What is the future of the Red Cross Centre in Croxley Green?

The centre was built by Hertfordshire County Council (HCC) in 1965/66 on land owned by Rickmansworth Urban District Council (RUDC) designated for community use. This followed a consultation between the RUDC, HRC and HCC. The cost was just under £21,500 with the funding shared between RUDC, HRC, HCC and public subscription.

On completion the building was leased to the British Red Cross national organisation (BRC) for 99 years at a fixed rent of £50 a year. The lease contains a number of covenants the most important being (i) that for the duration of the lease BRC use the building primarily as and for the purpose of a club and social centre for old people known as the Croxley Green Welcome Club and (ii) that for the duration of the lease BRC keep the building in good and substantial repair and condition and give it up in such condition on expiry of the lease. Other covenants restrict the non-Red Cross purposes for which the building may be used.

Management of the centre was delegated to HRC and it was soon open six days a week from 10am to 5pm offering a variety of services. The hall was also in use most evenings. BRC was very proud of the centre and it was featured in a three page article in the December 1970 issue of Nursing Times, a Red Cross publication. I have a copy.

In 1994 BRC began a process by which the various branches operating as separate charities under the national umbrella would be merged into a single charity. This process was known as “Unification” and completed in 1996. Also in 1994 BRC changed its policy on clubs for the elderly and the like and said that these would no longer be supported.

HRC was instructed to transfer the Welcome Club to a separate organisation or, if this was not possible, to close it. In view of the lease covenants the HRC Trustees refused and after a review of the lease by the legal department the Welcome Club was allowed to continue as a Red Cross club.

From about 2005 BRC began to drastically cut support of the Welcome Club. In July 2016, after immense pressure from BRC, the Welcome Club members reluctantly agreed that the club be transferred from the Red Cross to Watford and Three Rivers Trust (W3RT). In practical terms they had no alternative.

I was told in an email from a senior member of the BRC management team, and I quote: “As discussed previously the Red Cross no longer runs this type of club. The club will remain a main user of the building, as per the lease, and the W3RT will provide the support that is needed”. Other emails confirmed that Welcome Club use of the building would be free of charge.

To me “as per the lease” means to expiration of the lease. Yet I understand that in May 2016 BRC was already talking to officials from Three Rivers District Council (TRDC) and W3RT about the possibility of W3RT taking over the building, but that TRDC terminated those discussions about a year later. I was told at the time, although I have no evidence, that this was because the possibility of development of the site for housing had arisen. Five years and no progress.

BRC clearly wants to terminate its lease early and according to Cllr Sokalski is asking for “a large sum” to give up its rights. In the past BRC has told me that giving the Welcome Club free use of the building together with operating the Mobility Aids service meets its liability under the covenants. I disagree.

Of course there have been huge changes in society over the past 50 or so years and many of the services offered originally are no longer appropriate or required. Nobody disputes that. But it is reasonable to assume that if BRC had not changed its policy new services would have been developed to meet the needs of today. A dementia club perhaps offering activities and companionship to sufferers and a few hours respite for their carers. I know from personal experience that something like that is desperately needed.

For BRC to meet its obligations is a huge financial liability and I believe BRC should pay an appropriate penalty for release from those obligations. The only reason that BRC can suggest it be paid “a large sum” is that TRDC is considering housing development. Yet in the approved Croxley Neighbourhood plan the building is designated for community use so why change it?

Government guidance, as I understand it, is that such a designation should only be changed in “material circumstances” although these are not defined. The Government target for new housing in Three Rivers is 620 a year for 15 years ie 9,300 dwellings. Can six small flats really be considered as “material” in that context?

Croxley Parish Council (CPC) has offered to take over the building and run it for the benefit of the whole Croxley community but has received no response from TRDC. Why is that? Surely a joint TRDC/CPC feasibility study to look at the economics/management/logistics etc of a community centre would be a useful first step.

Mike Collins

Copthorne Road, Croxley Green