Where's our Security gone?

Following the news that Dunton had fallen into administration on 15th August 2023, our chairman quickly arranged a meeting with the administrators to go over what happens next.

At the meeting he discussed concerns that all security patrols had been taken off site just before administration. However, the administrators said they’d been advised by Royale Life that there was no security at Dunton.

The residents association believes this is a complete misrepresentation of the facts and is currently looking at all options to take this matter further. It is a fact (and we have evidence) that security patrols have been a regular feature of the site over the last few years. We got to know their faces and names and chatted with them regularly. For Royale Life to tell administrators there hasn’t been security is extremely concerning.

We have forwarded on a bundle of evidence to the administrators to prove we had security on site and we have asked how they intend to deal with this matter.

We suggested that if they are unable to deal with the matter direct, the residents association will make a formal complaint ourselves to the Insolvency Service about misconduct by companies in administration.

The administrators have replied as below:

The Joint Administrators have a statutory duty to prepare a report to the Insolvency Service on the conduct of directors and any other person acting as a director in the 3 years preceding a company’s Administration within 3 months following appointment. The report submitted to the Insolvency Service is confidential and cannot be disclosed to others. However, the information you have provided and shared will assist us with our investigations.

We wrote back to thank them. However, we have pointed out the bigger picture is this removal of security will have a knock-on effect with potential buyers who won't factor in security as part of the service that's, up until now, been provided, so it needs to be dealt with now rather than at report stage.

This is yet another example of Royale not consultaing with the residents association on things which affect the park. They have a statatory duty to do this and we have a number of examples where they have just ignored this process, so it's another thing we are speaking to administraors about in terms of conduct of senior management in the years preceding administration.