Footnotes « The Seale-Haynians

How Did It Happen?
	The 1989 Charity Commission scheme controlling the “Seale-Hayne College Trust” made the University of Plymouth the Trustee of the Charity, but specified in its Clause 10 that control of the assets belonging to the Charity must be referred to a ‘Faculty Council’, a body of some sixteen people that was already in existence within Seale-Hayne College (in effect the previous Governing Body of Seale-Hayne College). As constituted at that time this Faculty Council was sufficiently independent of the University to be the correct body to safeguard the substantial assets of the Charity. In 1993/94, the University decided to disband all its Faculty Councils, but because of the charitable status of Seale-Hayne and the role of its Faculty Council under clause 10 of the scheme, the University could not disband the Seale-Hayne Council. After many heated debates and a disputed vote, the Vice Chancellor and the Board of Governors eventually reconstituted the Seale-Hayne Faculty Council to become a committee of the Board of Governors of the University consisting of just five members appointed by the Board of Governors.

This reconstitution directly impacted on the scheme controlling the Seale-Hayne Charity, but the change was not notified to the Charity Commission.
	Appointed by the University Governors to this revised Faculty Council in 1994 was a very elderly Chairman, two “independent” people with no knowledge of the recent history of the Charity and two people with close links to the University, one of which had to resign after the first meeting because of a ‘conflict of interest’.It is alleged, and there is evidence to show that the “dumbing down” of the original Faculty Council was a deliberate move by the University in its attempt to gain control of the assets of the Charity, namely the Seale-Hayne site.After scant meetings and minimal confused information, it was this new Faculty Council that eventually ‘agreed’ in 1999 under clause 10 of the scheme to the change of ownership of the Seale-Hayne Charity’s assets proposed by the University, and subsequently ratified by the Charity Commission in a new scheme. Under this new scheme, the University of Plymouth gained the freehold of all the assets of the Seale-Hayne College Trust in return for depositing a sum of money (£750,000) into a trust that became the new “Seale-Hayne Educational Trust”.Within 3 years of achieving this change, the University had decided to close Seale-Hayne College and was planning substantial development at the site, presumably with an eye to the realisation of the value of its newly acquired assets. That capitalization has already been partly realised with the sale of some of the property, stock and machinery bringing an income already far in excess of the money invested by the University into the new Seale-Hayne Charitable Trust. And the sale of the remainder of Seale-Hayne (with reports of up to £40m being a possible price) is now announced. Because of this questionable chain of events, and the obvious financial gain that the University of Plymouth stands to achieve, many people now feel that to retain a shred of dignity in this affair, the University must consider carefully what happens next. Many feel that the site should be allowed to retain its original educational purpose as decreed by Sir Charles Seale-Hayne in his will, and this will obviously be dictated by whatever tender is eventually accepted by the University. Sale price should not be a controlling factor. But look also at the value of the Seale-Hayne Charity now, compared to its value before 1999. The University of Plymouth stands to gain a substantial windfall at the expense of this charity. A substantial part (if not all) of the eventual sale proceeds should be directed back into the current Seale-Hayne Educational Trust. I.G.G

How Did It Happen?

This reconstitution directly impacted on the scheme controlling the Seale-Hayne Charity, but the change was not notified to the Charity Commission.