An ongoing dispute between Plymouth City Council and the Park Pharmacy Trust over a £58,000 legal bill has led the council to demand that the trust vacate its headquarters and hand over its collections.
Julie Rundle, a senior lawyer at the council, wrote to the trust’s chairwoman, Jan Knight, at the start of last month stating that if the trust handed over its assets and paid the council’s fees for the bailiff, then the outstanding costs would be waived.
The letter warned that a failure to comply could result in the seizure of the collection and further enforcement action. In her response, Knight wrote: “Your suggestion… is a winding-up order for the Park Pharmacy Trust because without our collections and headquarters, we are no longer able to carry out our legal responsibilities as a registered charity.”
Knight’s response, which the council was considering as Museums Journal went to press, also stated that the trust would not be wound up without assurances over the future of its Thorn Park Lodge base and its collections.
The dispute came about after the trust took the council to judicial review in 2006 over a decision to grant planning permission to build four terraced houses in the garden of Thorn Park Lodge.
The trust lost and was ordered by the court to pay the council’s legal costs.
