Sea scouts and Wandsworth Council are at loggerheads over the future of a scout hut.

Wandsworth Council owns the "idyllic" green land the 5th Putney Sea Scouts is based on, in Barn Elms, but the scouts built the hut and have been there more than 40 years.

Your Local Guardian:

The scouts fear their future hangs in the balance 

In 2010 the council asked to hold its learning disability day service there and about 35 people with a variety of learning disabilities started attending every day.

A year ago the council asked to take over the building, do it up and provide a licence, guaranteeing scouts' use of the building.

The scouts rejected the offer out of concerns for their future and because they felt the site was too small and inadequate to accommodate so much activity.

The scouts served a notice to the Better Days Project and the group relocated to Culvert Road, Battersea.

The council now says many of the challenging behaviours the disabled people faced are returning to the group and the council has served notice to end the scout scouts lease in six months time.

Chris Hayes, scouter in charge, said the hut is used by about 60 beavers, cubs, explorers and scouts aged six to 16.

Mr Hayes, 53, from Southfields, said: "The problem we have with Better Days is we haven’t got the space down there. We had them down there for a few years. We asked them to leave because they were taking over and we haven’t got the space there.

"It’s a scout hut, it’s not a building, it is a temp. It is not a five days a week building. The building is not built to cope with that many people. One time the cess pit was full. They had to vacate the property - they can go back to their buildings but we can’t go anywhere. It is too small for the two of us because it is a scout hut."

Your Local Guardian:

The council said it will guarantee the scouts' future on the site 

The scouts are worried about their future and Mr Hayes said he feared the council would eventually squeeze them out.

Thamesfield councillor Jim Maddan, who is to be made an OBE, said: "For these individuals [in Better Days], and for their carers, day-to-day life is now much more difficult without access to Barn Elms.

"We have assured the group they will be offered a new licence to continue to use the building for their full programme of activities so there will be no need to move. We want the scouts to stay and to see both groups benefit from this wonderful riverside location."

Scouts will hold a meeting on Sunday, February 8, at 2pm. All are welcome.


Councillor Jim Maddan's open letter 

I’m writing to update local residents on the efforts being made to reach a new property sharing agreement between our day care service for severely disabled residents and the Barn Elms scout group.

Until quite recently both groups shared the pre-fab building on council owned land just past Beverley Brook on the Putney Towpath. As many residents will know, this is an exceptionally beautiful, peaceful location and a wonderful environment for young and disabled people.

The site was shared for around four years during which time the vulnerable people coming here blossomed. Staff recorded a 75 per cent drop in incidents of challenging behaviour which meant much more time could be spent on constructive, fulfilling activities which greatly improve their quality of life.

Just over a year ago the council approached the Putney scouts committee to suggest the landlord/tenant arrangement was switched so the council would take on full responsibility for the building. This was on the basis of the scouts being provided with a secure licence guaranteeing their continued use of the building. This offer was turned down and the scout committee immediately served notice that the shared use agreement was being brought to an end.

Attempts were made to resolve this situation but none were successful. The result is that users of our day service have been relocated to Culvert Road, Battersea and many of the challenging behaviours have returned to the group. For these individuals, and for their carers, day-to-day life is now much more difficult without access to Barn Elms.

Having exhausted all other options, the council, as the owner of the site, has now taken the decision to serve notice to end the scout group’s lease in six months time. At the same time we have assured the group they will be offered a new licence to continue to use the building for their full programme of activities so there will be no need to move. To be absolutely clear, we want the scouts to stay and to see both groups benefit from this wonderful riverside location long into the future.

It is of course deeply regrettable that an agreement could not be reached through a simple, friendly dialogue. Both the day service and the scouts are treasured institutions which play vital roles in our community. I understand that many local people will be anxious to see this situation resolved as soon as possible and I want to reassure residents that we are committed to reaching an agreement that ensures both parties can use this site for decades to come.

