WACA’S MISLEADING STATEMENT AGAINST LOCAL VOLUNTEERS WAS PREVIOUSLY DISCREDITED BY WWP, YET SOME APPEAR TO HAVE MISSED THIS IMPORTANT FACT
It has recently (August 2014) been brought to our attention that some misunderstanding may exist about valid grievances against Cllr Ted Hartill and WACA, his Woodvale charity, with regards to the ongoing WWP complaint from Cllr Haydn Preece.
Remarks made by a poster on the OTS News site at this link below indicate serious misunderstanding about the concerns of WWP whistleblowers
https://www.otsnews.co.uk/people-power-in-action-once-again-ainsdale-southport/
We also note that these remarks were responded to by another poster, using data that was undoubtedly accessed from our WWP blog site.
WWP has, as readers can observe, previously ‘discredited’ WACA’s dismissive and highly ambiguous statement. Nevertheless, because this data is fundamental to a greater understanding of our complaint we shall report extracts once again below for clarification.
A negative statement concerning the original Woodvale Woodland Project (WWP) volunteers, accessed on Facebook and written by Woodvale & Ainsdale Community Association (WACA), has come to our attention.
WWP must consequently correct the wide-ranging inaccuracies in the following WACA statement that has been brought to our attention by a well-wisher.
- We, however, note that this WACA content link is now unavailable to some people but this is the Facebook link in question:
Statement by Woodvale & Ainsdale Community Association (“WACA”) January 24, 2014, at 1:35 pm
The WACA STATEMENT against volunteers is also to be seen on their charity site page here:
http://home.btconnect.com/woodvalecommunitycentre/Downloads/WWP%20Statement.pdf
WACA says:
We have been made aware of several media items in relation to the WWP and WACA that appears to originate from a grievance between one family and the WWP. This has been very upsetting for the staff, trustees and volunteers at WACA and such statements have been extremely detrimental to our small charity. Due to some inaccurate information being circulated we would like to clarify the following:
WWP response:
The “grievance” mentioned by this ‘anonymous’ WACA writer is NOT confined to one family. Furthermore, it is not a single grievance but a whole, series of serious complaints that have remained unaddressed. Although the Regan family has committed a great deal of time and energy into this project, other people from other families have also worked very hard to make the project successful. WACA does these volunteers, a huge disservice by seeking to mislead readers like this. The only “inaccurate information” has been circulated by WACA/Tory Cllr Hartill and not others. WACA, therefore, can ‘only’ blame itself and their Chairman’s unacceptable conduct for the current situation at hand!
WACA says:
The Woodvale Woodland Project (“WWP”) was initiated in 2012 by Woodvale & Ainsdale Community Association (“WACA”).
WWP response:
Members have no issue with this statement! However, the Project only effectively kicked into gear at the first public meeting, back in March 2013. We made the Project what is and most of the time we were the ‘only’ members who turned up for work!
WACA says:
While WACA has no political affiliation, we are grateful to current chair of the Community Association, Cllr Ted Hartill, him for all the many hours he has contributed as a proactive trustee, helping at the Youth Club, taking local young people Mountain Biking and Blo Karting, helping young women to learn Self Defence, and project managing the WWP for the benefit of the community. Ted Hartill has done all of this on a voluntary basis for the past 8 years.
WWP response:
This WACA statement is wholly immaterial and has no feasible link to the current problems between Cllr Ted Hartill’s conduct and the vote of ‘no confidence’ he has received from our original WWP members. Cllr Hartill’s ‘leisure time’ hobbies, as noted above, are of no concern to us. Nevertheless, the WACA chairman, Cllr Ted Hartill, has blatantly sought to use the Project to increase his political standing in the community and this was validated in his emails to members. See this WWP link for details:
http://woodvalewp.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/the-facts-why-wwp-will-not-work-with.html
WACA should realise that very many ordinary people in fact volunteer freely over many years for all sorts of things. These good people do not run around seeking accolades and do it because they care!
WACA (not us) mention the “Youth Club” here for some unspecified reason. Serious issues about a certain drug-related prank (between a young person and a youth club volunteer) are ‘not’ something that WACA will, however, wish to unduly highlight at this stage we imagine?
WACA says:
The WWP continues to be, and always has been, part of WACA. Any volunteers working with the permission of WACA are covered by our public liability insurance up to £5,000,000.
