Welcome to the Dunsfold Village website Dunsfold is a small village in Surrey, England, lying five miles south of Godalming close to the Sussex border, with a population of just over 1,000. The village has a thirteenth century church, a shop (with post office) and a public house.   DUNSFOLD PARISH COUNCIL to Villagers Dunsfold School Draft Scheme proposed by The Charity Commission Notes on commenting to the Charity Commission about the draft Scheme The meeting called by the Parish Council in the Winn Hall on Tuesday 30th June about the draft scheme was attended by over 80 parishioners. The current trusts require the buildings to be used for education which began here in 1839. It was stopped in 2004 when the Diocese gained approval against local opposition for transfer of the 60 infant places to Cranleigh. The draft scheme requested by the Diocese removes the educational purpose and confers on the Diocese a power of disposal of the property free of trust. At the meeting there was overwhelming opposition to this draft Scheme. COMMENTS OF VILLAGERS TO THE COMMISSION SHOULD BE SENT BY 15TH JULY The Parish Council has been asked to circulate the following notes about how to comment:- Safe deadline for comments: 15th July (period for comments ends 19th July). If commenting on line go to the Charity Commission website page by clicking here on - Dunsfold School Charity . You can then have a look at the scheme by clicking on "View Full Scheme" at the bottom of the Charity Commission website page and then return to that page and click on "Make Representation" to bring up the form for completion. If commenting by post send comments to: Charity Commission Direct PO Box 1227 Liverpool L69 3UG Quoting: Case Number: 231352 Charity Number: 4028530 Charity Name; DUNSFOLD CHURCH OF ENGLAND SCHOOL As to the comments it is best to comment in your own words and give reasons for objections. Some of the principal points in the Parish Council comments will be these:- The Scheme has similar effect to the Order applied for by the Diocese in 2006 and refused by the Secretary of State for Education (SoS) on 27th January 2009. The Diocese rejected the SoS's alternative request to discuss with the Parish Council a transaction which would achieve the education of the local children, the original endowment purpose. The Commission should be wary of diverging from the SoS's conclusion. The Diocese closed the school in 2004 by its proposal to transfer the 60 Dunsfold infant places to Cranleigh. That transfer, which failed within 12 months, and the resulting closure here, was a breach of the Dunsfold trusts but did not end them. There remains a village need with some 59 children under five who need nursery to infant education. The refusal of a trustee to carry out the trust purposes does not justify the trustee being released from them. The existing trusts derive not from the 1957 gift of the school to the Diocese but from the 1839 charitable gift of the school by village benefactors for the education of Dunsfold children. C of E education is not a requirement of the trusts, the 1957 conveyance to the Diocese was merely a gift on trust to carry out the original endowment purpose. The scheme is misconceived in looking only at the 1957 gift of the land to the Diocese. The scheme treats the Trustee as the beneficiary at the expense of the true beneficiaries, namely the local children. It enables the trustee to profit from its breach of trust by conferring the power to sell the property free of trust taking it out of the reach of the village which provided the property in the first place but still wants to educate its children. The Commission should not facilitate a trustee profiting from its breach of trust. The trustee in seeking the scheme has a conflict of interest which the Commission should recognise and not facilitate. The Diocese wishes to be free to dispose of this trust asset, dedicated to the education of local children, in order to apply the proceeds to wholly different trusts in the wider Diocese, including religious and charitable work which have no connection to the Dunsfold education trust. This cannot be a proper use of the asset of this charity. Below is a sample letter which has been sent by a resident. 