Preston Down Trust: Charity Commission decision - brief summary
Published 9 January 2014
Applies to England and Wales
© Crown copyright 2014
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/preston-down-trust/preston-down-trust-charity-commission-decision-brief-summary
The Commission re-considered an application by the Preston Down Trust (PDT), a Plymouth Brethren Christian Church (PBCC) meeting hall, for registration as a charity.
The Commission concluded that it is prepared to register PDT on the basis of a new application for registration based on revised trusts set out in a Deed of Variation presented to the Commission and annexed to the decision, and commitments to changes in religious practice and wider social engagement. The Deed of Variation varies the existing trust deed by declaring new trusts which contain, as an integral part of the trusts declarations of the core religious doctrine and practice of faith of the PBCC.
Following adoption of the Deed of Variation, the Commission is satisfied that PDT is established for exclusively charitable purposes for public benefit and can be entered onto the register of charities. The Deed of Variation provides a framework for the future administration of the trusts in a way which is charitable and which is binding on the trustees.
PDT was consequently registered as a charity with the varied trust deed on 17 January 2014.
The Commission’s decision was made pursuant to section 30 of the Charities Act 2011 (the ‘Act’) and has the potential to be appealed because it is based on the fact that PDT may act upon it. Decisions to enter or not to enter an organisation in the register of charities under this section are listed in schedule 6 to the Act as having a right of appeal in the First-tier Tribunal (Charity) (the ‘Tribunal’).
An application to the Tribunal should be made within 42 days of the date on which the notice of our decision was sent or when it was published. In both cases weekends and bank holidays are included in the 42 days.
Information about time limits, form of notice of appeal and how to make an application