WWP response
This statement is somewhat comical and astonishingly misleading, as the original WWP team is the one that has done 99% of all the hard work and the one that still makes up the lion’s share of the volunteer team. Serious insurance issues under Cllr Hartill’s careless remit have been appalling. He had WWP members operating dangerous power tools and starting fires all summer long ‘against’ Council advice. Thus, any insurance cover WACA claims to be applicable herein would, of course, be entirely invalid. Is WACA honestly seeking to claim that any WWP volunteers may do whatever they like with whatever power tools they wish to use and ‘still’ be covered for insurance on Council land? Is WACA also seeking to mislead others as they ‘know’ their statement herein is being very economical with the truth!
Cllr Hartill was told by the Council that use of machinery had to stop until further notice. Anyone, for example, using a chainsaw must have a valid chainsaw certificate of which they would have to obtain at their ‘own’ extensive expense. Also, they would need to have all of the relevant PPE equipment and have the appropriate insurance. Use of power drills, generators, etc on the Council site was also unauthorised. Cllr Hartill dismissed requests to halt the use of such power tools and referred to an officer who had told him to cease this activity as an “old woman.”
Council training sessions are for basic gardening ‘only’ and will not cover anyone for anything more than that. WACA and Cllr Hartill appear to be unfamiliar with the facts, or simply ignoring them! Insurance accentuated by WACA was clearly NOT adequate and that was ‘why’ the Council finally stepped in and made WWP volunteers sign their Parkforce training cover agreements in October. Parkforce training cover in fact ONLY gave workers the cover to use basic tools (e.g. spades, rakes, etc) and NOT power tools, as Cllr Hartill had persistently and carelessly urged other volunteers to employ over the previous 9 months. Photos on the WWP blog give clear evidence of this. Some WWP members, in fact, left the group due to dissatisfaction concerning the way it was being directed. Other highly concerned WWP members, however, blew the whistle on what was happening and for their trouble and courage, they were told by the Council’s Mark Shaw to either work under Cllr Hartill’s absurd direction or consider themselves to be ‘banned’ from the Project they had made so successful over a period of 9 months.
To add sheer insult to injury the Council also rather clumsily suggested that our WWP team may prefer to go and work in ‘another’ area as volunteers, away from our Woodvale project.
Such insensitive and official victimisation of a good community volunteer group in this day and age is reprehensible and beyond belief!
The Council chiefs above Mr Shaw are also fully aware of all the facts and have so far remained in total silence!
WACA says:
The woodland located, at the end of Meadow Lane, backing on to the public playing fields is owned by Sefton M.B.C., who recognise WACA as being the only authorised organisation which has permission to work on the land.
WWP response:
Yes, the land is the Council’s and the trees that are in question were planted by WWP member Pat Regan in the 1970s with a small gang of workers. The Council had in fact suggested to WWP members that the Project may be able to become a ‘Friends Group’ and sent members all relevant documents on this sensible move. However, Cllr Hartill ignored democratic WWP mandate and immediately ‘refused’ to allow such a move. The Council then went on to back their Conservative councillor, U-Turned on the Friends group proposal and supported this politician ‘against’ the original WWP group. The equality and democracy of the Project that Cllr Hartill had initially promised one and all was by this time seen to be bogus and utterly fictional. The Project was, in fact, an autocracy controlled ‘only’ by the councillor himself. This was also proven last spring with controversial issues about fire-starting.
Davina Suthren, manager of WACA, had urged WWP members NOT to light fires, as that activity was not authorised by the Council for reasons of insurance and health and safety. Nevertheless, Cllr Hartill ‘overruled’ her and constantly told members to “ignore” her and that, “she had no idea what she was talking about”.
At one stage WWP member, Pat Regan, had ‘strong words’ with another member who wanted to continue starting fires. Pat advised this man that WACA staff (not Cllr Hartill) had stated that the Council would NOT permit fires (which was true) but the member dismissed this advice. Several large blazes were lit and local residents/dog walkers were understandably concerned.
