Botton, North Yorkshire
Coordinates: 54°25′39″N 0°55′43″W / 54.42746°N 0.92863°W
Botton is a small village within the North York Moors National Park in North Yorkshire, England which is mainly a Camphill Community for people with learning disabilities. It is in a bitter dispute with its charity (the CVT) and has taken its case to the High Court.[1]
It was formed in 1955.[2] It has a population of 280, 130 of whom are adults with learning disabilities.[3] Most of the people who live in Botton live in shared family style homes with volunteers called co-workers. There are five biodynamic farms located around the village. The "Villagers" as the adults with learning disabilities are called, work on these farms with the help of co-workers who supervise their work.
The community is in a bitter dispute with its charity (the CVT) which is seeking to remove the volunteer co-workers and replace them with paid support staff against the wishes of the majority of the villagers. The CVT sites pressure from the HMRC as the reason for acting against its own founding principles, but campaigners for the disabled villagers of Botton highlight many other Camphill Communities, including two which used to be owned by the CVT, which continue to operate the co-worker model. HMRC have stated that they do not require volunteer co-workers to be employed[4] Financial Secretary to the Treasury David Gauke writes: “I would like to make it clear that that there has been no recent change in legislation, nor change in rules by HMRC, which affect the tax status of volunteer workers. It appears that changes being introduced by the CVT are as a result of independent advice received by the Trust, and not as a result of any direct or indirect action by HMRC.”
In the village there are many different workshops where villagers make products which are sold to the public via a number of outlets. There are also three shops: a gift shop, for visitors, with items from both Botton and other Camphill villages; a village store, which is the village food shop and a "Coffee Bar" where the villagers and co-workers congregate in the evening to chat and play board games.
Botton village received the Deputy Prime Minister's Award for Sustainable Communities in 2005; the award cited the community's dedication to the ethos of sustainability and mutual respect, as well as their concrete achievements in these areas.[5] Also in 2005, the village featured in a Channel 4 documentary entitled Botton, the strangest village in Britain.[6]
References
- ↑ http://www.actionforbotton.org/
- ↑ Jan Martin Bang, "Camphill Ecovillages", Proceedings of the Seventh International Communal Studies Conference: Communal living on the threshold of a new millennium: lessons and perspectives., International Communal Studies Association, (June 25–27, 2001) pp. 249-257. Conference proceedings.
- ↑ Camphill Village Trust Communities: Botton Village, North Yorkshire Official Website
- ↑ http://www.actionforbotton.org/cms/tinymce/plugins/moxiemanager/data/files/Letter%20D%20Gauke%20re%20BIM22040%20redacted.pdf
- ↑ "The Deputy Prime Minister's Award." Learning Disability Practice 9.2 (March 2006): 26(1)
- ↑ The Strangest Village in Britain Channel4.com
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