2025-12-31-accounts

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Charity Number 01089685 Company Number 04302973

Campaign to Protect Rural England Company Limited by Guarantee

Report and financial statements

31 December 2025

Campaign to Protect Rural England Trustees Report Year ended 31 December 2025

A message from our chair	3
Trustees’ report	5
Our achievement in 2025	7
Financial review	15
Future plans	18
Structure, governance and management	19
Auditor	24
Independent auditor’s report	25
Statement of fnancial actvites	29
Balance sheet	30
Statement of cash fows	31
Notes to the Financial Statements	32
Professional advisors	54

Campaign to Protect Rural England Trustees Report Year ended 31 December 2025

A message from our chair

This year has, at times, felt like a relentless onslaught on the countryside. The rise of poorly planned mega solar farms on productive farmland, a flawed ‘greybelt’ policy which poses an existential threat to Green Belt protections, and a huge hike in housing targets for rural areas leading to unplanned development in the countryside are just some of the threats to our countryside CPRE has been working hard to rebut. Choices like these needlessly harm our countryside and we have gathered evidence that proves another way is possible, continuing our campaign for rooftop solar, demonstrating how lack of definition is turning the green belt grey, and highlighting the untapped potential of brownfield sites where we calculated there is room for more than 1.4 million homes.

The passage of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill was the focus for much of our influencing work, both for CPRE and the Better Planning Coalition which we lead. We welcomed the return of spatial development strategies that could help deliver homes in the right places while protecting the countryside and green spaces. But commitments to a proper brownfield first policy are weak, and along with many nature charities, we remain concerned that Environmental Delivery Plans could give developers free rein to trash nature and simply ‘make up for it’ elsewhere.

Despite a challenging political environment, we have had some significant campaign successes. We started the year with 10,000 supporters backing our call for the government to adopt the Sunshine Bill, which would see solar panels installed on all suitable new homes. Later in the year, the government confirmed that this would be required in the upcoming Future Homes Standard – a major campaign win to make the most of solar on wasted rooftop space. We also saw the launch of a consultation on the Land Use Framework, something we have been calling for, for decades. We are still waiting for the final framework but continue to work on shaping how this joined up approach to land use might work in practice.

Our local groups and volunteers power our movement. This year six local groups took part in Countryside Day with walks, talks and activities encouraging people to experience their local countryside. And there is no better example of our work on the ground than Hedgerow Heroes. This year, 13 local groups have been planting and restoring hedgerows up and down the country, working with communities to deliver tangible, positive change. Thanks to the support re hoping to have restored or planted 100 miles by the end of our centenary year.

Much of our work this year focused on the development of a rich programme of work for our centenary year in 2026 which will be an invitation to everyone to ‘love your countryside’. The year is an important one for CPRE and the Board invested to ensure we can prepare to make the most of this opportunity. As part of the preparations, we worked with publishers Little Toller for the publication of two new books for our centenary, secured support from Project Giving Back for a show garden at the Chelsea Flower Show and revamped our brand and communications in readiness for this momentous year for CPRE. Much of the programme builds our relationship with the CPRE network and is focused on extending our reach and encouraging more people to care for and do something positive for the countryside.

With our centenary we are planning a year that is as much about looking forward as it is about celebrating our past and 2026 will also see the launch of a new strategy for CPRE, mapping a framework for the next decade. We undertook much of the groundwork for that this year with a series of workshops with CPRE branches exploring how we could work better together and the completion of a Theory of Change guiding how we can make the most difference and defining clearer outcomes for our 3

Campaign to Protect Rural England Trustees Report Year ended 31 December 2025

work. Our next chapter will be rooted in the crisis in how we use land. It is a crisis that we believe will increasingly shape how we live, how we eat and the quality of our lives, as well as how we protect the countryside – and one where CPRE has a unique role to play in joining up solutions and engaging people in shaping the future of the places they love. I look forward to sharing more about our centenary and the work it will launch, next year.

Simon Murray

Chair of the Board of Trustees

Campaign to Protect Rural England Trustees Report Year ended 31 December 2025

Trustees’ report

The Trustees of CPRE present their annual report for the year ended 31 December 2025, together with the audited financial statements for that year. The financial statements comply with current statutory requirements, and articles of association, the requirements of a directors’ report as required under company law, and the Statement of Recommended Practice - Accounting and Reporting by Charities: SORP applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with FRS 102.

a) Objects and activities

The Trustees have referred to the guidance from the Charity Commission on public benefit in producing this report, and when reviewing our aims and objectives and planning our future activities. In particular, the Trustees consider how planned activities will contribute to the aims and objectives they have set.

Our charitable objects are ‘to promote and encourage for the benefit of the nation the improvement and protection of the English countryside and its towns and villages and the better development of the rural environment’.

b) Our vision and mission

At CPRE we want to see a beautiful, thriving countryside which is valued and enjoyed by all and which is enhanced and protected for this and future generations. It is vital for our wellbeing, it is the home of nature and it is a critical part of this nation’s response to the climate emergency.

CPRE’s vision is of ‘a beautiful and thriving countryside that enriches all our lives’. Our mission to take us there is to ‘promote, enhance and protect a thriving countryside’.

c) Our Strategy 2020-26

Our mission is delivered through the strategic plan which aims to broaden our appeal, increase our impact and renew our countrywide network. We had four key aims designed to guide us to achieve this mission:

Connect people and countryside
Promote rural life
Empower communities
Grow our capacity

Last year we refocused our strategy on three key aims to guide us to our centenary in 2026:

Future Countryside

We will build a new, collective vision for the future of our countryside, in a time when it faces unprecedented challenges.

We believe in a climate friendly, nature rich, and beautiful future countryside – with changes in land use underpinned by a spatial plan that helps local people and decision makers balance the value and functions of the countryside for us all.

Countryside Next Door

We will protect and enhance locally valued landscapes and green spaces and advocate for greater access for everyone to their countryside next door.

Campaign to Protect Rural England Trustees Report Year ended 31 December 2025

For most of us, the most valuable countryside is that on our doorstep – the countryside next door. It might not benefit from a special designation or protection, but these are the ‘ordinary’ countryside and green spaces close to home.