At one stage back in April 2013 the Fire Bridge was in fact called out to this area to extinguish a fire.
https://www.otsnews.co.uk/fire-on-wasteland-rear-of-kings-meadow-woodvale-southport/
WACA says:
All funding for the project is part of the same strict accounting guidelines as with any other charity and any volunteer expenses are strictly covered by our Volunteers Policy. Funding bodies are given copies of any and all specific expenditure related to that funding. We have a treasurer who checks all our expenses before they are audited yearly by an independent body.
WWP response:
WWP members requested (as was their right) to examine WWP accounts, not WACA’s. To this day we still have not seen full copies of all WWP related accounts, etc. Matters of misused WWP ring-fenced funding were validated by One Vision Housing sometime later on. Other concerns about the usage of WWP funding are ‘ongoing!’
WACA says:
Training was offered to support volunteers of the WWP and several members participated in a Level 2 accredited First Aid training course, the cost of which was covered entirely by WACA.
WWP response:
This is a highly ambiguous declaration. The First Aid course was ‘not’ specifically aligned to WWP members and was open to all members of the local community. No other training was given by WACA and volunteers had to rely upon their own initiative and personal experience for most of the time, including when Cllr Hartill was in foreign parts on his regular holidays.
No training in any aspect of gardening, forestry or horticulture was ever given or offered to WWP members. Experience relating to this eco-project basically came down to Mr Regan, as he already had extensive work experience in these issues. This fact is validated via all correspondence to and from WACA.
WACA says:
A local family made a request to see WACA’s accounts last year. All members of WACA are entitled to ask for a copy of the charity’s annual report including accounts, and regardless of the fact that neither party of this family had current membership of WACA, we provided such information. The family then chose to contact a number of our funders to make complaints about how we had spent our funding. The funders were subsequently given a copy of all expenditure. There are currently no issues arising from our funders about how we have spent our funding.
WACA is ‘not’ naming anyone here but are referring to the ‘Regans’. The Regans, speaking with permission for the whole group, made several requests to view accounts relating to WWP as they were original/long term members of the group. Following a frustrating period of being passed from WACA’s manager to WACA’s chairman and vice-versa members requested advice from the Council and also from One Vision Housing.
One Vision confirmed that WWP ring-fenced funding had been ‘inappropriately utilised’ and had to be “removed” from the itemised listing. The Council’s officer however showed ‘no’ interest whatsoever in the accounting concerns at hand. This is very odd when we remember that the Council owns the land and gives funding. Something simply does not add up here! We, of course, retain the proof of everything we say.
We ask here: what exactly does one call it if a person takes allotted money (of ‘any’ amount) they were ‘not’ entitled to take and use it for their own ‘private’ use?
WACA says:
We were saddened that this family chose to leave as they have made a significant contribution to the initial phase of the project. We were happy for them to continue working with us, but they refused to work with the project lead of the WWP, which was entirely their choice.
100% wrong again. WWP members have NOT ‘left’ anything! WACA know this and are thus being rather economical with the truth! So far as we are concerned we are ‘still’ awaiting a proposed meeting between the original WWP group and WACA representatives (not including Cllr Hartill). WACA indicated that they had to seek advice about our sensible proposal to work with WACA but ‘not’ with Cllr Hartill, yet instead, we now see them presenting a series of somewhat eccentric inaccuracies (that WWP is addressing herein) on their Facebook page.
WACA/Cllr Hartill appear to be playing a very bizarre game here because they ‘know’ that the Council/Mark Shaw is waiting to hear if they will agree for us to work ‘without’ Cllr Hartill (as we frequently have done in the past). And we DO of course hold Parkforce cover, which enables us to work alone!
Original WWP members have voted that Cllr Hartill is not capable of leading such a volunteer Project properly and all available evidence substantiates this claim! We, as local residents and volunteers, are committed 100% to our local woodland and our previous efforts validate that fact very well! Therefore, it is provably ‘not’ WWP members who are delaying progress but WACA (or perhaps just Cllr Hartill?) in this particular instance.
WACA says:
We wish to make no further public statement at this time. However, if any individual wishes to make an appointment with us regarding the above issues, we would be glad to take the opportunity to discuss volunteering with the WWP, as it continues to be an on-going project for people to enjoy.
It is quite amazing that WACA is now asking for ‘volunteers’, whilst at the same time doing its very best to ensure that the loyal volunteer team that has already done all the graft, remains ostracised! What an incredible insult off a charity that is supported by local funders and allegedly is supposed to work WITH our local Woodvale community!
