FOI Request Grant Park Public Trust

Request 101001617935

I note reference to "Grant Park Public Trust" on the Moray Council web site. Could you please tell me when this trust was established, who it is registered with and what its terms of reference are.

Response 16-10-2017

The Trust described as the Grant Park Public Trust on the website was established in 1923.

On 23 July 1920  the Town Council bought Forres House and grounds from Mrs Margaret Emily Brown or Dunbar Dunbar Rivers for £5,000 from the Common Good Fund.

In 1923 Sir Alexander Grant (Director of McVities ) gifted £5,000 to Town Council by way of reimbursement to Common Good and gave a further £1,000 to convert the grounds to a park for the people of Forres on certain conditions.

Later that year, the Town Council make a Declaration of Trust which codified the certain conditions and also had the effect of creating a Public Trust.  The Trust consists of the land and buildings of Grant Park. The trust is not registered with the Office of the Charity Regulator. The Deed of Trust was registered in the Books of the Lords of Council and Session (Register of Deeds) at Edinburgh on 29 August 1923.

Updated Response 24-10-2017

We have added further detail and background information to the published answer to your FOI request number 101001617935 relating to Grant Park Public Trust which you may find useful.

The Grant Park Public Trust was not set up in 2016. It was established in 1923 as described in the updated information.

The Council set up only one Trust in 2016 as part of the Council’s Trusts re-organisation.  The Moray Council Charitable Trust was registered as a charity with OSCR on 18 August 2016. This was reported to the Policy and Resources Committee on 27 September 2016 and the report and appendices can be found at item 9 on the following link:

http://www.moray.gov.uk/minutes/data/PR20160927A00.pdf

Updated Information:

The Trust described as Grant Park Public Trust on the website was established in 1923.

Two Trusts relating to Grant Park were established in 1923 and the history is described below:

1920 (23 July) - The Town Council bought Forres House and grounds from Mrs Margaret Emily Brown or Dunbar Dunbar Rivers for £5,000 from the Common Good Fund.

1923 - Sir Alexander Grant (Director of McVities) gifts £5,000 to the Town Council by way of reimbursement to Common Good and gives a further £1,000 to convert the grounds to a park for the people of Forres on certain conditions.

1923 (Registered 29 August) - The Town Council makes a Declaration of Trust which codifies the certain conditions and also has the effect of creating a Public Trust. (Trust 1)

1923 (Registered 26 October) - Having effectively bought Forres House and grounds for the people of Forres (by reimbursing the Common Good Fund), Alexander Grant sought to provide for the upkeep of the park and accordingly granted a Deed of Trust which consisted of a Bond for £5,000 from which 5% interest was to be paid to the Town Council for 10 years (after which the capital sum of £5,000 could be called up by the Town Council). Thus a second trust was formed (Trust 2).

 

Trust 1 is a Public Trust consisting of the land and buildings of Grant Park as described in the Declaration of Trust registered on 29 August 1923.

This Trust is referred to as Grant Park Public Trust in the Council's financial records.

The Trust is not registered with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR).

This Trust was probably Common Good from 1920 until 1923 when the Burgh made a Declaration of Trust in return for Mr Grant's reimbursement of the purchase price.

The Common Good was reimbursed and a Public Trust was created.

The Trust assets were previously incorrectly classified as Common Good in the Council's financial records. This was rectified in the Council's 2014/15 Accounts following title investigations.

The legal status of the land and buildings in Grant Park has not changed since 1923. What did

change in 2014/15 was the accounting treatment of the assets.

 

Trust 2 is a Trust set up for the maintenance of Grant Park. It consists of the residual funds of the £5,000 bond.

This Trust is referred to as Grant Park Trust in the Council's financial records.

The trust is registered with OSCR.

Historically charitable trusts were registered with the Inland Revenue and OSCR transferred all such Trusts, including Grant Park Trust, into their systems.

Grant Park Trust has been registered as a charity for many years.

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