THE Office for Scottish Charity Regulators (OSCR) has upheld multiple complaints of poor governance against the 4 Winds Trust, a charity which distributes almost £50,000 in annual community benefit from the Little Raith wind farm to local community groups.

Trustees are members of the community councils of Lochgelly, Cowdenbeath, Auchtertool and Lumphinnans.

And this week former Lochgelly Community Council chair James Glen said that the decision vindicated his moves as he was the first to raise concerns about a lack of transparency and public accountability in the charity’s operations in 2015. He also this week called for trustees to resign.

Mr Glen felt compelled to resign as chair when he proved unable to obtain information about the Trusts’s activities and governance from his fellow council members, Stevie Murray and Brian Schulz, who represented Lochgelly Community Council on the 4 Winds Trust.

The Office for Scottish Charity Regulators (OSCR) opened an investigation last summer into the 4 Winds Trust, a charity established in 2012 to distribute community benefit from the Little Raith Wind Farm to community groups in the community council areas of Cowdenbeath, Lochgelly, Auchtertool and Lumphinnans.

OSCR was responding to a complaint about a series of breaches of charity rules by the Trust as well as conducting an internal investigation into the Trust’s failure to submit annual accounts to OSCR.

All the grounds for complaint were upheld. OSCR found against the charity for not keeping minutes, operating while inquorate, not holding annual members meetings, and for the late submission of their financial accounts. It concluded that “the charity’s governance has been weak, and the charity trustees have not adhered to the terms of their constitution.”

In September 2015, the then chair of the Lochgelly Community Council, James Glen publicly resigned raising concerns over the lack of public accountability and transparency in the operations of the 4 Winds Trust.

Mr Glen said: “The four community councils are ultimately responsible for the 4 Winds Trust, which is charged with distributing almost £50,000 annually in community benefit to local communities.

“As chair of the community council, it was my job to raise these issues with the 4 Winds Trust and in particular with my fellow community councillors Stevie Murray and Brian Schulz, who remain trustees in the position of Chair & Secretary, but I found it impossible to find out what the charity was up to.

“Instead some of the trustees demonised me for my efforts, and when my fellow community councillors did not support me, I felt I had no alternative but to resign.”

In a letter to the trustees investigations officer for OSCR Sharon Walker wrote: “We discussed that the draft accounts prepared by Hugh McCormick & Co (Accountants) and submitted on February 10 do not comply with charity accounts regulations and are therefore unacceptable. The accounts submitted on March 15 are still not SORP compliant, do not contain a Trustee’s Annual Report and have not been signed off by a charity trustee.”

Miss Walker adds: “Four of those who attended the meeting signed charity trustee Declarations when charity status was sought which made them aware of their charity trustee duties. We are disappointed therefore that they have failed to comply.”

Mr Glen added: “I have now been vindicated with OSCR upholding multiple complaints against the charity. The lack of compliant accounts is a particular worry, and the 4 Winds Trust still hasn’t any information on who it gave what money to and for what reason. A Freedom of Information request to OSCR has revealed a skeleton list of awards, but this raises far more questions than it answers."

The Trust delivers upwards of £50,000 to local good causes and the they have been making moves to ensure that their operation adheres to the guidelines.