Cath Regan of WWP and Davina Suthren of WACA have already met (December 2013) and ‘agreed’ to hold a meeting with the Council. It is, therefore, misleading of WACA to claim otherwise. Has Mrs Suthren forgotten this already? Has she perhaps ‘again’ been overruled? Volunteers who have merely blown the whistle on a great deal of wrongdoing should not be victimised like this.
One would expect more from a local charity that is allegedly set up, with a great deal of funding, to help the community. Moreover, all businesses/charities should uphold a whistleblowing policy.
Above: Health and Safety, training and proper insurance cover for volunteers on Council land using unauthorised power tools and starting fires – are they joking?
The following is a directory of some of the reasons why the WWP team will ‘not’ work with WACA Chairman, Cllr Ted Hartill, and why they have no confidence in his project management.
- Improper ‘Duty of Care’ to the group, via placing WWP members (including children) at dire risk of accident from uninsured usage of power tools (chain saws, drills, strimmers, mowers, generators, etc) and unauthorised fire starting. Such unauthorised/uninsured equipment practice also, of course, placed the Council at serious risk of being sued if accidents had occurred.
- Failure to keep all concerned stakeholders properly informed about matters that affect the Project.
- Direct or indirect misuse of WWP ring-fenced funding, substantiated by other concerned bodies.
- Failure to provide the group with all up to date accounting information requested regarding various donations to the group.
- Encouragement of WWP and WACA admin members to drive a mechanical digging machine on Council land ‘without’ any training or proper insurance/risk assessment being in place.
- Use of the WWP community group to promote a private political agenda.
Cllr Hartill’s reckless attitude regarding his responsibility to our team over youth offenders who were questionably brought into the woodland site, whilst the WWP team were engaged in usual voluntary tasks and while he was not present!
The full facts of this odious matter and why the team will not work with Cllr Hartill may be accessed here:
http://woodvalewp.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/the-facts-why-wwp-will-not-work-with.html
Currently, original WWP members are effectively ‘banned’ by the Council from working on this very Project that we made into such a success. Nine months of working hard for wildlife and the local community and our group gets treated like dirt.
And the biggest joke, that is NOT in fact funny, is that WACA is now actively seeking NEW volunteers! Can anyone believe such nonsense?
It is a total disgrace that shames our community and potentially a breach of our rights.
- We reiterate that this WACA content is now unavailable to some readers:
And here
http://home.btconnect.com/woodvalecommunitycentre/Downloads/WWP%20Statement.pdf
Has it (the Facebook link at least) been removed or have WWP members simply been selectively ‘barred’ by WACA staff/Cllr Hartill from seeing it? This appalling issue shames the whole Ainsdale community. We ask – does it have more to do with the protection of exclusive positions than any care for the Woodvale community at large?
More here:
http://woodvalewp.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/woodvale-centre-charity-insults.html
Since this time several months ago it came to light the Rajan Paul, a Council minion acting under the direction of Sefton Chief Margaret Carney took the outrageous decision to ban long-standing WWP whistleblowers who’d simply presented the initial complaint against WACA’s conduct and refused to work under the unprofessional direction of Tory Cllr Ted Hartill.
Margaret Carney’s Council to this day has stayed utterly silent about this appalling situation.
WWP apologise for repeating some of the data above, which will naturally upset some persons involved who may fear for their jobs and positions, plus internet trolls with vested interests who always remain anonymous but the truth must come out and discrimination finally overcome.
SOUTHPORT PRESS BLACKOUT CONTINUES ON THE WOODVALE ISSUE – WHY?
Residents of Southport also need to ask WHY all this is not being reported in any local newspapers. In fact, many people have already asked us why this is.
Certain factions of the press were quite happy to report on the great work we volunteers did OVER 9 MONTHS – yet as soon as the whistleblowers highlighted the many problems with this Tory-run charity/project they amazingly dropped us all in an instant!
Therefore, are we seeing underlying political bias within the Southport media in action, some type of fear perhaps or is there ‘another’ reason currently as yet undisclosed?
We can and have persistently proved everything we have said (in words, pictures and videos); so are we living in a democratic society that sincerely values ‘equality’ or is it just another small-minded, fearful, town run by bumbling autocrats …?
More:
http://woodvalewp.blogspot.co.uk/
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