Agenda item

Requests to speak at the Committee on a matter within its terms of reference must be made in writing to the clerk named on the front of this agenda by 5pm two working days before the meeting.

The Chair informed members that he had received two deputation requests. The first was from The Highgate Society and LEBOC Residents Group requesting that the Dartmouth Park Healthy Neighbourhood Scheme be included on the Committee’s Work Programme for 2024/25. He said he had agreed that the issue would be included on the Committee’s Work Programme for consideration at a future Culture and Environment Scrutiny Committee meeting and there was no need for the deputation which had therefore been withdrawn.

The second deputation which had been accepted was from David Bieda accompanied by Joshua Von Uexkull and opposed the sale of the Central YMCA building on Great Russell Street. The deputation statement was included in the supplementary agenda. In addition, Councillor Sue Vincent had requested to speak in support of the deputation, which the chair had agreed to.

Consideration was given to the deputation statement referred to above.

Councillor Vincent informed the Committee that the YMCA building and club was an important local facility of great importance to the community evidence of which was shown by the very large turnout of people at the meeting this evening. Members of the community were shocked that that there had been no discussion or consultation with members or the community about the closure.

She was concerned that there had been no audit or needs assessment to determine what facilities the borough required and asked that the Committee support the retention of these much loved, valued and vital amenities and support the recommendations in the deputation statement.

The following response was given by the deputee to members questions:

• The closure of the YMCA was a similar situation to what had occurred with the closure of the Jubilee Sports Hall. The YMCA should have called a meeting to discuss the concerns with the building and consider ideas to resolve the situation and a way forward.
• There had been a consensus in the community that the building and facilities at the YMCA had not been properly managed.
• It appeared that no information had been provided to staff or the membership on what would happen with regards to the proceeds of sale of the building.
• There was concern about governance issues, financial management and legality relating to the sale of the building.
• The lead campaigners objecting to the sale of the building had appealed to the family that owned the building to change their mind and stop the sale.
• The campaign to stop the sale of the building was not sure if the building had already been sold.
• The campaigners were not sure which other facilities in the borough, YMCA members could use should the building be sold.
• It was not for Camden officers to look for alternative facilities for YMCA members, it was up to the Committee to support the campaign to retain the YMCA.

Oliver Jones, Director of Recreation and Council Nadia Shah, Cabinet Member for Voluntary Sector, Equalities and Cohesion made the following comments in response to the deputations and members questions:

• It was recognised that the Central YMCA had a rich history and key impact on the health and well-being of central Londoners over a very significant period of time. Particularly the impact and importance of the facilities to Londoners during the period of the pandemic.
• It formed part of the proactive Camden network which existed to develop and support physical activity in the borough and was an independent charity providing leisure facilities and activities in Camden and central London.
• Great Russell Street was not the only site in the Central YMCA. There was a further venue on Judd Street known as KX. The decisions, foreclosure and sale of the Great Russell Street site were the responsibility of and were made by Trust Charity Trustees and published on Monday 2^nd December 2024.
• As with all charities, the trustees had 6 main duties including ensuring that the charity carried out its purpose for public benefit, complied with the charity’s governing document and the law, acted in the charity’s best interest, managed the charity’s resources responsibly with reasonable care and skill and ensured that the charity was accountable.
• In the YMCA’s notification of decision on 2^nd December it referenced several factors leading to the decision but ultimately stated that the cost of operations of the club were not being covered by the number of members and could therefore not be sustained.
• The Council had reviewed the Charity Commissions accounts available online up to July 2023 which showed 4 years deficits of between £2.5m to £4.4m losses per year with a reserve of £15.7m remaining as at July 2023. The accounts to July 2024 were not available.
• The available financial information on the state of finances had indicated that the Central YMCA had been operating in a difficult environment for quite some time.
• The Council had two main areas of involvement, offering its help and support to facilitate Central YMCA continue its work either at the Judd Street site or other venues in the borough. The other was as the local planning authority it could scrutinise any proposals for the site from the new owners against its planning policies that enforced protections for cultural, leisure and community facilities.
• Officers could look at the Land Registry document to determine whether there were any legal binding covenants and look back through the minutes to determine as per Councillor Vincent’s request whether the Council attached any conditions to the funding it provided to the YMCA in 1975 and report findings back to the Committee.

ACTION BY: Director of Recreation

 The Council had no authority over independent charities and private land ownership. It had planning and enforcement powers that were attributable to separate use classes and unlawful change of use on the site.

Officers could check if Criterion Capital owned the YMCA building and any other buildings in the borough and whether they were open to reversing their decision and report back to the Committee.

ACTION BY: Director of Recreation.

• The Cabinet Member for Voluntary Sector, Equalities and Cohesion invited to comment on the deputation stated that it was sad that the borough was losing a great asset of significant community importance. She was sorry to just be hearing about this at a very late stage in the process when it appeared that the sale of the building had either already been completed or was about to be finalised. She would support looking into why this had happened, whether it had to happen, and if there was anything the Council could do including, whether it could engage with the YMCA or look into delivering some of the high impact activities in and around the area.

Committee Members made the following comments:

·       They were frustrated, angered and outraged by what had happened and endorsed everything that had been said by the deputation. In future would like the space to remain delivering its current services, would not want the services to disappear resulting in the local communities across the southern part of Euston Road experience the loss of such a great amenity in the area.

·       The same model used to protect live venues such as the Music Venue Trust should be used for this venue. Camden was a cultural borough and was part of its culture and this campaign was supported.

·       The decision of the YMCA sending a scant letter and not attending the meeting this evening was condemned. As well as their decision to conduct the entire process in secret for which there appeared to be no justification. The Campaign was supported.

·       The Council should explore whether the building had been sold, if it should ask Camden’s GLA Assembly member to intervene on behalf of stakeholders and explore all available options.

.

The Chair noted that members supported the campaign not to sell the YMCA building and the Committee endorsed all the recommendations in the deputation thanking the deputee for attending the meeting.