Build our movement

We will inspire, equip and grow a movement of citizens taking action for positive change – powered by our network, rooted in people’s love of place, nature and the countryside.

We believe that empowering local people is key to good decision making in communities. We want to widen and diversify our reach and drive a movement for positive change in the countryside, supporting more people to take action to secure a future for our countryside.

d) Activities and services provided

Our campaigning is evidence-based, reasoned, but passionate. We are experts in the planning system and landscape character, locally and nationally. We are independent of any interest group and defend the countryside in the public interest.

The three principal ways in which we achieve our objectives are:

Initiating and supporting activities that directly improve the countryside and rural communities.
Influencing national policies to maximise the benefit and minimise the damage to the countryside.
Supporting and developing our network of independent local CPREs and through them influencing local plans, supporting appropriate developments and preventing developments that would unnecessarily damage the countryside.

We provide an overview of our activities through this Annual Report; CPRE’s Annual Review; Countryside Voices, our magazine for members; tailored communications for donors and high-value supporters; and regular campaigns update email bulletins. Our website www.cpre.org.uk and activity through all the main social media channels promotes the value of the countryside and our work to enhance and protect it, providing advice and access to comprehensive information on our aims, activities and services.

The 38 independent county CPREs run campaigns and provide local information via their websites, publications and events. They have a very small staff and mainly rely on increasing numbers of volunteers to help them enhance and protect their local countryside.

The work of national CPRE is organised into four main departments, each of which comprises a number of teams:

Policy and Advocacy: Policy, Public Affairs and Communications.
Fundraising & Supporters: Members & Supporters, Philanthropy & Partnerships.
Communities & Participation: Volunteering Development, Network Support and Engagement.
Finance, People & Performance: Finance, Knowledge & Data, HR and IT.

Campaign to Protect Rural England Trustees Report Year ended 31 December 2025

The departments work very closely together and much of our work is carried out jointly by cross-team groups of staff. We also work with volunteers from across our network. Responsibility for delivering our strategic aims brings their work together and highlights from 2025 are reported accordingly below.

Our achievement in 2025

2025 has been another busy year for CPRE, with new challenges and campaign wins. Together, we've been an important voice for the countryside we love. We delivered a major win for the countryside, helping secure a commitment to rooftop solar on most new homes. We campaigned for a Planning and Infrastructure Bill that tackles the rural housing crisis properly and challenged the false choice between nature and housing. And we made a powerful case for protecting the Green Belt in the face of the existential threat from the government’s so-called ‘grey belt’ policy.

Internally, we’ve spent the year planning to maximise the opportunity of our centenary in 2026, securing a significant gift to deliver a centenary garden at Chelsea Flower Show with renowned garden designer Sarah Eberle. We’ve also made plans to start a long running campaign to protect the countryside around our towns and cities, run national countryside awards, hold a land use conference, and extend Countryside Day into a month of action called Love Your Countryside. And we’ve made solid progress on the building blocks that will underpin our new organisational strategy from 2027 with completion of work on a theory of change that updates and clarifies the need, vision and purpose of CPRE.

2026 is the final year of the existing strategy concentrating on three themes: future countryside, the countryside next door, and building our movement – and we report our progress against these here.

a) Future countryside

Planning reform: standing up for nature and communites

The Planning and Infrastructure Bill become an Act in 2025 and this was the focus of months of campaigning including behind the scenes Westminster briefings to improve it by CPRE and partners across the sector. This includes our continuing work hosting and coordinating the Better Planning Coalition that has seen growth in members and growing profile in Westminster under the leadership of a new coordinator. There’s some good to celebrate in the Act, spatial development strategies could help deliver homes in the right places while protecting the countryside and green spaces. But commitments to a proper brownfield first policy are weak, and Environmental Delivery Plans could give developers free rein to trash nature and simply ‘contribute small financial sums’ elsewhere. At the of the year a new consultation on the National Planning Policy Framework was published and we will continue to push for improvements into 2026.

Roofop solar and challenging mega solar farms

At the very start of 2025, over 10,000 of CPRE’s supporters backed our call for the government to adopt the Sunshine Bill, which called for solar panels to be installed on all suitable new homes. Later in the year, the government confirmed that this would be required in the upcoming Future Homes Standard – a major campaign win.

Campaign to Protect Rural England Trustees Report Year ended 31 December 2025

As the country scales up on solar power, we published new analysis in the summer finding that largescale developments are putting vital agricultural land at risk. Sixty per cent of England’s largest operational solar farms are located on productive farmland, while almost a third of the area they cover is classified as the nation’s ‘best and most versatile’ (BMV) agricultural land. We met the Energy Minister responsible for renewables to urge for better outcomes in the future and held a Clean Power meeting of energy VIPs to progress action to unlock more rooftop solar. This is informing our future plans to scale up our support for network campaigns calling out the harms of poorly planned and mega solar on the ground.

Protectng farmland and Green Belt from weak policy

Our Farming on the Edge report showed how farmland on the edges of towns and cities provides us with staple foods, generates billions in food supply value, and is home to some of our best soils. Yet, a loss of farms in the urban fringe is a worrying trend, and we called on the government to urgently release a Land Use Framework to help identify and protect urban fringe areas and better support farmers to farm sustainably.

This year we also published research showing that data from the 1940s and 1980s is still being in the Agricultural Land Classification (ALC) system to classify and protect England’s most valuable and productive farmland, potentially undermining the UK’s ability to grow its own food. The report also warns that the current system substantially overestimates land productivity and much less land likely qualifies as Best and Most Versatile (BMV) for food production.

Grey belt: failed policy, not a soluton

A year after the government introduced the ‘grey belt’ policy, we published new analysis showing that it is not delivering homes on disused car parks or petrol stations as was promised. Instead, it is paving the way for large-scale development on unspoilt countryside, with 88% of land defined as ‘grey belt’ in appeal cases from across 2025 actually being green field. The lack of clarity introduced with the policy is bad news for the Green Belt and those who love the countryside, which is why we continue to call for an urgent redefinition to ensure development is limited to genuinely previously developed land.

