SHARED LIVING ARRANGEMENTS PRESERVED AT BOTTON FOLLOWING AGREEMENT WITH CVT
2 April 2015
Campaign group Action for Botton has confirmed the shared living arrangement of Villagers and Co-workers at the Botton community has been guaranteed for the next several months following an agreement reached today (1 April 2015) at the High Court with Camphill Village Trust (CVT).
More than 80% of the learning disabled Villagers living in the Botton community had signed a petition urging North Yorkshire County Council and CVT to let them continue to share their homes with the volunteer Co-workers who live and work alongside them. Today’s agreement ensures the Villagers’ valued lifestyle is preserved and – particularly – that the status quo regarding living arrangements will be maintained for the duration of the legal dispute.
An undertaking between the parties had previously been agreed at an earlier hearing on 19 March and this more comprehensive agreement will now be in place whilst outstanding legal matters are resolved at the High Court.
“Our aim has always been to ensure that the learning disabled residents should not be forcibly segregated from their existing Co-worker families as these plans were obviously causing them great distress,” said Neil Davidson, chair of Action for Botton.
Co-worker claimants added: "We are fully committed to working positively and collaboratively with Botton's local management to manage the temporary agreed changes as ordered by the Court to ensure as little adverse impact as possible to the Villagers."
A separate legal hearing in the Queen’s Bench Division between a number of learning disabled residents and CVT over alleged breaches of human rights is set to start on 15 April and is unaffected by today’s agreement.
