Not fit for purpose...
"History of the Charity Commission
Prior to the 1840's body of Commissioners had been established by the Statue of Charitable Uses 1601 however these proved ineffective. The Charity Commission was first established by the Charitable Trusts Act 1853. There had been several atempts at reforming charities before that which had been opposed by various interest groups including the church, the courts, the companies, and the universities.[8] The power of the commission was strengthened by amendments to the act in 1855, 1860, 1862.[9]
The Charities Act 2006 established its current structure and name.[10]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charity_Commission_for_England_and_Wales
Don't you just love those dates? 18-this and 18-that all the way up to 2006. All terribly sexy stuff.
Let's try 1903.
In 1903 a certain Lt Colonel Charles Newman Kidd gave 'in perpetuity' a land legacy to the townspeople of Dartford. Over many years and with the good-offices of a string of local worthies this land legacy was added to, to become Dartford's Central Park.
-The Council sold a lump of it to a developer. [2004]
-Locals complained to the Charity Commission who determined that the Council had had no right to sell the land. [2009]
-The Tribunal ordered that the cash was to be earmarked for the purchase of other recreational land and that the Council appoint independent trustees, to avoid any conflict of interest. (too late to get the land back)
Now, over to you dear reader. Imagine yourself as one of the selfless public-spirited folk entrusted with the decision as to what to do next...
-The Council spent the money on buying another part of Central Park from itself.
Local residents took the matter of the Councils non compliance with the Tribunal's order to appoint independent trustees back to the Charities Commission Tribunal who had made the order in the first place.
However...the judge said, [that under the legislation that created the tribunal, it had...] "no power to intervene where it is alleged that a party is acting in breach of it's earlier decision"
Let's blame the Civil Service, or Jimmy Saville, or Saadam Hussein, or Lawyers, or...