Solutons for the sustainable use of land

We responded to the government’s Land Use Framework, an upcoming set of principles that guides how we use our finite land. We pressed for more joined-up decision making, better protection for farmland and more public involvement in land use decisions. Our research later in the year suggested that delays in the framework risks unnecessary loss of countryside, nature and food security. We have also conducted a substantial piece of research on the tools in use to join up decision making on land use with case studies showing how and where things are working well and to better understand the gaps and we’ll publish this in early 2026 leading into our land use conference mid-year.

Giving the countryside a voice at natonal events

This year, we attended the conferences of the five main political parties in England, making sure that the countryside – and those who depend on it – stay at the heart of the political conversation. We partnered with the Fabian Society at Labour’s conference to produce a pamphlet bringing together chapters by Labour MPs and leading figures in housing, technology, transport and health, examining

Campaign to Protect Rural England Trustees Report Year ended 31 December 2025

both the opportunities and challenges facing the countryside. We also released new analysis on housing need at the Fabian’s Housing conference to raise our profile with Government influencers.

b) Countryside Next Door

Hedgerow Heroes

Hedgerow Heroes concluded its fourth year in April 2025 and started its fifth, and largest phase yet, in September thanks to generous funding from a corporate donor. During the 2024/5 planting and restoring season eight CPRE branches hosted projects and achieved a phenomenal 22.8km of planting and 5.6km of restoration (laying and coppicing) giving a total of 28.5km (18 miles). This brings the total figure since the programme started to 66 miles. As well as the improvement to hedgerows, the projects also deliver wider benefits to people and communities. Over 1,600 volunteers took part and over 400 were trained in hedgelaying skills, to take back to their own farms, gardens or to care for public spaces. Engagement with schools remains high and over 2,400 children took part in Phase 4.

Phase 5 (2025/26) is currently underway and is the largest in terms of number of participating CPREs and targets set. Thirteen groups are taking part, many have been involved before, however new for this year are CPRE Cheshire, Cumbria – Friends of the Lake District, Hertfordshire and Sussex. At the midterm point, the project teams have reported fantastic progress towards their goals with 17.8km (11 miles) of hedges planted or rejuvenated, over 1,300 volunteers taking part, 219 events held at 84 sites across the thirteen counties. By the end of Phase 5 in April 2026, we anticipate the project will have achieved 92 miles of hedgerow planting or rejuvenation, towards our Centenary target of 100 miles by the end of December 2026.

Grow Build our movement

Broadening CPRE’s appeal and increasing the amount and diversity of our membership and income continue to be one of our major priorities.

Supporter Engagement

Our brand and digital marketing activity is central to reaching and engaging larger audiences, broadening our appeal and ensuring supporters return to CPRE with purpose:

Brand development and awareness

Anticipating our centenary, across 2025 we completed work to refresh our brand working with professional agencies and engaging the network, including in depth work on better understanding our audiences and continuing the cultural shift internally to work in an audience-centred way. The Theory of Change has shaped how we will continue to evolve our brand positioning to build a much stronger brand presence that changes perceptions of CPRE to significantly increase our profile, influence and supporter base. We also refreshed our corporate ID rolling out an updated look and feel across the network at the end of the year ready for centenary, including a centenary year logo and changing our name back to the Campaign to Protect Rural England and dropping the Countryside Charity tagline.

Campaign to Protect Rural England Trustees Report Year ended 31 December 2025

Increasing our profle in the media

Strong positive media coverage of CPRE continued in 2025. Our campaigning work and expert commentary was featured across the full range of print and broadcast outlets.

Highlights included exclusive reporting in the Guardian of our research on the availability of brownfield land, a call on Channel 4 News for ambitious government policy on rooftop solar, and coverage of our campaigning for amendments to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill in the Times, Daily Mail and Independent. We provided expert commentary on BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 5 Live, LBC and Times Radio, among others.

Of particular note this year was coverage of our campaign against the proliferation of mega solar farms across the countryside. Following extensive reporting in the Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph, our work was covered by Radio 4 Farming Today, The Daily Mail, the Express and the Times, as well as a wide range of local and trade outlets.

Our Annual Media coverage was 3,211 times across print, broadcast and digital media, down slightly from 3,826 mentions in 2024.

Website performance and development

We redesigned the national website in preparation to better showcase our evolving brand presence and the planned centenary activities. We also rolled out the updated, consistent corporate ID to all network website in our digital ecosystem and will continue to transition those sites to the new website design collaboratively across 2026. This did divert resources away from content creation, commissioning and optimisation, key factors in website performance. And the total number of website sessions was below the target of 520,000 at 408,553 for the year. User numbers were down 35.9% on 2024, but the average engagement time per active user increased by 64% on the previous year, an indicator that supporters were more engaged with the content they found on our website.

Social media reach and engagement

This year engagement grew on all our social media channels aside from X/Twitter where we have taken a conscious step-back following recent controversies around the platform. LinkedIn and Instagram are particular areas of growth for us with net increases in follower numbers of 1,034 and 1,508 respectively. Overall, social media engagement was 55% above target and 44% up on 2024. Social media reach was below target at 4.35m against a target of 6m. A key factor here is relatively inconsistent paid activity with reach metrics dropping significantly when paid ads were paused. The digital membership recruitment campaigns gave a significant boost to our overall social media reach.

Income

Overall 2025 has been a disappointing year in terms of income for CPRE, as legacy income has dropped back down nearer the long term average rather than the higher levels of the past couple of years. Income from supporters and members has remained level despite the challenging economics circumstances. We were delighted with the additional corporate funding for our Hedgerow Hero programme towards a 100 miles of Hedgerow restored or planted. Overall our income was £2.5m lower

Campaign to Protect Rural England Trustees Report Year ended 31 December 2025

than 2024. Legacy income continued to be a major factor, in our financial volatility, as it fell by £3m compared to the prior year income.

Membership and Income Generation

Our appeal income from Individual supporters, saw a £31k increase compared to the previous year. People across the UK continue to be affected by the cost-of-living crisis with many charities experiencing dips in their voluntary income and increased loss of supporter numbers. We were not exempt from this with membership numbers declining to 16,394 . We are grateful for all the support that our supporters and members have been able to provide, especially in these continuing difficult times.

