QUESTIONS have been asked over how a trust who manages chalets overlooking Weymouth beach makes its decision as another family is booted out.

Maureen Smethurst, from Weymouth, has been refused a licence renewal at her hut in Greenhill Gardens despite only renting for five years.

As reported, two other families have shared their ‘shock’ at being kicked out of their chalet overlooking Weymouth Beach after 'not being provided with an explanation'.

Mrs Smethurst, a retired teacher who taught in Weymouth and Portland for 32 years, says she was turned down to extend her agreement with the Greenhill Community Trust (GCT) and although she is disappointed in being told to move on she has questioned how the trust has behaved.

She said: “We have been refused a chalet licence renewal. I am not looking for sympathy for our predicament, but I do have concerns about how the GCT has conducted itself over this.

“Despite numerous polite and reasonable requests we still do not know the reason why we, unlike most chalet occupiers, have not been offered the opportunity to renew.

Dorset Echo: Maureen Smethurst outside the chalet. Picture: Maureen Smethurst

“All the directors have said is that I signed condition agreeing to vacate the chalet at the end of the licence period.”

Mrs Smethurst says ‘every chalet tenant signed the same agreement’ but it is ‘being invoked against just a few chalet occupiers,’ believed to be about six.

She later contacted the directors to explain their decision making but was ‘met with no reply’ and when she asked for a copy of the complaints procedure was told ‘the directors are autonomous’ and they would ‘not be entering into further communication’.

The former teacher added: “As a current stakeholder I believe I am entitled to see a copy of the trust’s chalet allocations and licence renewal policy and have now requested this along with the minutes.

“Given the trust’s unwillingness to engage with me I am not very optimistic that this information will be provided, or even exists.

“It would be disappointing to lose the use of the chalet but far more disappointing is the unnecessarily rude, arrogant and dismissive tone of the GCT directors in their limited communication with us and their continuing refusal to provide the reason behind their decision not to renew the licences of some tenants."

Mrs Smethurst added that although she appreciates the directors’ efforts, which go unpaid, she called on the GCT to publise a ‘clear strategy’ in a bid to ensure this ‘valuable asset can be better shared around for the future benefit of the whole community rather than just for some’.

In response, the Greenhill Trust said: "We are sorry but we can make no further comment."