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| HIGH COURT BID IN COLLEGE FIGHT |
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HERALD EXPRESS 11:00 - 23 January 2008
The future of Dartington College of Arts could end up at the centre of a High Court battle as campaigners call for a judicial review over Monday's decision to pump £3.5million into moving the college campus to Cornwall.
The campaign group fighting to keep the college in Dartington is also calling for an injunction to stop the South West Regional Development Agency cash from being handed over.The campaigners were yesterday seeking a meeting with Devon County Council's leader Brian Greenslade in an effort to get the county to lead the appeal for a High Court judicial review.
Barrister Simon Cassell, who is an ex-Dartington College student and one of the leading figures in the campaign group, said: "What we are looking at is a judicial review on the wider basis that the RDA has not complied with its statutory purposes in that it failed to have sufficient, or any, regard towards its requirement for Devon." However, the RDA responded saying: "At its board meeting the South West RDA agreed to invest in the merger proposals submitted by the governing bodies of Dartington College of Arts and University College Falmouth.
"If there is to be a judicial review we do not think it would be helpful to add anything more at this stage."
The campaigners are also concerned that they were told by RDA board chairman Janet Henderson before the board had even met on Monday that the Dartington Hall Trust had already given the college notice to quit the estate by 2010 even though the final decision over the proposed merger has yet to be taken.
Since then the trust, the college and the RDA have admitted this was a mistake and is not true, and the RDA has publicly apologised.
A spokesman for the RDA said yesterday: "Our chief executive and chairman met a delegation from the Save Dartington campaign. During that meeting, it was mistakenly suggested that the Dartington Hall Trust had served notice to exit on Dartington College of Arts. We are happy to confirm that that is not the case and we apologise for the error."
But Mr Cassell warned: "The point is if that was an error and the decision-making process proceeded on that error it could well have been flawed."
Chris Robillard, of Totnes Town Council which is supporting the Save Dartington College campaign, pointed out: "We consider this was a serious error for a senior person in the RDA to make. If it had been in the RDA members' minds when they discussed the funding they could easily have had a pre-conceived idea of the situation."
Monday's RDA decision was the first of two that are vital to the funding package that will make the Dartington move to Cornwall possible. The second is just a week away on January 30 when the European Regional Development Fund will decide whether to hand out an even bigger pot of European 'convergence' money to help fund the move.
"We are going to have to act very quickly," said Mr Cassell.
He said the campaigners are also planning to lobby all the members of the ERDF's Programme Monitoring Committee which will be making the January 30 decision.
"Each individual member of the group will be sent a letter and that is in process at the moment," he said. The future of the world famous college has been at the centre of a major row since the governors announced moves to merge with the University College Falmouth over a year ago.
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