During the year we ran a number of digital membership recruitment campaigns. These campaigns were a mixed success financially, although proving positive in recruiting new supporters. We are building on the lessons learned from these campaigns to build our supporter base, and are continuing to review the offer to members, whilst continuing to look at ways to reduce the costs of servicing the membership.

Philanthropy and Partnerships

As mentioned earlier we continued with our important work on hedgerows and started phase 6 of our Hedgerow Heroes project, thanks to the generous support of our corporate partner MW Tops Wildlife Conservation Fund, who gave us our largest donation of £820k to further drive our ambitious projects to plant and restore hedgerows across the country and support our communications work promoting the value of hedgerows to the countryside.

In 2025 we continued with recruiting to our President’s Circle, now having 12 members, who have committed to support us into our Centenary year and beyond. We continue to work with our dedicated Development Board, who are enabling us to steer us towards increasing fundraising opportunities throughout our Centenary year in 2026.

We were also fortunate to benefit from an initial generous gift of £170k from Project Giving Back to fund our garden at the RHS Chelsea flower show in 2026. The total value of this gift will £500k

Our strategy remains to diversify and increase other income sources to reduce the impact of fluctuations in various income streams although this remains a slow process, highly influenced by changes in the economy, with our Centenary this year being a strong opportunity to accelerate this further.

Volunteers

Through 2025 the number of active volunteers recorded grew by over 900 people, taking the total at year end to 2,847. New, more flexible opportunities like Hedgerow Heroes, the Magnifcent Meadows project in Hampshire and the Online Campaigns Activist (OCAs) have seen most growth. Last year we reported that there were 117 OCAs. This has grown to nearly 400 people now with the majority being from younger age groups (18-35 years). The chance to take part from wherever people live, with short tasks that can be completed on your phone have appealed to these age groups.

Campaign to Protect Rural England Trustees Report Year ended 31 December 2025

The online induction continues to provide a valuable opportunity to meet and support new volunteers at the start of their journey with CPRE. Over six events in 2025, 115 new volunteers and staff members attended, giving them a chance to meet the CEO and Policy and Advocacy Director, as well as find out about support available to them. A new digital Welcome to CPRE booklet has been added to the induction options for those unable to make the online session.

We have noticed an increase in the diversity of people volunteering for CPRE this year. The proportion of new volunteers aged 20-34 has grown positively compared to older age groups (from 13.3% at the end of March to 19.75% at the end of December. Where reported, the percentage of volunteers sharing they are from the global majority, rather than a White British ethnic group, has increased by small amounts throughout the year, rising from 2.9% of all reported volunteers to 4.58% by end of 2025. During the year, we have celebrated the achievements of volunteers through the Volunteer Awards and through case studies shared on our Volunteering web page. A round up of some of volunteer achievements is now available for 2025.

Network engagement

The network of CPREs comes together four times a year at the Network Assembly. Started in 2022, the Assembly is our forum for debating issues of shared concern and finding solutions to challenges faced widely by CPRE’s across the country. Each county charity has a representative, as well as national CPRE, and it is chaired independently. This year the Assembly has considered how to embed Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) into the Centenary programme. A small task and finish group of the Assembly worked with the team to curate a new Accessible Events guide to help shape event plans for 2026 and reach new audiences.

Networking and project groups continue to be useful ways of sharing experiences, best practice and facilitating joint work. Regular meetings of the Chairs and Staff networking groups have continued throughout 2025, well supported by their respective members. A pilot of a new virtual town hall, hosted by Mary-Ann Ochota, CPRE’s President, was successful in June 2025 with over 200 staff, volunteers and members joining the call to hear about CPRE’s campaigning on the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and on rooftop solar. An autumn town hall took place in November, again hosted by our President. Over 150 people attended to hear about our influencing work on the Planning and Infrastructure Bill and our plans for celebrating CPRE’s Centenary in 2026.

Governance

The regular cycles of meetings continued, for the most part in person. The National Assembly met four times in 2025 and has been a valuable forum for debate and decisions about matters of shared concern across the network.

In July we held our Annual General Meeting where we said goodbye to two long standing Trustees, Martin Tyler our Treasurer and Patricia Broadfoot. We welcome four new Trustees: Emily Tate, our new Treasurer, Hayley Tocknell, Janette Ward and Martin Collett, each of whom bring a wealth of experience to the Board.

Campaign to Protect Rural England Trustees Report Year ended 31 December 2025

Diversity & Inclusion

We have continued our journey to ensure our national office is a diverse and inclusive work environment. Actions are captured in a refreshed Staff ED&I plan and include improving reporting on diversity for staff and volunteers and setting targets for recruiting staff and volunteers from backgrounds under-represented by CPRE (identified in our leadership statement). We continued to build awareness of diversity and inclusion in 2025 working with the Allyship Resource Group.

We continue to participate with other environmental charities in contributing to the annual RACE report and as part of our ED&I plan have taken steps to implement some of the actions recommended in the RACE Report Transparency card.

IT Upgrade

The roll out of the CRM system to the pilot group of Branches was completed by the end of 2025. We are now planning to roll the system out to the rest on the Network in 2026.

Our Staf

We have invested heavily in training and development, particularly at our manager level, during 2025. Both manager training and project training were delivered in house during the year. Constructive negotiations with Community trade union enabled a pay agreement to be reached meeting the needs of both staff and the Charity in a timely manner. The annual staff survey as ever highlighted areas for improvement and as a result we have focused on improving cross-team working and further supporting staff development. We have developed and launched our employee value proposition that is designed to support the attraction and retention of staff, and to articulate what it means to work for CPRE. Staff retention continues to improve.

Commitment to Fossil Free

CPRE continued its process of becoming fossil free. Our electricity contract is 100% renewable from wind and hydro assets.

CPRE does not have direct investments in oil extraction companies.

Strategic Performance Results 2025

The Strategic performance measures, summarised below, gives a top-level view of progress on the most important measures of progress against the plan. They need to be taken together with the qualitative reports above to see a full picture of what’s going well and where challenges remain.

