Datchet Parish Council and the DRCCT.

A STATEMENT FROM THE DRCCT TRUSTEES – Since April 2025 Datchet Parish Council has been trying to hijack, seize or ‘acquire’ the very valuable assets (in particular the Sabatini Land and buildings) belonging to the Datchet Recreation Centre Charity Trust.

Datchet Parish Council was unable to accept Datchet Recreation Centre Charity Trust (Charity Commission Reg No 252303) property in the 1970’s due to the Local Government Act 1972 s139 (3).   In other words – and to be precise – the LGA 1972 s139 (3) legislation prohibits this type of property transfer and is still in force today.  LGA 1972 s139 (3) can be found here and the relevant section 3 is reproduced below:

Local Government Act 1972 s139 (3) states as follows:   This section shall not authorise the acceptance by a local authority of property which, when accepted, would be held in trust for an ecclesiastical charity or for a charity for the relief of poverty.

For anybody who knows what is happening here in Datchet, the principle is that a charity should not have to use charity funds to defend itself from an uninvited, indeed hostile takeover bid by their own local Parish Council using parish money raised via Council Tax.

For some background – please follow the link below to read how DPC acted initially in April 2025:

Datchet Parish Council Takes Action (April 2025)

For a more detailed explanation and in-depth analysis – please follow the links below:

DRCCT – A Reckoning for Datchet

Datchet – Your Village Land is being fought over