A CONTROVERSIAL Holmfirth charity is in hot water again after it was forced to give back a plot of land.
Holme Valley Land Charity – set up by Holme Valley Parish Council – claimed part of a Thurstonland family’s field was theirs. The charity said it was going to sell the plot unless the family bought it back from them.
Now after a Land Registry adjudicator ruled in her favour, property owner Jacqui Duns has spoken out about her bitter battle.
Mrs Duns’ nightmare began after the Holmfirth-based charity revealed 26 plots of land it said it had acquired after 25 years of work by parish council officials.
It hosted a land sale in December 2009 where 13 of the plots were put on the market in a bid to raise cash for community work. Several were sold, raising more than £50,000, but last year the charity was forced to buy back a plot at Swindon Knowle in Honley after it emerged it was Common Land.
The Examiner has now learned the charity has lost five other plots it had claimed that belonged to Yorkshire Water.
Mrs Duns said despite having official land title deeds and documents proving they had owned the plot off Top O’ The Bank since 1944, the charity refused to back down.
Last summer Mrs Duns claimed charity chairman and Holme Valley parish councillor Greg Cropper had told her to “make them an offer” of at least £1,000 to buy the land back. He allegedly said that legal costs could rocket.
Mrs Duns said the charity had withdrawn from the legal process at the very last minute but not before she had forked out more than £11,000 on legal fees.
She said: “They’ve had to give the land back, but not before they’ve carried out their original threat of running up our legal costs. They’ve tried to get money from us as they originally asked us to pay £5,000 for it.
“The sad thing is there’s no winners in this. Yes we’ve got the land we rightfully owned back, but it’s been at a great cost, not just financially but the personal cost through anxiety .
“What they’ve done to our family over the last two-and-a-half years has been despicable.
“How many others are there – we just don’t know?”
The Examiner approached Clr Cropper, but he declined to comment.
Secretary to the Trustee Sally Barber said the charity could not make public comment until the legal case was settled.
Mrs Duns said her family was very bitter about the way the charity had pursued their land without ever explaining how they had claimed it or how they were going to use it.
She added: “We feel extremely angry about the way they’ve conducted themselves. They fought and fought and totally disregarded any of our evidence.
“I think it’s time for the clandestine behaviour, the secret meetings and all the goings on behind closed doors to be revealed. Anyone can look at all the documentation I’ve got but what they have to hide I don’t know?”
Earlier this year Holme Valley Parish Council was rapped by the Information Commissioner for refusing to answer Freedom of Information requests about the land charity.
A ruling from the Information Commissioner’s Office stated it had breached the Environmental Information Regulations and said information should be revealed.
Accounts on the Charity Commission website show the charity raised another £30,000 through land sales last year. It is yet to announce any community projects, but the accounts show it has spent more than £7,000 on legal fees in the past two financial years.