These indicators are used throughout the year by the Board of Trustees to keep abreast of progress and provide early warning of any areas which requires attention.

Diversity of income and membership

These monitor our strategy of growing & diversifying our income. One of our key income streams is membership which is determined in part by the number of members we recruit.

Campaign to Protect Rural England Trustees Report Year ended 31 December 2025

----- Start of picture text -----
Diversification of Income
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Annual Actual
Target
Legacies Other fundraising
----- End of picture text -----

----- Start of picture text -----
Number of new members
recruited against Target
750
650
550
450
350
250
150
Annual Target Actual
Number of new members
recruited 327 721
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Infuence and Reach

These measures give a basic indication of how effective our digital and non-digital means of communications are in conveying our messages to people. Media coverage includes all forms of media. Parliamentary mentions is the number of times CPRE’s name is mentioned in parliament. We aim to improve on these year on year. The use of AI has had an impact on search engine optimisation which has reduced our social media reach. We are working with our agency to look at ways to improve this.

----- Start of picture text -----
Annual Media Coverage
3211/3500
91%
----- End of picture text -----

----- Start of picture text -----
Annual website sessions
0 Target:
520000
----- End of picture text -----

----- Start of picture text -----
Yearly Parlimentary Mentions
52
Annual parliamentary mentions
40
20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55
Actual Annual Target
----- End of picture text -----

----- Start of picture text -----
Yearly social media reach
7,000,000
6,000,000
6,000,000
5,000,000
4,358,855
4,000,000
3,000,000
2,000,000
1,000,000
0
Annual Target Actual
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Campaign to Protect Rural England Trustees Report Year ended 31 December 2025

People

People, both in terms of staff and volunteers are a key asset to CPRE. High staff turnover is a hidden cost for CPRE as it takes resources to recruit and train new staff, but we are aware that as a relatively small organisation there is limited scope for career progression, particularly for junior staff. With our new People Lead we have implemented policies and procedures to improve staff retention, particularly around career development and training opportunities.

The Volunteer team at CPRE are mainly working with our network of local CPRE’s to help them recruit additional people to support our work at a local level. The higher number of volunteers represents a larger volume of people who want to be involved with CPRE.

----- Start of picture text -----
Staff Turnover Number of Volunteers
30%
25%
25%
20%
15% Acheived 124%
14.74% of Target
10%
2847/2301
5%
0%
Voluntary exits as a % of
average staff headcount
(Rolling average)
Annual Target Actual Annual Target Actual
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Financial review

The financial results of the charity’s activities for the year to 31 December 2025 are set out in the Statement of Financial Activities and supporting notes.

Income and Fundraising Performance

This year total income decreased compared to 2024 by £2.5m – mainly due to a decrease in legacies. Membership, (net of the local share) and Committed Giving income fell by £102k to £0.9m and we are thankful for those loyal supporters. Funding from charitable trusts and companies was higher than the previous year thanks to additional funding for our Hedgerow work.

Expenditure

Total expenditure in 2025 was £5.3m (2024: £4.4m) of which £4.2m was spent on charitable activities (2024: £3.2m), this included our successful campaigning work on Future Countryside and Countryside Next door aims, as well as building our movement which includes continued support to the network. The balance was spent on raising funds for the charity.

Campaign to Protect Rural England Trustees Report Year ended 31 December 2025

Financial Policy

The Board recognises the need to keep unrestricted reserves at a level appropriate to the needs of the organisation. The Board reviewed its reserves policy in December 2025, maintaining the target range in line with the policy below and to set the context for the 2026 budget. CPRE’s reserves policy is:

‘The Board adopts a risk-based approach to reserves. Its policy is to hold unrestricted free reserves, in a range of £1.9m – £3.6m. This reflects the Trustees’ current appraisal of working capital requirements, the risks in CPRE’s sources of income, an allowance for unplanned expenditure, and a degree of funding for key investments during the next planning cycle’.

For the purpose of its policy, CPRE has defined its reserves as its unrestricted free reserves, which constitute total reserves less restricted, endowment reserves and designated funds.

Therefore, our policy focuses on our unrestricted free reserves. These were £5.3m at the year-end (£5.5m in 2024) and represent a strong base to provide resilience against the financial risks faced by the organisation.

Further information on CPRE’s funds is contained in note 19 to the accounts.

Table: Unrestricted Free Reserves

Table: Unrestricted Free Reserves
	2025	2024
	£’000	£’000
Total Reserves	7,769	8,640
Less: Restricted Reserves	(864)	(800)
Less: Endowments Reserves	(143)	(151)
Less: Designated Reserves	(1,500)	(2,142)
Unrestricted Free Reserves	5,262	5,547

The year-end total of £5.3m is above our target range of £1.9m to £3.6m. The Trustees are aware that this comfortable position is due to generous one-off legacies and are conscious that the underlying position of the charity is still of an operating deficit, with reducing regular unrestricted income. The Board have made a decision to bring reserves back towards the target range over the next two to three years and have approved a number of time bound initiatives, in particular around our upcoming centenary. In addition, the Board have signed an 18-month Knowledge Transfer Partnership with Bayes Business school to seek to generate additional income for the organisation. Whilst the outputs of this partnership are unknown at present, it is likely that additional investment will be required to bring to market any ideas generated. The reserves will also be required to underwrite the underlying deficit until the change to the business model is made. The current year budgeted operating deficit is circa £500k.

Having assessed the charity’s financial position, its plans for the foreseeable future, the risks to which it is exposed and the detailed cash projections, the Trustees are satisfied that it remains appropriate to prepare the statements on a going concern basis.

Investment Policy and Performance

During 2025 all CPRE’s investments were managed by CCLA.

Campaign to Protect Rural England Trustees Report Year ended 31 December 2025

For the year to 31 December 2025 the total portfolio has increased by 48% (2024: increased by 188%) as we added a net £1m (2024: added £1m). The overall gain on investments in 2025 amounted to £90k (2024: £75k gain).

The main fund remains with the CCLA Cash fund.

