Charitable Status

Charitable status

 Two sections of the Green Seafront are currently held by the Town Council under Charitable Trusts. 

 Sandpit Field was gifted to the town by the executors of Arthur Rainsford Mowlem in 1990. This land, together with the benefits of covenants on property across the De Moulham Estate, were registered as a charity in the mid 1990s.  

Weather Station Field was given by John Ernest Mowlem to the former Swanage Urban District Council in 1924 together with three other small parcels of land and registered with the Charity Commission as the Gift of Public Pleasure Grounds Charity.  

 Although the Town Council owns both of these properties, it does so in its capacity as corporate trustee and cannot spend significant funds it has raised as a local authority on land with charitable status. This does not apply to the Spa beach hut area. 

 Neither charity has access to the funds necessary to stabilise the property. Therefore, one option being given serious consideration is the Town Council taking full ownership of the property, thereby removing its charitable status. The Town Council has sought guidance from the Charity Commission regarding the best way forward and is following the advice received.

The Town Council has recently agreed to enter into a legally binding commitment to protect both Sandpit Field and the Weather Station Field as public open space, in addition to the protections provided through the policies contained in the Swanage Local Plan. Together this provides assurance to local residents that the removal of charitable status will not have any detrimental impact on the long-term future of these important green spaces.