Wimbledon and Putney Commons is a charity managed by the Wimbledon and Putney Commons ‘conservators’, or trustees. It was established under the Wimbledon and Putney Commons Act of 1871. The Commons comprise some 1,140 acres across Wimbledon Common, Putney Heath and Putney Lower Common in the west of London. The charity’s annual income is around £1.5m.

The regulator’s inquiry, which began in August 2016, is examining a range of concerns, including the trustees’ failure to comply with a previous action plan set by the Commission in 2015.

The Commission has now appointed Gordon Reid of Barlow Robbins Solicitors as interim manager of the charity. He has been appointed to fulfil specific functions, including to consider the trustees’ decision not to take action to recover a loss suffered by the charity when it granted an easement for access rights over charity lands at a significant undervalue.

In August 2014 the charity granted the easement to the London borough of Wandsworth for £350,000. In 2012, the Conservators signed an agreement with Wandsworth Borough Council (WBC) to build a road on the Common to access the land-locked Putney Hospital site, bought by the Council for £4.4m. When accepting WBC’s offer of just £350,000 (7.37% of the site’s value) the Trustees failed to follow the steps laid down in the Charities Act 2011 on how rights over land should be valued and sold. 

According to the charity, it subsequently obtained a retrospective valuation from an independent surveyor which identified a loss to the charity of around £325,000 following this deal. Having received the retrospective valuation, two trustees recused themselves from any further involvement in consideration of how WPCC should proceed.

The charity then obtain legal opinions in relation to the application of section 60 of the Charity Commissioners’ Clauses Act 1847 (concerning liability of conservators and former conservators generally) the other on whether it was appropriate and feasible to recover the identified loss and if so from whom.

In early February 2017 the non-conflicted board members met to consider this legal advice, which pointed out that the possibility of success in claims against any conservators and former conservators or the legal firm advising on the sale was low. The surveyors originally involved, Drivers Jonas no longer existed, having been acquired by Deloitte.

The charity stated: ‘Without further considerable research and expenditure, WPCC’s advisors were unable to say there was any potential to make a successful claim against Deloitte. There was a strong possibility that the expenditure involved in building the case for a claim, and pursuing a claim, against Deloitte would exceed any sum that could be recovered.’

The non-conflicted board resolved that, in view of the clear advice received it would not be in the best interests of the charity to incur any further costs pursuing these matters, and that therefore in its view, the Charity Commission’s formal action plan of October 2015 had now been completed.

The interim manager will assess whether the trustees’ decision was taken properly and was in the best interests of the charity. The charity’s trustees remain responsible for the day-to-day management.

Prue Whyte, chairman of the conservators, said: ‘The appointment of an independent and neutral interim manager will provide a final and transparent resolution of this troubling issue. The trustees will of course cooperate fully with the interim manager.’

Ahead of its annual general meeting later this month, WPCC has put out a statement on its draft 2016/17 audited accounts, which says complying with the Charity Commission’s action plan and dealing with a separate issue relating to the conduct of an elected conservator ‘have contributed significantly to the charity’s £254,078 deficit for 2016/17.’

Legal and professional costs for these two issues culminated in expenditure of just over £220,000, while a further £32,000 in legal fees has been spent due to an on-going threat of litigation by a former employee regarding an element of pensionable pay.

As a result, the statement says, ‘the charity is running an underlying operating deficit. This is of considerable concern to the board and executive and urgent steps are being taken to bring expenditure and income into balance.’

The charity has a general fund of £524,880, designated funds of £1.25m and a restricted fund of £25,236, giving total funds of £1.8m either in cash or realisable investments. The auditors are satisfied that the charity continues to be a going concern.

Each year over 60,000 residents of Wimbledon and Putney pay over £1,000,000 a year to the charity for the upkeep of the commons through their council tax.

The Commission’s investigation into WPCC continues and it will publish a report after its conclusion detailing the issues and outcomes.