Jim Maddan

Executive member for adult social services and health

The 5th Putney Sea Scouts letter in response

An open letter from 5th Putney Sea Scout Group in response to an open letter from Cllr Jim Maddan.

Jim Maddan is one of the Conservative councilors for Thamesfield Ward of Wandsworth Borough Council and as such one would expect that he would have the interests of the residents of Thamesfield close to his heart.

After all he was elected by us and presumably wishes to remain in office at the next election. It is worrying, therefore, to see from his letter, that he has decided to abdicate his responsibility in favour of an organisation which has a wider impact on Wandsworth.

He has put forward a case for the Council's Learning Disability Day Service - Better Days Project and we believe that it is right that we should now make our comments so as to give a balanced view, which Jim has not been able to do.

The 5th Putney Sea Scouts Group has operated within Putney since 1937 and, more recently, in 1973 moved to its present location when a lease for 21 years was granted by the GLC.

The Scout Hut was built using funds collected and donated by the families of scouts and cubs at the time. Since then the lease was renewed by the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham and expired in 1999. Since then we have made several requests to Wandsworth Borough council for an extension of the lease.

Early in 2010 we were approached by the Learning Disability Day Service - Better Days Project to allow them use of our Scout Hut and as this was a service to the community we did everything in our power to accommodate them. This included, to date, spending in excess of £25,000 to make improvements to the site, some of which they requested. We also had to ask a home education group to give up their Monday afternoon session.

At the time that the Better Days Project moved in to the Scout Hut we were presented with a draft Licence in order to make the arrangement more formal. At that time we would have willingly issued the licence, subject to participation by The Scout Association, but since the Licence would be issued pursuant to our lease we were unable to complete the document as the lease issued by Hammersmith had expired. Once again we asked for Wandsworth to renew our lease which, unfortunately has never happened.

Since then we continued to accommodate the Better days Project but it was becoming apparent that the building, built as a Scout Hut, was becoming too small for both organisations. We have had to share our office, which Better Days Project were gradually taking over and we had lost the girls' shower cubicle which became storage for the Project.

On balance we decided that it was no longer in the best interests of the Sea Scout Group to continue with the sharing arrangement and gave notice to them on 4th February 2014. They eventually left on 1st August after we pressed them to leave, having been told by a respected Putney resident that he understood that the Better Days Project had no intention of leaving.

Jim Maddan states that the "Day Care Service is Threatened With Loss Of 'Home'" and I hope that you will understand that the Scout Hut is absolutely HOME to the 5th Putney Sea Scout Group. Furthermore Mr Maddan has never disclosed to us his interest in the Project and had he done so, perhaps at a meeting at the Scout Hut, he would know that we are not known as Barn Elms scout group.

Yes the site is an exceptionally beautiful, peaceful location and a wonderful environment for young people. We have kept it that way and is one reason why we have stayed here for more than 40 years. It is also an obvious reason why a third party might look enviously on the site. This, however, does not give them the right to simply take over. We have been in Putney for more than 77 years in all and intend to remain for another 77 years at least. I wonder how long the Learning Disability Day Service will be in operation.

5th Putney Sea Scouts will find it very hard to find alternative accommodation as we need to remain by the riverside in Putney but surely there must be many more sites within Wandsworth to where the Better Days Project can relocate.

We feel very strongly about this attack not just from Wandsworth Council but also our own councilor, Jim Maddan and we have arranged for a public meeting to take place at the Scout Hut on the Thames tow path in Putney just beyond Beverley Brook Bridge. The meeting will start at 7.00pm on Friday 23rd January and we hope to use this meeting to launch a serious publicity campaign. If the Council do not back down and fail to agree to renew our lease we intend to take legal advice which could lead to legal action.

We hope that we have given an unbiased account of our involvement with Better days Project and if you are able to support our campaign we look forward to seeing you on Friday.

David J King                      Chris Hayes
Hon Treasurer                     Scouter in Charge
5th Putney Sea Scouts Group