A community support charity has been left “sad, disappointed and angry” after being forced to scrap plans for a new £650,000 community centre, despite having the funds in place. 

Blue Box Belper, based in Derbyshire, has been raising funds for the new centre since 2015, when its original building had to be demolished because of fire damage.

Last year, the charity secured a pledged £499,950 from the National Lottery Community Fund, which it was going to use for the new centre alongside a further £80,000 pledged by other funders and more than £75,000 from community fundraising.

Blue Box Belper had an income of £27,401 in its latest accounts in the year to the end of March 2024.

The charity said it was ready to proceed with construction of its new centre but, despite being told that it would be a “simple process” to finalise a lease agreement, it had been unable to secure one for the land in the required timeframe.

“The delays we’ve faced, due to the indecision by the town council, have resulted in us now losing out on £65,000-worth of pledged funds,” the charity said.

“In addition, a new condition, added late in the process, will limit our ability to secure further funding.” 

“With project costs also rising due to the delays caused by the town council, we are simply unable to proceed.”

Belper Town Council offered to be the guarantor for the centre, “voting unanimously” on the matter in 2017, the charity said.

Blue Box Belper said Belper Town Council was “clear in the support of the project” and drafted a guarantor agreement while investing £25,000 in pre-construction costs, which enabled the charity to apply to the National Lottery Community Fund for almost £500,000 in funding. 

“By the end of January 2024 most stakeholders (Blue Box Belper, Amber Valley Borough Council and the National Lottery Community Fund) had agreed to the draft lease agreement, but Belper Town Council began to raise concerns about its role as guarantor,” the charity said.

The charity said Belper Town Council had raised a “series of questions” this year, which it had answered only to be presented with more questions.

“We cannot understand why these questions were not raised at the time that the town council agreed, in principle, to become the guarantor, or indeed why they weren’t at least raised earlier this year,” the charity said.

“We, alongside the National Lottery Community Fund, have seen this as an opportunity to work in partnership and find a resolution, but instead we have been frozen out of town council meetings where Blue Box is discussed privately (due to legal privilege on their solicitor’s advice).”

The charity said it had been “abundantly clear” on the “very real risk” of pledged funds being lost if an agreement could not be found and it had reached that stage.

A “final nail in the coffin” was the town council’s decision at a meeting on 7 November agreeing to be the guarantor under additional conditions, the charity said.

Blue Box Belper said this caused further delays and stopped it from applying for a further 10 per cent (£50,000) uplift from the National Lottery Community Fund, which would be required due to the loss of pledged grants.

“We are left feeling incredibly sad, disappointed and angry, not simply because of the time and energy we have put into the project on the basis of the council’s agreed support, but also for our local community, which will now miss out on much-needed investment,” the charity said.

“To be clear, we would not have gone ahead with raising the funds, developing the plans and galvanising the support of a community, without the backing from Belper Town Council as a guarantor and the £25,000 grant for pre-construction costs. 

“Up until this last 12 months, we believed the town council to be fully supportive of our vision and the project, but recent actions and decisions have shown that we no longer have its full support.”

Belper Town Council has been contacted for comment.