Concerns over Chambers Trust transparency

The request follows a controversial decision by the current six trustees who gave the go-ahead to fell the trees within the Quadrangle last year.

This angered the community council who said there was no consultation and led to the chairman delving into minutes of historical meetings of the Trust only to find many records missing.

The six trustees of the Chambers Institution – councillors Shona Haslam, Stuart Bell, Robin Tatler, Heather Anderson, Kris Chapman and Eric Small - approved cutting down the two Rowan trees because of their detrimental impact on surrounding buildings.

One of the conditions to that agreement was that replacement trees must be planted.

The Chambers Institution was gifted to the town in 1859 by William Chambers, one of the founders of the famous publishing house.

But a member of the Peebles Civic Society says that gift has been “forgotten” and has led to serious concerns regarding the local authority having a conflict of interest.

Trustee Chairman Kris Chapman, detailed the history of the Chambers Institution in a presentation to Peebles Community Council last week.

He said the buildings are for the “betterment of the people of Peebles”, and promised that he and his fellow trustees, were committed to making sure that is delivered.

Chairman of the town’s community council, Les Turnbull said: “The community council started to become a little bit concerned as there seemed to be a lack of transparency.

“I looked at Scottish Borders Council’s website to find minutes and the record of meetings is fairly haphazard. There seemed to be some gaps and I couldn’t quite piece together exactly what was going on.

“As you quite rightly said at the beginning of your presentation, the Chambers Institution Trust was formed as the buildings were gifted for the benefit the people of Peeblesshire.

"As we were the County Town at that time, and still one of the principle towns now, we felt it important to try and achieve some transparency. It seemed as well that the Trust did not have any public representation. The public seemed to be excluded and that was the genesis of our concerns.”

Councillor Chapman confirmed that meetings of the Chambers Institution Trust have always been public and locals are welcome to attend.

He said: “One of the things I would like is to make sure that is better known to the people of Peeblesshire. You’re welcome to attend and observe. They are all available of the SBC calendar of events.”

Mr Turnbull asked if a representative from the community council could join the Board of Trustees.

But he was told that Scottish Borders Council reconstituted the Chambers Institution Trust so that it consisted only of councillors, and any decision to change that to allow a member of the community council to join would require full agreement of the council.

Mr Turnbull said: “It seems in this day in age when we are talking about community empowerment and the sharing of decisions that there ought to be some representation on the Board of Trustees. I would be grateful if you would take that back to legal and see where we go from here.”

Councillor Stuart Bell asked: “Can I ask what value that would add, because the challenge that we’ve got in terms of the Chambers Institution Trust is the practicality of driving forward what needs to be done in an environment where we are working with officers.

"That’s different from the Common Good where we are dealing with the overall administration of the assets and the distribution of funds.

“The work that we do in the Chambers Institution Trust is much more directly concerned with the fabric of the building and the instruction of officers in relationship to buildings.

“If Peebles Community Council wants to be represented on the Trust I think is incumbent on you to tell the Trustees and the Council what added value that will bring.”

Mr Turnbull said that concerns were made to him by members of the public not being able to use the Burgh Hall because of the condition of the building.

“Given that we in the community council are a voice for the community I would’ve thought there would be some benefit in having that extra voice on the Board of Trustees.”

Community councillor Lawrie Hayworth agreed that meetings of the Chambers Institution lacked a sense of openness but said that councillors are the public’s representatives.

He added: “People sometimes find it difficult to disentangle the role of councillors from the role of the administrative council body. Our elected members are taking the views of our community to the administrative organisation of Scottish Borders Council.”

Stressing that the Trust welcomes and values input from the community, Councillor Chapman said the erection of the Tommy silhouettes outside the War Memorial was achieved through community engagement.

However, Steve Dube from the Peebles Civic Society said their objections to the felling of the trees were not listened to and the public were unanimously against it.

He added: “Along the way the original intention of William Chambers to leave this building to the people of Peebles has sort of been forgotten.

“We are in the situation where the Council is acting both as a landlord and a tenant and I don’t think that’s good.

"Part of the reason for having an equal number of councillors and individuals on the Trust is a safeguard to that clear conflict of interest.”

Councillors Chapman said the Trust is an independent body which is supported by the Council and due diligence is taking place to ensure there is no conflict of interest.