THE second of the community groups to enter the bidding contest to take control of Lydiard Park and House have revealed their line-up of trustees.

The Love Lydiard Trust, referred to in earlier stages of the process as the ‘staff led bid’, is seeking to take over the running of the much-loved site from Swindon Borough Council from next year.

Among the trustees that have been announced is former peer Lord Joel Joffe of Liddington. Prior to taking up his position in the House of Lords, Lord Joffe was a prominent human rights lawyer who once worked on Nelson Mandela’s legal team.

He will sit on the board alongside Rod Hebden who is the former head of corporate partnerships at the National Trust as well as James Phipps, CEO of Excalibur Communications.

Gina Akers, great granddaughter of Francis Akers who originally gifted the site to Swindon and Jim Boyd, founding member of the campaign group Better Swindon, are also among the Love Lydiard team.

They will be led by interim chairman David Barnard who is also the former chairman of the Lydiard Fields Action Group.

That group was responsible for securing the site’s status as an asset of community value at the start of the bidding process.

The designation opened the door for a six week interim moratorium to allow any community groups to submit an expression of interest in running the site.

Such an expression would trigger a six month moratorium during which time no deal could be done with a commercial actor.

The Love Lydiard Trust triggered the moratorium at the beginning of August – it will run until late December.

It is believed the other community group in the running, the Lydiard Heritage Trust, decided not to trigger the moratorium as they felt their bid document was already sufficiently comprehensive as to not require the additional preparation time.

Although no deal can now be done with a commercial bidder before December, the council could name either of the trusts as their preferred bidder as early as next month.

Interim chairman David Barnard said: “We are delighted to be supporting the staff team. They have invested their hearts and souls in Lydiard over the years and deserve a chance to run this amazing park.

“The trustees of the Love Lydiard Trust are an outstanding group and will play an essential part in realising the park’s future prosperity and success.”

Given that neither the directors listed at Companies House, nor the trustee line-up, include any members of the current Lydiard staff, the Love Lydiard Trust appears to more closely resemble a staff-backed bid rather than a staff-led bid.

Annie Griffin, museums and heritage service delivery manager at Swindon Borough Council based at Steam, added: “The staff management team, who have seen this right through from expression of interest to the bid, are absolutely delighted to be working with such a strong trustee board to secure a fantastic future for Lydiard.”

It is not yet clear how many members of the management team, or indeed the wider staff, are closely involved with the process.

Fellow trustee, Gina Akers, said: “I am extremely pleased that the Localism Act has allowed the Love Lydiard Trust to be recognised legally as a valid community group and very proud that we were able to use this to trigger the moratorium.

“This means that as a genuine community group our potential to manage this precious asset of community value has to be taken seriously, and time given for our proposal to be considered carefully.

“This scenario now sets the foundation for a credible, reliable and sustainable outcome to be achieved for Lydiard House and Park that will be acceptable to the local authority and the community.

“Lydiard's future is so important. The decision to outsource its day-to-day operation and management, should not be rushed. The moratorium allows more time for the people of Swindon to have their say and share their ideas on Lydiard's future.”