college confirm that trust did all within its powerLatest News
Prof Andrew Brewerton and Vaughan Lindsay clarify the role of Trust in College relocation decision
Following a helpful meeting with the Save Dartington College campaign it became clear that there are still many misunderstandings concerning the role of the Trust in the recent announcement that the College is considering the feasibility of a re-location from the Dartington Estate. Statements that the Trust has asked the College to leave the Estate or that it has not done enough to help the College are simply untrue.
The Dartington Hall Trust has not asked the College of Arts to leave the Dartington Estate. We want the College to survive and flourish and would be delighted if a way were found to keep the College on the Estate as an independent self-funded institution. Over the last two years, joint work by the College and the Trust has identified that to achieve this will require unsecured funding of £20m in order to resolve residual poor estates legacies, including student residences. This sum is of a higher order than either the Trust or College had anticipated, and it has become clear that the Trust alone cannot fund or under-write this sum. This is accepted and agreed by the College. Were the College able to secure this level of funding, it could secure its future at Dartington.
The Trust has done everything within its capability to support the College’s stated priority – that is, to secure its future at Dartington. Unfortunately our combined efforts have proved insufficient to attract the necessary external funding needed to meet the conditions identified for its long-term sustainability here on the Estate.
In these difficult circumstances, the College has therefore no alternative but to pursue possibilities for re-location, rather than face a prospect of eventual decline here at Dartington.
The Dartington Hall Trust is a registered charity no. 279756. Company no. 1485560
Registered Office: The Elmhirst Centre, Dartington Hall, Totnes, Devon TQ9 6EL United Kingdom.
Telephone 01803 847000; Fax 01803 847007;