ARDROSSAN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT TRUST BOARD MEMBERS RESIGN CITING SUSTAINED HARASSMENT
Community cafe reopening and recruitment now at risk
The Chair and 3 trustees of Ardrossan Community Development Trust have resigned from their positions with immediate effect, citing the sustained harassment they and their families have experienced in recent months.
Following the resignation of Scott Mould, who served as Chair, on the 18th February, Craig Perkins, who joined the board to support the trust’s commercial development, Elizabeth Hardie of Ardrossan Community Association and Marisa Stevenson a long standing community representative all confirmed their resignations on 19th February. All remain on the Trust membership. Further board resignations are expected.
The resignations come at a critical time for the trust, which had been on the verge of reopening its community cafe under direct trust operation — a move that would have seen 100% of profits reinvested in the local community. A successful recruitment campaign had been completed, with a cafe manager about to be appointed and a planned reopening date of 3 March. That reopening is now under threat and unlikely to proceed as planned.
The trust, which is the only charity in Ardrossan to have successfully taken an asset into community ownership, won a Scotland-wide Surf Award in December 2025 for Improving Scotland’s Places. Its accounts are independently audited and the organisation is financially sound.
The departing trustees expressed deep regret at their decision. In a joint statement, they said:
“We joined this board as volunteers because we believe in what this trust delivers for Ardrossan. We are proud of what has been achieved — the Surf Award, the community building, and the plans we had in place to reopen and extend the cafe with all profits going back to the community.
However, the level of harassment directed at us, our families, and fellow volunteers has made it impossible to continue. All incidents have been reported to Police Scotland.
We offered to meet with those who had concerns, with the local authority willing to attend and an independent mediator proposed to chair the discussion. That offer was not taken up.
We had hoped that the democratic process of the requested EGM would allow the Trust to communicate with the wider membership to ensure they hear both sides of this story and make an informed decision on the future board members. We are saddened that it has come to this instead.
Our concern now is for the community. This trust has 346 members (288 ordinary voting members – from Ardrossan), significant assets, award-winning projects, and was days away from reopening a community cafe that would have created local jobs and generated income for community benefit. We hope that new trustees will come forward to ensure this work continues.”
The trust had previously confirmed that the dispute originated from a commercial matter between the trust, as landlord, and a former cafe tenant who was in breach of the terms of their lease. No formal complaint of bullying or harassment was made to the trust by the former tenant during their tenancy. The trust had worked with the tenant for over a year to help them meet the lease requirements before they chose to leave with a significant amount of money still outstanding including community benefit agreed within the terms of the lease.
An Extraordinary General Meeting had been requested by 18 eligible voting members out of the trust’s 288 ordinary membership. The trust had confirmed it would follow due constitutional process.
Anyone interested in serving as a trustee of Ardrossan Community Development Trust is encouraged to watch for additional news in relation to a meeting date and ensure they can be nominated in person or by proxy.
The departing board members are seeking advice from OSCR, the charity regulator to ensure all efforts are made to protect the Trust whilst the process for selecting a new board concludes.
The trust staff can still be contacted on 01294 608177 or by emailing [email protected]