Please help Banstead and Nork's young people.

The 3rd Banstead Scout Group was formed 100 years ago, in 1923, and is now the largest Scout Group in the Banstead (Surrey) Scout District, with over 100 Scouts aged 6-14 plus over 30 Leaders. We also host a District Explorer Scout Unit at our H.Q. with a further 40 Scouts aged 14-18 and Leaders. The Group is a registered charity run by dedicated volunteers and supported by donations from local organisations, Banstead and Nork residents and by fundraising by the Scouts and their families. Our headquarters has been at Scout Ridge, near Banstead Station, since 1938.  This is set on the edge of Banstead Downs and incorporates its own open space.  It is an ideal site for young people.
 
In the 1970s the land on which our headquarters stands was sold by British Rail to the Banstead Downs Golf Club.  Eventually, in 1989, with help from the local authority, we obtained a 35-year lease from the Club at a nominal rent which enabled us to construct a modern building at the Ridge with sports hall and climbing wall.  We raised the funds for this ourselves and from a wide number of other sources in Banstead and beyond.  It is a wonderful facility where our young people can play games inside and out and practise traditional Scouting skills.  The long lease at a low rent has enabled us to provide these facilities but the lease expires at Christmas this year.
 
The Golf Club’s initial proposal for a further lease is to raise our rent from a peppercorn £50 per annum to nearly £40,000 a year and they have offered a short lease of only 10 years. The net subscription income for our group is a small fraction of the proposed rent. Any substantial rent increase, let alone in the tens of thousands of pounds, could cause our group to go under.
 
Please help by making your voice heard in support of a secure worry-free future for our Scout Group, either by the Scouts being able to purchase the site or by asking them to pay a nominal rent over a lease period of at least 35 years. That would enable us to use the funds we raise fully for the benefit of local young people.
 
We trust that good sense will prevail and that our landlord will refrain from viewing a long-established local young peoples’ charity as a source of income for the Golf Club.
 
Thank you.
 
Colin Sutherland, MBE
Former Group Scout Leader of 3rd Banstead Scout Group