CPRE’s prime ethical consideration is to identify any obvious conflicts of interest between its objectives and the objectives/activities of any company whose shares may be acquired directly for the purpose of investment. We had no direct investment in company shares at 31 December 2025.

Fundraising Approach

CPRE undertakes fundraising activity to its supporters via direct mail, telephone and email in line with the Fundraising Code of Practice set by the Fundraising Regulator. Our fundraising promise, which is available on our website to reassure supporters of our approach, is

‘When you support us by becoming a member, campaigner or donor you can be sure of the following:

We will never sell your contact details to anyone outside of CPRE
We will only contact you if you have expressed an interest in our work
If we phone you, we will always check you are happy to take the call
If you ask us to change how we communicate with you, or stop, we will respect that
We try hard to ensure no one ever feels pressurised to support our work
We are registered with the Fundraising Regulator and adhere to the Fundraising Code of Practice
All our activities are open, fair, honest and legal.’

CPRE is registered with the Fundraising Regulator and adheres to the standards of the Fundraising Code of Practice. Twenty-nine complaints (2024: 13) about fundraising activity were received by CPRE national office in 2025 and they were promptly resolved without the need for escalation to the regulator.

Risk Management

The Board recognises its responsibilities in terms of managing risk and has systems in place to ensure that the risks faced by the charity are identified, assessed, managed and monitored.

The Senior Leadership Team and all staff assess risks as part of all significant project management. The Board review current material risks at each Board meeting during the year and a thorough review of potential risks annually. This was undertaken in December 2025.

The main categories of risk are:

Governance
Reputation
Financial
Regulatory
External

Campaign to Protect Rural England Trustees Report Year ended 31 December 2025

The Board considers the gross risk before taking into account internal and external controls and the residual net risk after these internal and external controls are applied. The major net risks relate to external factors beyond CPRE’s control; the most significant are considered to be:

A downturn in the economy leading to a decrease in income and a reduced ability to diversify our income

The most significant internal risks prior to our internal controls are considered to be:

Failure to diversify and grow income
Failure to grow our ability to influence the new government’s policy
Failure to develop a sustainable business model.

Our internal controls are intended to manage rather than eliminate risks and to give reasonable rather than absolute assurances.

There are only two significant residual internal net risks, all of which are assessed as acceptable:

Failure to diversify and grow income and unsustainable business model. Both of these are inter linked. A new business model will be developed in line with the new strategy. This will include a realignment of resources and income towards the new aims. In addition the knowledge transfer partnership with Bayes Business School is exploring ways to help generate new ideas for sources of revenue.

The system of internal control includes:

A multi-year strategic plan
An annual delivery plan and budget, with actual performance being monitored regularly
A range of policies (e.g. financial reserves policy) and procedures
A Network Assembly for developing policies for working together with CPRE branches
A regular risk assessment programme
A staff structure and scheme of delegation that aids continuity of our work

The scheme of delegation sets out the delegated authority of the Finance Committee, the Policy and Campaigns Committee, the Nominations Committee and the principal officers. The day-to-day management is delegated to the Chief Executive, the principal officers and other CPRE staff.

Future plans

Our strategic aims 2020-26 as set out in section 2 (c) on page 5 demonstrate what we are going to do at national CPRE in the remaining year to move us towards our vision of a beautiful and thriving countryside for all. The strategic aims set our priorities and where we are going to allocate our resources during this period. All our plans and projects contribute towards the achievement of these aims.

In practice our strategy means developing new projects with partners from the CPRE network and externally, to develop, set out and promote solutions through research, policy, campaign and practical work. It means new programmes for volunteering, membership and supporter engagement and

Campaign to Protect Rural England Trustees Report Year ended 31 December 2025

capacity-building for our network and their communities. It means presenting to the public and policymakers a vision of positive, sustainable progress for our countryside which can hold its own against the imperatives of growth.

2026 priorities

Our operational plan and budget, which sets out the details of what we’re going to do and how we will utilise our resources, have been agreed by the Board and is newly organised around eight programmes for the year:

Strategic Land Use - better use of our finite amount of land for people, planet and nature.

Housing - right home, right place. Sustainable, affordable, well designed homes and communities

Hedgerow heroes - hedgerows are a vital part of our countryside – and hedgerow heroes makes sure they are restored and expanded.

Grow and diversify our income - increase members and supporters and diversify where our support comes from.

Celebrate our centenary – deliver our programme of projects, events and funding to celebrate our centenary in 2026.

Develop the organisaton - support staff and volunteers to deliver the plan. Develop the Strategy - develop a new 10 year strategy

Working with the network - improve the engagement, diversity and support of volunteers and the network

Progress against the operational plan will be measured by management and programme teams and strategic performance measures reviewed by the Board every quarter. The budget with which we will deliver the plan has been agreed by the Board and is in line with our financial strategy and reserves policy. Progress against the budget is monitored alongside the performance measures by the Senior Leadership Team and the Board advised by the Finance sub-committee as described below.

Structure, governance and management

a) Legal and Administrative Details

The Campaign to Protect Rural England is a registered charity (number 1089685) and a company limited by guarantee (number 04302973). It was founded in 1926. It is registered in England, and its registered office is 15-21 Provost Street, London, N1 7NH. It is governed by its Memorandum and Articles of Association adopted on 4 October 2001, which were most recently amended on 19 October 2023.

The members of the Trustee Board are Trustees under charity law and Directors under company law. They are also known as Board Members.

CPRE has a wholly owned trading subsidiary, CPRE Enterprises Limited (Company No 4287611), which has been dormant throughout the year.

Campaign to Protect Rural England Trustees Report Year ended 31 December 2025

This report has been prepared in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities (SORP FRS102 – 2nd Edition, effective 1 January 2019) and in accordance with the special provisions of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies.

b) Structure

The CPRE network operates as a network of 40 branches. There are 38 separately constituted branches that operate within the wider CPRE federal structure. As legal entities in their own right, with their own boards of trustees, their results do not form part of these financial statements. While 38 of the branches are separately registered charities, most use the name and branding of CPRE. All deliver broadly similar objectives and receive a share of the membership subscriptions from CPRE’s members. Following the revision of the Articles, the Chairs of our branches hold over 80% of the voting rights at our Annual General Meeting.

