News / Trust bows to OSCR’s threat
SHETLAND Charitable Trust has bowed to threats from the Scottish charity regulator OSCR to take legal action unless it abandons plans to run a referendum on reform.
However trustees have clearly not given up on the idea of going to the public for a vote on changes designed to remove Shetland Islands Council control of the trust.
Trust chairman Bill Manson had to use his casting vote to defeat an amendment by SIC convener Sandy Cluness, who had called for the trust to maintain its demand for a referendum even if it was carried by an outside organisation.
The trust has been struggling to find a way to reform itself for the past three years to meet current charity legislation, which demands it is no longer controlled by an overwhelming majority of elected councillors.
Matters came to a head last month when OSCR wrote a stiff letter to all trustees accusing them of “misconduct” and giving them until Thursday 8 December to abandon their latest decision to hold a referendum.
An emergency meeting held on Wednesday, one day before the deadline, was attended via videolink by the trust’s chief legal adviser Simon Macintosh, of Turcan Connell, who warned trustees they were risking the loss of control of the trust.
“If you don’t get back to OSCR within the 14 day timetable with the undertaking they seek, they will go to the Court of Session straight away without further discussion with the trust body,” he said.
“At that point it would have the effect of the trust effectively losing any control over the process, because you would then be working to OSCR’s or the court’s timetable.”
He said the court could apply “very far reaching, wide ranging sanctions”, which could involve appointing a judicial factor to run the trust.
Trustees were not prepared to put at risk the £200 million fund which has provided an enviable level of buildings and services in the isles, in return for hosting the oil industry at Sullom Voe.
However Mr Cluness won support from nine fellow trustees for his motion to tell OSCR that while the trust would not run its own referendum, it still believed this was the “only appropriate of obtaining full consultation with the Shetland community”.
OSCR said the proposed referendum had no legal basis as two of the three options being proposed, including maintaining the status quo of councillor control, were not legal.
Trustees were very unhappy with the tone of OSCR’s letter, which said the decision to call for a referendum amounted to “misconduct”.
Mr Manson agreed to their request to invite OSCR’s new chief executive David Robb to visit Shetland as soon as possible to hear for himself the unique circumstances of the Shetland trust.
Mr Cluness said the trust was set up to work “in harmony with” the council. “That has enabled us to provide care homes and leisure centres and everything else. It was designed to develop the economic future of this community,” he said.
He added that the Scottish government looked on the trust as an example of good practice for the use of revenues from the offshore energy industry.
“I don’t believe there is any appropriate method of consultation other than asking the public as a whole what they wish to see in the way of the governance of this particular body, and that means a referendum.
“It doesn’t necessarily mean the charitable trust should hold a referendum. It might well be by the Scottish government, Shetland Islands Council or one of the local newspapers. It’s perfectly possible to have a referendum.”
The trust will meet again on 15 December to decide what steps it will now take to move towards a new governing structure, which OSCR demands will not be dominated by SIC councillors. They have until 22 December to outline a route map for reform to OSCR.
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