Lynton and Barnstaple - Operations and Development

I would add that I queried the Trust's shareholding with the Accountant in the first place because it is not given in the note to the accounts referred to and the figures did not tie up. It now transpires that when the Blackmoor Company Secretary registered the allotments of B shares between May and December 2023 in February he got it wrong, showing an allotment of 230,800 shares and a total shareholding of £1,341,783. It is apparent from a second submission yesterday (see the filing history on the Companies House website) that that included 40,000 shares which were not allotted until the 3rd or 4th January 2024. Another registration now deals with this 2024 allotment. Of course there is no detail as who these 'new' 40,000 allotments were made to. So, another Company Secretary falling down on the job.

 

Surely these errors or omissions should have been picked up by the Auditors and officially noted in their report ?
Sloppy work all round, again !

 

That being the case I would suggest that may be a new Auditor will be required and a full review of all the finanical system that are in place as well.

 

Auditors owe their duty to directors, not shareholders. They also assess whether the accounts are "true and fair", not whether they are accurate in all regards, and are reliant on the directors providing all relevant information. The principle of caveat lector still applies to all users of those accounts.

That may well be - not least as it is good practice to change auditors from time to time.

 

I should emphasise I am not finding fault with the accounts, except that the presentation ought be clearer for a proper understanding of the movements on the investment in a subsidiary company. However, the auditors could have been expected to check that the accounts matched the registration with Companies House which they do not appear to have done, or just possibly they did, and that is what has led to the correction registered at Companies House as recently as 26th April.

 

Although I'm guessing they don't have to, you would think it would be of great benefit to the Trust to give a clear and concise layout of the accounts, showing where practicable the money is spent or moved to so that we can all plainly see what is going on, maybe with such a layout more people might be encouraged to invest in the project or at the very least have their concerns put at ease (possibly)

 

Indeed.
Instead I suspect it will be just another one of the ever-growing list of 'good ideas' that Trust could do to improve communications and sharing of information with its members. Their continuing reluctance to do so become increasingly hard to understand and leads me to wonder whether:-

• do they listen to their members at all?
• do they care what the members want/think?
• are they simply 'closing ranks' and keeping it all to themselves for no good reason?
• how long before it all implodes around them?

 

Whilst it is obviously very concerning that the accounts are difficult to follow, I suspect the reality is not a deliberate policy of obscurity - rather that a relatively small organisation had the opportunity to buy a crucial part of their missing infrastructure/land. They needed to raise a lot of money in a short space of time.....and they achieved the purchase - with a lot of effort and no doubt having to explore all avenues to raise the funds.
It was never likely to be a bargain as the vendors knew they had a strong hand.
Imagine the furore if the L&BRT had let the opportunity slip, for another generation.

 

The railway had been in negotiations with the OSHI vendors for many years, perhaps even decades. Likewise, the shares had been on offer for at least a couple of years IIRC, so I don't think the need for speed was a crucial factor.

 

Many years ago when there was just the L&BR Association I recall that OSHI was offered to the Association of £500,000 pounds, but at that time we just didn't have the money or Woody Bay either. in fact I don't think we had a plan to do anything.

 

Wasn't that about the time of Hole Ground as a potential starting place? Then Woody Bay presented itself as an opportunity, decisions were made, money was found, and the rest, as they say, is history...

 

Also possibly the biggest missed opportunity as a starting point, but dithering and council politics sadly put paid to that

 

Where is 'Hole Ground'? Sorry I am relatively new.

 

Reached by traveling northwards over Bridge 6 at Derby Lane, Barnstaple.

 

I'm pretty sure that in the original planning that was presented to us all in a marquee in the ENPA car park at Blackmoor Gate (around 2014-15) it showed that a new station / restaurant ect was to be built in that car park and the line would have skirted around OSHI, it would seem that after these plans were put on show to the public that the pub was offered as a possible purchase

 

It was a potential site in the late 80's IIRC, although possibly owned by a local councillor. It was adjacent to the river, opposite bank to the cricket club, and directly below North Devon General Hospital. As I remember, it could have housed a reasonable facsimile of Pilton, but...



I can't find my maps and plans at the moment, but I think it was about where the beige bit is! (courtesy of Google Maps)

 

Blue approx line of railway, Purple Hole Ground

 

That bit below NDDH is pretty steep if I know right. North Road climbs fairly quickly from the traffic lights at the bottom and by the time you reach NDDH you are quite high up relatively.

 

Once you've crossed the river, yes. But the Google StreetView image for the site shows that the Hole Ground site's more or less flat in the valley bottom; if you look around (StreetView on Raleigh Meadow, for example), there's a reasonable amount of space before the land really starts climbing towards the hospital.

 

Thanks, @Meatman - I guess I misremembered somewhat, although I'm sure none of that housing was there last time I looked - I just parked in the hospital and walked down until I could see the river - don't remember those houses in the way! (or half the hospital car park, to be honest!

All academic now though, as it ain't gonna happen...