Trust v Tenants?

Readers of this blog will be aware of the current dispute between the Trust and some residents. The Trust wants to close NL Homes and bring its 45 tenancies directly under their control. It is not clear if their opponents want to maintain the status quo or negotiate some compromise  arrangement.

Facts

In 1968 the Gourock Rope Company announced the closure of the mills with the loss of  350 jobs. By 1970 there were only 80 people living in the village. In 1974 the New Lanark Conservation Trust was formed. The village buildings were in a very bad condition and faced restoration or demolition.

Public money was provided for the restoration of Caithness Row, Nursery Buildings and New Buildings on the condition that they be used to provide low cost accommodation. That produced 45 tenanted properties.

Recently the Trust has taken three of those properties for commercial purposes. Two are to be used to provide accommodation for hotel employees and the third is to be rented on the open market at commercial rates [Airbnb?].



After public funding dried up private finance was used to restore ten properties in Braxfield Row, ten properties in Long Row and seven properties in Double Row. Though only seventeen are currently occupied.

Circumstances have resulted in the Trust not only being responsible for conserving the village but also acting as a provider of low cost accommodation.

The Trust gets funding for specific projects [such as the work on Caithness Row] but little otherwise. At the 22nd July village meeting a Trust representative said they only received £200,000 of public money to fund general operations. The Trust must earn everything else from its commercial operations [hotel, NL Trading etc]. These do not appear to be providing enough.

Fortunately, the Trust has a piggy bank. In addition to the £200,000 held by NL Homes [which will pass to their control] they have a tenanted property portfolio worth £3-4 million. If properties were sold as they became vacant they could fund the Trust for many years. I do not know if that is the Trust's intent.

Opinion

There are two good reasons why the Trust must be adequately funded.

1.  To secure the jobs of the many people it employs. If the Trust has to reduce its costs there is only one way to make significant reductions.

2.  To enable it to carry out essential projects [e.g. the Rosedale Street surfacing] and general maintenance.

If it needs to sell off properties it should be able to do so. Selling off 10-15 tenanted properties over several years would establish a balance in the village between renters and owners. It could also reinvigorate the the community life of the village. It used to be that tenants played an active part in the social life of the village. There were many community events each year. Those have all been lost and few of the current tenants appear to have any interest in village life. New Lanark is just a cheap place to live.

The Trust has attracted unwelcome publicity over the NL Homes affair and some residents appear to regard it with suspicion and hostility. It is the Trust's fault that it is seen by some as remote, secretive and unreliable.  For example, there used to be villagers on the Trust committee, now there are none. One trustee lives in Lanark, the rest come from further away. The trustee recruitment process is questionable.  There needs to be a new relationship and better communication between the Trust and those who live in the village.

The Chosen Ones - a list of current trustees