National CPRE comprises the national office in London and two county groups, Durham and Northumberland. These two branches are part of the main charity and their finances are incorporated into the charity financial statements at the end of each year. CPRE Lincolnshire was temporarily incorporated into the main charity, but has now become part of the newly created CPRE Rutland and Lincolnshire.

The Board believes that the structure of the organisation is a huge strength that gives CPRE both a national presence and a strong and effective grassroots involvement.

General Council

The General Council comprises the voting members of CPRE. The voting members comprise: one person from each branch, one from each county association, Board members and the President.

The Board

The Board is made up of at least five and not more than ten Trustees including the Chair, the Chair of Policy and Campaigns Committee and the Treasurer (known as the “Officers”). It is composed of up to seven Elected Board Members (in addition to the Officers). All Elected Board Members serve a threeyear term of office but may be eligible for re-election for a further three-year term. During the year one Board Member, William Donaldson, stepped down and two Board Members, Martin Tyler and Patricia Broadfoot, retired. Both were replaced at the AGM.

The Charity maintains third party indemnity insurance for the Trustees.

Recruitment of Trustees

Trustees are recruited in accordance with our Articles of Association, and the process is undertaken by the Nominations Committee, which makes recommendations to the Board. All Trustee roles are advertised within the CPRE Network and externally. They are advertised on the basis of seeking to fill skills gaps and to improve the overall diversity on the Board.

All members of the Board have role descriptions and take part in induction programmes, training and development as appropriate.

Campaign to Protect Rural England Trustees Report Year ended 31 December 2025

c) Statement of Trustees’ Responsibilities

The Trustees are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and regulations. Company law requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (United Kingdom Accounting Standards) and applicable law.

Under company law the Trustees must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and of its net incoming/outgoing resources for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the Trustees are required to:

select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
observe the methods and principles of the Charities SORP (FRS102);
make judgments and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
state whether applicable UK accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and
prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charitable company will continue to operate.

The Trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the charitable company’s transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006 and the provisions of the charitable company’s constitution. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

The Trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the charitable company’s website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions. The following statements have been affirmed by each of the Trustees of the charitable company:

so far as each Trustee is aware, there is no relevant audit information, (that is, information needed by the company’s auditors in connection with preparing their report), of which the company’s auditors are unaware; and
each Trustee has taken all the steps that he/she ought to have taken as a Trustee in order to make himself/herself aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the company’s auditors are aware of that information.

Sub-Commitees

The Board has three sub-committees: Policy and Campaigns Committee, Finance Committee and Nominations Committee. The Board sets terms of reference for sub-committees, all of which report directly to the Board.

Campaign to Protect Rural England Trustees Report Year ended 31 December 2025

The purpose of the Policy and Campaigns Committee is to provide a body of expertise to advise the Board and assist staff and Trustees of CPRE in all aspects of its external policy.

The purpose of the Nominations Committee is to select suitable candidates to be nominated for the Board. It is chaired by a member of CPRE’s General Council.

The purpose of the Finance Committee is to ensure CPRE has sufficient and appropriate financial and other resources available for delivery of its operational plan and budgets. It ensures that CPRE operates within the requirements of its constitution, relevant legislation and best practice. It also acts as a Remuneration Committee reviewing reward policies, cost of living wage awards and the remuneration levels of senior staff.

d) Health and Safety

The Board considers managing health and safety and wellbeing of our staff, volunteers, suppliers and visitors a key priority.

The Board is ultimately responsible for compliance with health and safety legislation. The day-to-day responsibility is delegated to the Chief Executive and Director of Finance, People & Performance, who are responsible for compliance, relevant policy development and performance. Health and Safety is a line-management responsibility throughout CPRE.

During the course of the year there were no significant accidents or incidents involving members of staff, volunteers, contractors or visitors to our office.

e) Employees and Volunteers

Our staff and volunteers continue to build CPRE’s long-established reputation for professionalism, expertise and quality. They are the reason for our many lobbying and campaigning successes.

CPRE’s volunteers are also highly valued and the Board is grateful for the huge amount of work they do. The work of volunteers in the branches and regional groups is supported by advice and other support from national office, including inductions, training seminars and our events programme.

We support equal opportunities, and recruit and promote employees on the basis of aptitude and ability without discrimination. CPRE seeks to enable disabled employees to play a full role in the organisation.

f) Reward Policy

The pay of the principal officers - see page 24 - is determined by the Board of Trustees. Salaries are benchmarked with those of charities of similar size in terms of income, staff numbers, sector and complexity. The same benefits, including pensions, and terms and conditions apply to the principal officers as all other staff.

All other staff salaries have also been benchmarked with those of charities of similar size in terms of income, staff numbers and complexity. It is expected that the majority of staff will be paid at the median for their role, however there is flexibility of +/- 15% around the median.

Campaign to Protect Rural England Trustees Report

Year ended 31 December 2025

All staff salaries will be benchmarked again on a triennial basis. This was last carried out in 2023. During the interim period the Board may approve an annual pay increase subject to an overall affordability criterion.

The Board includes Trustees appointed by our volunteer branch chairs and Trustees with significant pay expertise and knowledge, especially of the charity sector.

All nationally employed staff are paid at least the London Living Wage.

g) Reference and Administrative Details

Management

The Board delegates responsibility for the day-to-day management of CPRE to its Chief Executive. He is aided by the Senior Leadership Team and other senior colleagues.

The present office holders and any past office holders who served during the year, and to the date of signing this Report, are listed below.

