The charity LOVE Learning Scotland which is due to hand back the keys to Gorgie City Farm on Monday is in default with the Charity Regulator OSCR.
According to OSCR the charity (SCO45441) is 47 days late in providing financial information by the annual submission deadline. It did not provide the information by 28 November 2022, despite an additional nine months grace period which was allowed as a result of the pandemic.
The charity is registered at an address in Bothwell Business Park in Hamilton and is education based, but says it aims to provide prevention or relief of poverty or “the provision of recreational facilities, or the organisation of recreational activities, with the object of improving the conditions of life for the persons for whom the facilities or activities are primarily intended”.
The Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO) was first established on 23 February 2015 and its work covers several local authority areas in Scotland.
At its peak in 2020 the charity reported income of £759,652 with spending of £724,166. In 2021 it reported a reduced income of £472,083 and an apparent loss of around £10,000 with spending of £482,754 reported.
The annual return to 28 February 2022 has not yet been received by the regulator.
OSCR does not keep a register of Scottish Charity trustees, but Lynn Bell described herself as the CEO when we met her in 2020.
But the LOVE website confirms that there are several strings to the LOVE bow. There is LOVE Care, LOVE Training, LOVE Recruitment, LOVE Learning, LOVE Sport and Earth School.
The LOVE Learning arm which ran Gorgie Farm has a Twitter account here which was last updated in 2022 with news of the 40th birthday of the urban farm.
The Edinburgh Reporter asked LOVE for a comment. They replied: “The charity accounts have been late since the start of Covid. Our auditor fell behind in the first two years and were given extensions to complete accounts which resulted in the delays for the current year. Our accounts are with the auditor now for submission on our recent year. However, Edinburgh Council does have full sight of most recent accounts throughout our discussions, hence why we are closing the farm. We have been very public about our losses.”
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