: “The Friends are acutely aware that Graves Park, instead of being protected by its trustee, has been, is and will be continually under threat of disposal. It is also neglected and regular maintenance is continuing to be absent, so that valuable historic assets, some of which are listed, are in serious danger of being lost, or disposed of, or falling into yet further deteriorated states.”

‘Untruthful’

The group accuse the council of being “at best misleading and at worst untruthful” in their account of decisions about the nurseries site. They also say that the council has made a false claim about undertaking a review of all depot facilities, including the nurseries site.

The council has said that currently the land is used for storage of rubbish collected from many city parks before transfer to a waste collection site in Darnall.

Caroline Dewar, chair of the group, said in a statement: “The Friends of Graves Park were very alarmed when they heard, at the Sheffield City Council charity sub-committee meeting on March 4, 2024, that the council was working towards “regularising” the situation regarding the Norton Nurseries site by disposing of it to itself, so that it can be run as a council depot for parks and other open spaces.

“Apparently, they have been pursuing this course of action since 2016 and before, which means that when FOGP have asked for the next section of the Norton Nurseries site to be released so that it can be restored back to parkland, the council knew that it had no intention of doing this and was actively pursuing plans to take it over and use it as a depot.

“They have admitted that they have been using it as a depot, without permission from the Charity Commission, since before 2016, but can’t find any records of when this was formally agreed in council (probably because it never was).

“The Friends of Graves Park are very upset by this, as it would appear that regarding the Nurseries site and its restoration, the council have been at best misleading and at worst, untruthful.

Misuse

“We have therefore put together a formal complaint to the Charity Commission, about this and other issues, including the disposal of the tennis courts in Graves Park as part of the Hillsborough Park Tennis hub deal. We are currently awaiting a reply from the Charity Commission.

“The Friends are determined to continue to try and protect Graves Park from further disposal, misuse and neglect. We will continue to share our concerns with the Charity Commission, Sheffield City Council and Sheffield’s citizens until the safety of Graves Park as a charitable gift is secure.”

Coun Richard Williams, chair of the council charity trustee sub-committee, said: “We take every complaint and concern addressed to us by our local community very seriously.

“We are looking into the concerns raised in the letter and will actively support the Charity Commission in anything it wishes to discuss.”