Dartmouth Chamber of Trade & Businesses struck off by Companies House

Friday, 7 December 2018 - Business

The Dartmouth Chronicle today posted an article announcing that Companies House had decided to strike off the Dartmouth & District Chamber of Trade and Business (see below). This means there is no longer an official organisation representing the business community of Dartmouth.

At a time when the Town Council has no interest in supporting the business community (see our previous article) this is a very sad development. 

by Charley Adams - Dartmouth Chronicle @charleyad21[email protected]

Dartmouth and District Chamber of Trade and Businesses Ltd has been compulsory struck off by Companies House.

An extraordinary general meeting held in July of this year was called after the Chronicle reported in May the chamber’s three directors, Dave Cawley, Roger Jordan and Stephen Freeman had all quit, leaving the limited company with no directors. The directors quit the limited company on January 25.

There was no official confirmation by the chamber of the resignations at the time – nothing on the chamber’s website or its Facebook page – and it appeared that the last time the chamber had held a members’ meeting was at Dartmouth Yacht Club on June 26, last year.

The EGM in July this year resulted in only one person volunteering to join the chamber to try to resurrect it, Paul Reach from Dartmouth Business News, who later reported Jamie Waugh, manager of the Dartmouth Golf Club and one other local business owner had volunteered to join the chamber Board

In July, it was decided if no more volunteers stepped forward then the Chamber would be allowed to close.

The last accounts made by the limited company were filed on July 31, 2017 which showed it had £648 reserves. This was signed off by former director, Mr Cawley. As of today we have no knowledge where these funds have been disposed of.

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14 Comments

  1. … and since the company had no directors from the end of January, presumably any assets it had then would remain with it. From the date the directors resigned it would appear there was nobody authorised to sign cheques on behalf of the company.

  2. This is the missing comment

    New comment on your post “Dartmouth & District Chamber of Trade struck off”
    Author: Dave Cawley (IP address: 82.152.97.205, 82.152.97.205)
    Email: [email protected]
    URL:
    Comment:
    At last the Chamber is free of a debts and liabilities ! Hooray!!

    • This is the missing comment

      New comment on your post “Dartmouth & District Chamber of Trade struck off”
      Author: Dave Cawley (IP address: 82.152.97.205, 82.152.97.205)
      Email: [email protected]
      URL:
      Comment:
      At last the Chamber is free of a debts and liabilities ! Hooray!!
      And this is Stuart Nuttall response
      New comment on your post “Dartmouth & District Chamber of Trade struck off”
      Author: Stuart Nuttall (IP address: 86.159.122.198, host86-159-122-198.range86-159.btcentralplus.com)
      Email: [email protected]
      URL:
      Comment:
      It seems to free of a voice and influence too.

  3. What next for business community of Dartmouth? It seems to have no collective voice. Paul, while the council has its faults, your appeal for more involvement regarding footfall does seem to come from anyone but yourself. So, l guess the council can be forgiven for not taking you too seriously. The chamber appeared to fall apart within months of Dave Cawley becoming its chairman, and seems to have ceased functioning at any level, as a limited company certainly not, as a group? Have there been any meetings?

    • Stuart If you read some of the comments at the side of this site there are people who are feeling the effects of footfall decline. However my only reason for asking the Council to debate the issue is because they have 2 directors on the Board of the DVC or TIC as everyone else knows it. That is the organisation that has responsibility for promoting Dartmouth, at least that is what their subscribers are paying for, and that is the only organisation that can change the visitor numbers. Sadly they neither publish their footfall numbers or promote the town in any way since they gave up the discover Dartmouth website and brochure. neither of those are effective marketing collateral for the town, as businesses are only listed if they pay a massive fee. This means that the directory has little value as it is now almost 75% incomplete. It will only continue to decline unless the Council decides to change the direction of the TIC. You know that I am still involved with a business in Dartmouth so I can see the effects first hand. Fortunately that business can use the internet to compensate, but there are many accommodation providers that need visitors or they go out of business. Read Nigel Way’s comment on the left side of this site that gives you a clue. I just feel that even if my stats are wrong the number one strategy of the Town Council is to grow the Tourism economy in the town,(see their strategy document on their website) how can you do that if you never discuss it in Council. The neighbourhood plan is another example of the Council failing to take a leadership role, just the same as the footfall issue. Cllr Cook unfortunately looks for a reason not to do something rather than what can we do to help Dartmouth prosper. Sadly yes Dave Cawley’s disastrous tenure as Chair of the Chamber has finished the company off completely despite the fact his false claims of debts from the BID cannot be substantiated. I am not aware of any meetings since, and there appears to be no support from the Mayor as claimed by Dave. So I think there is no voice of Dartmouth businesses now. I dont know what the Business Breakfast club’s objectives are but they dont seem to be a lobby group of any sort. Perhaps Jackie can tell you.
      However I am inclined to say - if the businesses of Dartmouth don’t want to pull together for the common good then why the hell am I wasting my time fighting for them?? A question I ask myself quite often. However while my son is running a business here I will continue to fight, albeit against some heavy odds.

      • There’s a large business community within Dartmouth without a voice. That’s sad. I understand Dave Cawley as chairman of the chamber didn’t manage to engender much enthusiam. You are running along with your website. There are competing issues too… you are an arch-Brexter; other businesses in town, such as Nigel Way’s, seem to be in favour of Remain… or at least freedom of movement. Dartmouth’s in a tricky place, as evidenced by the debate and for a long time has rarely been able to speak with one voice.

        • You are right I am just a lone voice but I speak to many businesses in town who echo my sentiments. I dont think Brexit will have a big impact on the town in fact I only see long term benefits from it but lets not debate that here. The sadest aspect of this is how hard it is to get the businesses to speak with one voice. Maybe the BID has left a bad taste but that is long in the past now.

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