Wednesday, November 05, 2008

The New Ruperra Castle Preservation Trust

Since this news page was last up dated, a new trust has been formed, by some of the directors of Ruperra Conservation Trust but separate from it. It is called Ruperra Castle Preservation Trust and is already a limited company (number 6656134) and already has a business bank account.

The new trust has engaged a barrister to represent it at the Inquiry because it feels that Ruperra is too precious to risk going into the Inquiry without one. On October 22 it submitted its ‘Statement of Case’ document to the Planning Inspectorate as have the other organisations who have been given Rule 6(6) status for the Inquiry. These are Caerphilly County Borough Council, Barakat Ruperra Ltd, Cadw:Welsh Historic Monuments and lastly a combined group representing the Ancient Monuments Society, SAVE Britain’s Heritage, SPAB (the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings), the Welsh Historic Gardens Trust and the Georgian Group. We can see now perhaps why the Ruperra ‘Affair’ could not have been dealt with in a one day informal hearing.(The Countryside Council for Wales [CCW] has now been removed from the above paragraph because they will be sending written representations only to the Public Inquiry and giving advice if asked.)

Ruperra Castle Preservation Trust will have four ‘expert witnesses’ at the Inquiry who will give their services ‘pro bono’. The barrister will kindly only charge for her appearance at the Inquiry and not for any work prior to it. She is very keen to represent the Trust and is a specialist in the environmental side of Planning matters as well as the built heritage. The Trust’s Planning matters are being administered by Caroe and Partners, Conservation Architects Cardiff.

Ruperra Castle Preservation Trust is unfortunately starting life with absolutely no money in the bank. All the money accumulated over the last 10 years by Ruperra Conservation Trust is committed to woodland management and cannot be used for Castle matters or transferred to the new Trust

We mustn’t fall at the last hurdle having worked so hard and come so far over the last ten years. We need to raise £10,000 to safely cover the Inquiry and the campaign, so we would be very grateful if donations could be made to the new Trust. Below is a membership form which can be printed out by highlighting it and then choosing ‘selection’ on your print menu. However it must be pointed out that you do not have to become a member to make a donation! Furthermore if you are a tax payer, and willing to have your donation increased by Gift Aid please tick the Gift Aid box, since Gift Aid increases the amount you give by 28p in the £ with no extra cost to yourself.

A last word: we must never forget the dedication of the Caerphilly Councillors on the Planning Committee in December 07 who really understood and appreciated their responsibility for protecting our heritage at Ruperra. They gave us hope for the future and together we can succeed.

MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION FORM (PLEASE COMPLETE IN BLOCK CAPITALS}
Name (1 membership subscription per family)
Address

Post code
Tel No. Email address

ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP FEE £ 5.00
DONATION £
TOTAL £
Please tick____if you wish your payments to be included for gift aid, make your cheque payable to Ruperra Castle Preservation Trust and send with this form to
Martyn Vaughan, 6 Squires Gate , Newport, Gwent NP10 0BP
Thank you for your support

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