2 July 2009 SAMPLE LETTER (Dunsfold Address) Charity Commission Direct PO Box 1227 Liverpool l69 3UG 1st July 2009 Dear Charity Commissioner Ref: Dunsfold Church of England School Case Number 231352 Charity Number 4028530 Having been part of a village working party, reviewing the potential reuse of our empty Infant School building for educational community use, I was dismayed to see a copy of the Draft Scheme, prepared by the Charity Commission on behalf of the Diocese of Guildford for the removal of the educational Trust status for these buildings, culminating in the potential disposal of the assets by the Diocese. We believe that the Diocese should not benefit by the disposal of an asset originally bequeathed to the village, and left in Trust, and given to the Diocese, for educational use. Even though the Diocese engineered the closure of the school under false promises of infant places in Cranleigh, there is still an educational need for an Infant and Nursery School in our village. Currently we have some 53 children in the village under 5 years old. When they reach school age they face the prospect of being bussed to a school in Godalming, some 7 miles away, as all the local village schools (themselves 5 or more miles away) are oversubscribed. The Parish Council has supported the creation of the Little Chestnuts nursery which has to currently operate out of a sports pavilion, whilst waiting for the Diocese to support our application to take over at a fair price, restore and use the empty school building. The Nursery now has some 35 children and may not be able to continue satisfactorily in their current temporary premises. It was our intention to discuss these proposals with the Diocese, and a number of meetings have been proposed, but they have not appeared willing to have any meaningful discussions with us. It has now become apparent that their motive was to avoid discussion with the Parish, as they have an ulterior motive to become free to sell and remove the asset value from the village. We are a growing village, and the school building represents the only possible venue for educational activities. In addition to the Infant and Nursery school, we want to provide space for Adult Education. The local authority is supportive of the possible retention for community use, and we have undertaken a survey of the condition of the premises in order to assess the level of costs for their refurbishment. We have requested numerous meetings with the Diocese to discuss these needs but to no avail. The Secretary of State for Education has already turned down a request from the Diocese for a Section 554 release of the Educational Trust, with a statement that the Diocese should liaise with the Parish Council regarding a transfer of the premises to them. In response the Diocese has gone direct to the Charity Commission to continue their quest to remove the Trust ties on the premises so that they can maximise their financial gain from the sale. The issues in my view are: The premises are not redundant. There is a continuing educational need, both at infant, nursery and adult educational levels. The Diocese has not undertaken any form of consultation with the Parish as to the village's requirements, as commanded by the Secretary of State for Education. There is an urgent need to restore the listed school building to its rightful place in the centre of village life. The local Authority will support the community use of the premises. The sale of the premises would remove the bulk of the asset value out of the village into the Diocesan funds, which was never intended by the original endowment. This is one of a few heritage sites still open for village use, and should not be disposed of, but should be protected by it's current Charitable Trust status. The Charity Commission should uphold the original trust set up in 1839. For these reasons we feel that the Charity Commission should not support this Draft Scheme and should not allow the Diocese of Guildford the freedom to dispose of such an important village asset on the open market, thus depriving the Village of a potential School restored to its place at the heart of village life. Yours sincerely, Dunsfold Common Management Plan For a full copy of the plan click Dunsfold Common Management Plan             Dunsfold Fire Station needs more On-Call Firefighters. Surrey Fire and Rescue Service is looking to recruit more firefighters for Dunsfold Fire Station in Binhams Meadow, specifically for cover at nights and weekends. The crew at Dunsfold work to the Retained Duty System. They have other jobs but are available from either work or home to attend incidents when their pager goes off. They also educate people to prevent fires and reduce Road Traffic Collisions. Candidates need to be reasonably fit and be available to attend the Fire Station within 4 mins from either their home or work whilst on call. Retained Duty System Firefighters receive the same hourly rate of pay as their wholetime colleagues. Crews at Dunsfold attended over 45 incidents last year and on average earned over £3,500 each. To get more information about joining Surrey Fire and Rescue Service at Dunsfold and help Make Surrey Safer go to www.surrey-fire.gov.uk/retainedfirefighters or come down to the Fire Station in Binhams Meadow on Thursday evenings from 19:30 - 21:30 hrs and talk to the firefighters. Surrey Fire and Rescue Service - with you, making Surrey Safer                 DISCLAIMER