Bumper Common Good funds are simply not there

Dear Editor, I read your recent article (Observer, September 19, 2018) on the Bridge of Allan Common Good Fund with interest and a degree of concern.

I am a past chair of Bridge of Allan Community Council and during my period in office I took a close interest in the fund and researched the background to Common Good funds, which are unique to Scotland.

Whilst I support the efforts of our councillors to raise awareness of the fund, to suggest that there is £400,000 available for distribution is at the very least misleading.

The origin of Common Good funds in many cases is lost in the mists of time.

However, the Bridge of Allan fund is unique as it was set up to comply with a judgement handed down by Lord Penrose in the Court of Session to determine the ultimate home of the proceeds from the sale of the Museum Hall.

He directed that the proceeds be held in a Common Good fund by Stirling Council for the benefit of the community of Bridge of Allan but with the caveat that Bridge of Allan Community Council must be consulted on any transactions on the fund.

There is no statute that covers the distribution policy for Common Good funds but by convention only the income accruing from the funds is distributed.

Many councils make this clear on their websites. I am not aware of a single local authority in Scotland that allows the capital element of a fund to be distributed.

I understand that the net proceeds from the sale of the Museum Hall amounted to £395,727 and this was used to establish the capital base of the fund. Accordingly the sum available at this time for distribution is approximately £10k being the current balance in excess of £395k.

Since its inception the Bridge of Allan Fund has been held in the form of a bank deposit.

As a result of falling interest rates the annual income has fallen from a figure in excess of £10,000 to a figure in last year’s account of £1,804.

The question that our councillors should be asking is why the capital element of this fund has not been invested in some other form of investment that offers a better return. It is interesting to note that Stirling Common Good Fund is sitting on a cash deposit of £678,000 substantially more than the Bridge of Allan fund. Also an interesting development from last year’s accounts was that in the past all deposits were made with commercial banks but now a combined total from all of the Stirling funds of £1,283m is invested in Stirling Council’s Loan Fund. Could this grand sum be invested elsewhere to produce a higher return? I suspect the answer would possibly be yes.

In the meantime perhaps someone from Stirling Council can confirm that its distribution policy is in line with every other authority in as much that only income accrued can be distributed and the suggestion in your article that there is “a lot of money” available is simply not fact.

Gavin T Drummond