LETTER: Best move is for Hurst House to be sold

Don Ash's suggestion that '˜The old WEA building on Aberc-rombie Street' (ie Hurst House) might be suitable as accommodation for the homeless is well meaning but probably misguided in my view. '¨His further comment that the building may belong to a private company which would prefer to let it rot rather than let it out is, however, mistaken.'¨Hurst House (a grade two listed building in a conservation area) belongs to the Chesterfield Schools Foundation, a charity established in 1991 to manage the endowment of the former Chesterfield Grammar School, which acquired the property in 1928.

When the school was transferred to the county council in 1940, Hurst House was not included. The county council is, however, the sole trustee of the foundation and is therefore responsible for the property.
The committee feels that it would be in the best interests of the foundation for Hurst House to be sold and the proceeds invested in approved securities. We also believe that the county council should cease to be the trustee of the foundation. The charity should instead be administered by independent trustees, on the same lines as others with similar objects, including locally the Webster Whittington charity.

Philip Riden

Chairman, Chesterfield & District Civic Society

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