The cold weather has fuelled demand for charity and Dartmouth Town Council is accused of making a difficult situation worse.

The Dartmouth Community Chest, a charity with a stall in the Old Market, has claimed it is being discriminated against by the town council at a time when its support is needed by those struggling to make ends meet.

The council has been accused of enforcing special rules and restrictions, that do not apply to other stallholders. These restrictions include where and when the Community Chest can trade in the market.

Charity manager Dawn Shepherd, said: “The council has been applying different rules for us. No other trader is subject to the conditions and reviews. I don’t understand why there is all this unique procedure. When many stalls are empty, it does not make economic sense.

“Apparently, we’ve had traders complaining and, for a while, they wouldn’t allow us a table under the Buttermarket. Yet this is a time when fuel poverty really kicks in. We’ve had 23 referrals from the children’s centre. For people who are really short of money, the choice can be food or heat - £10 on their electric from us, is a life changing event for them.

“We need to be somewhere we can be found and to be there regularly. That way, people know to come. We never give cash but, when people are in need, we do help them by going with them to the post office. We put money directly onto their payment card so they can pay their electricity or gas.”

According to government statistics, more than 2.3 million families are living in fuel poverty in England. This is the equivalent of 10% of households. Ms Shepherd added: “We’ve certainly got our fair share in Dartmouth. No one is helping them but us. We need help from the council - not barriers, reviews and restrictions.”

A town council spokesman said: “The council have supported the Community Chest by awarding a grant of £500 last year for vehicle purchase and this year by offering facilities to have a stall in the Old Market.

“The rules and regulations have always been issued to all stallholders and they have recently been updated. All stallholders are now being asked to sign them.”

The spokesman added saying that this policy was ratified at the last full council meeting and that any policy decision with regard to the letting of stalls or tables is taken first to corporate property committee and then to a meeting of the full council. All minor matters are dealt with by the market manager.

Linda Goss, who attended the last full council meeting, said she listened to try to hear of any decision or resolution about the Community Chest but heard no mention of the Community Chest in the meeting.

No written resolution concerning the Community Chest, to be passed by the full council, was made public prior to the council meeting. Neither was one was proposed or passed at the meeting.

However, corporate property minutes for the meeting held on Wednesday, November 19, and published after the council meeting, revealed that: “The chairman announced that we had received a proposal from the Community Chest to ask if they could use the Buttermarket on a Thursday now that there isn’t a Thursday market in the winter, this was to allow them to have a regular spot where people could find them, while they were looking for permanent premises. The cost for this would be £60 for a Thursday session for up to six tables.

“This would be reviewed at the end of January, and if it is working well, then it would be extended until the springtime. If Community Chest wanted more tables they would need to inform the clerk and pay the additional £10 per table. Any such lets would need to comply with insurance and public liability.”

The corporate property minutes were approved at the council meeting when only the page numbers of the minutes were read out. There was no mention of their content nor the committee resolutions, recommendations or proposals at the council meeting, nor were any details given on the council agenda.

No other committee meeting minutes were published prior to the full council meeting either. Their contents were similarly approved by page numbers, without mention of any resolutions or recommendations they contained.

Ms Shepherd said: “Since we had no notice of what the corporate planning committee had decided about the Community Chest’s requests, we were unable to put any question to the mayor. Also, the full council’s acceptance of the decision or recommendation of the corporate property committee was hidden from us in the meeting as they never disclosed or published these minutes before the meeting and they were approved by just reading out the page numbers. This can’t be right.”

Former mayor and Richard Rendle who was at the meeting as ba member of the public, confirmed that in the normal course of conducting council business, questions from the floor should be referred to the relevant committee which then makes recommendations to the full council. Any such questions should be published on the agenda before a meeting of the council.