Why Donors To The “Biggest Mosque In Essex” May Now Be Feeling Cheated.
Whilst many of our articles have been primarily aimed at the concerns of the local community and residents, this one is a little different.
Here we will be looking at how those who donated vast sums of money towards the purchase of Hamptons, may now be feeling betrayed and cheated.
The Chelmsford Muslim Society is a charity registered in 2010, full details here. In 2019 they announced that they had exchanged contracts to purchase Hamptons Sports and Leisure. The sale was completed on 14/02/2020, with the figure CMS paid for the land, building and business reported as £2.35 million in total.
If you examine the submitted accounts for the charity (below), you can see a considerable increase in donations from 2016 to 2017, and further increases year on year. We are aware that the CMS made a failed attempt to buy land off Beehive Lane from Chelmsford City Council which fell through early in 2018.
However, it’s an enormous leap to go from the £440,000 raised in 2017-2018 to be able to hand over £2.1 million (part payment) in October 2019. Quite an admirable achievement during a period of economic downnturn.
And the 2019 and 2020 figures are even more impressive, although most of the money raised is gone, having paid for the purchase of Hamptons.
The Hard Sell
This is an example of one of the many fundraising pages set up by the CMS. We also found others on Virgin Money Giving and LaunchGood.
Donation sheets were put up in the town centre mosque, and soon and filled with pledges from worshippers and other mosques from surrounding areas as far afield as Ilford, Havering, Colchester, Braintree and Southend. We have been sent a copy of these sheets , but have decided not to publish them since we have no issue with the generous donors or worshippers.
A number of events were held, some with guest speakers, and auctions with prizes (such as lavish bowls of fruit) sold for huge sums as the Muslim community dug deep.
Further examples of how the CMS fundraised can be found here.
If you examine the literature for these events and requests for donations it clearly implies that the money is going towards purchasing a mosque and Islamic Centre capable of hosting between 250 and 1,000 worshippers, and other associated religious uses. Not a sports and leisure club with a tiny amount of religious use.
The Code of Practice from the Fundraising Regulator clearly states “You must make sure that you do not suggest money is for a restricted purpose (such as buying a goat, or helping a particular child) when it may be used for a different purpose or for the general purposes of a charitable instituition”. Read the full Code of Practice here.
You have to question if the Muslim community would’ve have been quite so generous if they had known how Hamptons was actually going to be used.
The Bottom Line
While it is easy for residents to blame local councillors and the planning department for the current situation at the Hamptons, we may well simply be sitting on the other side of the fence from a community who could feel just as cheated.
If you are one of the generous CMS donors who contributed to the promise of Hamptons becoming “the largest mosque in Essex”, you should be feeling disappointed about how this project has been managed.
Whilst the long term plans for Hamptons are still cause for speculation, to increase it's religious usage to come anywhere near what was promised is going to require further investment, and would require full planning permission.
With the recent refusal of the application for a Certificate of Lawful Exisiting Use and Development, any increase in the use for worship is now looking unlikely to happen.
Even with the pandemic abating, Hamptons may need more donations simply to keep it afloat. Scratching around for bookings isn’t a good business plan.