The Charity Commission has opened a statutory inquiry into the north London-based College Farm Trust with regards to trustee decision making.
The regulator said its investigation into the charity, which registered in 1999 to manage and conserve the farm for the public benefit, would focus on the governance and management of the charity as well as any potential misconduct or mismanagement.
Its inquiry, which opened on 5 August, will also look at trustees’ compliance with their legal duties, whether there has been any unauthorised trustee benefit, and if there is a risk to charity property.
Apart from the regulator’s inquiry, College Farm Trust’s trustees have faced criticism from various other local groups in recent years.
According to College Farm Action Group, the site located in Finchley used to operate as a popular local attraction from 1980 until 2001, when it was shut down because of a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak.
Since then, new trustees have taken over the charity and planned to build houses on the farm, according to an advocacy website called Saving College Farm.
“Sadly, the farm is not a safe place for the public to visit whilst the buildings are in this condition,” the website states.
“The trustees clearly are not fulfilling their aims to manage and conserve College Farm, in particular its environmental, historical and architectural heritage.”
According to the College Farm Action Group website, a small group of advocates has been discussing ways that the local community could help to get the farm reopened to the public since 2014.
In March 2019, the Barnet council listed College Farm as an asset of community value (ACV), which is a building or other land used to further the social wellbeing or social interests of the local community and could do so in the future.
Efforts to reopen the farm to public
According to the Saving College Farm website, the site currently operates as a pet store, offering horse feed and tack, pet supplies and accessories and dog grooming services.
But the farm facilities, which are on Historic England’s at-risk register, are unsafe for public use and in need of repair, according to the Barnet Society, an organisation that campaigns for the environment of Barnet and surrounding areas and for the protection of the Green Belt.
The Saving College Farm Group was also set up on Facebook in 2021, with almost 1,500 members, to support the reopening of the farm.
Civil Society has contacted the admins of the Facebook group, but they have not responded at the time of publication.
A crowdfunding campaign has also been set up, seeking donations to feed the animals on the farm.
It costs around £300 a month to feed the animals, the campaign states, which include four pigs, two donkeys, a goat, six cows, “lots” of chickens, a pony and a short horn bull!”.
Civil Society has approached College Farm Trust, which lists three trustees on the Commission website including chair Neil McAuliffe, for comment.
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