Ofce Holders

President

Mary-Ann Ochota

Vice Presidents

Fiona Reynolds Ali Miraj

The Board (Trustees/Directors)

Simon Murray Chair Emily Tate ACA Treasurer (from July 2025) Tony Burton Chair of Policy and Campaigns Committee Reema Khan Chair of Nominations Committee William Donaldson General Board Member (until December 2025) Lucy Turvill-Kunisch General Board Member Matthew O’Connell General Board Member Janette Ward General Board Member (from July 2025) Hayley Tocknell General Board Member (from July 2025) Martin Collett General Board Member (from July 2025)

Sub-Commitees of the Board:

Policy and Campaigns Commitee

Tony Burton Trustee and committee Chair Simon Murray Trustee Kaley Hart

Campaign to Protect Rural England Trustees Report Year ended 31 December 2025

Rowena Swallow Gavin Parker Gemma Jerome Holly McIntyre (until November 2025) Janette Ward Jonathan Clarke

Finance Commitee
Emily Tate ACA	Trustee and commitee Chair (from July 2025)
Simon Murray	Trustee
Reema Khan	Trustee
John Ydlibi FCA	Co-optee
Nominatons Commitee
Reema Khan	Trustee and commitee Chair
Simon Murray	Trustee
Ron Simpson	Network Assembly appointee
Hugh Williams	Network Assembly appointee
Sally Learoyd	Network Assembly appointee
Principal Ofcers
Roger Mortlock	Chief Executve
Mark Cornish FCA	Director of Finance, People & Performance and Company Secretary
Dr Crewenna Dymond	Director for Communites and Partcipaton
Ruth Evans	Director of Fundraising & Supporters
Elli Moody	Director of Policy, Campaigns & Communicatons

Professional Advisers:

A list of CPRE’s main professional advisers appears on page 55.

Auditor

During the year Sayer Vincent LLP were re-appointed as auditors.

The directors’ annual report has been prepared in accordance with the special provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies’ regime.

Approved by the Trustees on 18 March 2026 and signed on their behalf by:

Simon Murray

Emily Tate ACA

Chair

Treasurer

CAMPAIGN TO PROTECT RURAL ENGLAND

A COMPANY LIMITED BY GUARANTEE - COMPANY NO. 4302973

Independent auditor’s report

to the members of CPRE, the Campaign to Protect Rural England

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (the ‘charitable company’) for the year ended 31 December 2025 which comprise the statement of financial activities, balance sheet, statement of cash flows and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including FRS 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion, the financial statements:

Give a true and fair view of the state of the charitable company’s affairs as at 31 December 2025 and of its incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure for the year then ended
Have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice
Have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charitable company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Conclusions relating to going concern

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees' use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on Campaign to Protect Rural England’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

CAMPAIGN TO PROTECT RURAL ENGLAND

A COMPANY LIMITED BY GUARANTEE - COMPANY NO. 4302973

Other Information

The other information comprises the information included in the trustees’ annual report other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. The trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the course of the audit, or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit:

The information given in the trustees’ annual report for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and
The trustees’ annual report has been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the charitable company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the trustees’ annual report. We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

Adequate accounting records have not been kept, or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or
The financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or
Certain disclosures of trustees’ remuneration specified by law are not made; or
We have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit; or
The directors were not entitled to prepare the financial statements in accordance with the small companies regime and take advantage of the small companies’ exemptions in preparing the trustees’ annual report and from the requirement to prepare a strategic report.

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the statement of trustees’ responsibilities set out in the trustees’ annual report, the trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable

CAMPAIGN TO PROTECT RURAL ENGLAND

A COMPANY LIMITED BY GUARANTEE - COMPANY NO. 4302973

the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud are set out below.

Capability of the audit in detecting irregularities

In identifying and assessing risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations, our procedures included the following:

We enquired of management, which included obtaining and reviewing supporting documentation, concerning the charity’s policies and procedures relating to:
Identifying, evaluating, and complying with laws and regulations and whether they were aware of any instances of non-compliance;
Detecting and responding to the risks of fraud and whether they have knowledge of any actual, suspected, or alleged fraud;
The internal controls established to mitigate risks related to fraud or non-compliance with laws and regulations.
We inspected the minutes of meetings of those charged with governance.
We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory framework that the charity operates in, focusing on those laws and regulations that had a material effect on the financial statements or that had a fundamental effect on the operations of the charity from our professional and sector experience.
We communicated applicable laws and regulations throughout the audit team and remained alert to any indications of non-compliance throughout the audit.
We reviewed any reports made to regulators.

CAMPAIGN TO PROTECT RURAL ENGLAND

A COMPANY LIMITED BY GUARANTEE - COMPANY NO. 4302973

We reviewed the financial statement disclosures and tested these to supporting documentation to assess compliance with applicable laws and regulations.
We performed analytical procedures to identify any unusual or unexpected relationships that may indicate risks of material misstatement due to fraud.
In addressing the risk of fraud through management override of controls, we tested the appropriateness of journal entries and other adjustments, assessed whether the judgements made in making accounting estimates are indicative of a potential bias and tested significant transactions that are unusual or those outside the normal course of business.

Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities, including those leading to a material misstatement in the financial statements or non-compliance with regulation. This risk increases the more that compliance with a law or regulation is removed from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, as we will be less likely to become aware of instances of non-compliance. The risk is also greater regarding irregularities occurring due to fraud rather than error, as fraud involves intentional concealment, forgery, collusion, omission or misrepresentation.

A further description of our responsibilities is available on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities . This description forms part of our auditor’s report.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charitable company's members as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company's members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charitable company and the charitable company's members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Fleur Holden (Senior statutory auditor)

20 March 2026

for and on behalf of Sayer Vincent LLP, Statutory Auditor

110 Golden Lane, LONDON, EC1Y 0TG

CAMPAIGN TO PROTECT RURAL ENGLAND

A COMPANY LIMITED BY GUARANTEE - COMPANY NO. 4302973

Statement of financial activities

(INCORPORATING AN INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT)

YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025

Note Income from Donations and legacies 3 Other trading activities 5 Investments 6 Total Expenditure on Raising funds 7 Charitable activities 8 Total Net Income/ (expenditure) before gains/ (losses) in investments Net gains/ (losses) on investments 14 Net movement in funds (being net income /(expenditure)) for the year) Reconciliation of funds: Total funds brought forward Total funds carried forward	Unrestricted Restricted Endowment 2025 2024 Funds Funds Fund Total Total £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 3,258 1,012 - 4,270 6,746 4 - - 4 4 63 4 - 67 87
	3,325 1,016 - 4,341 6,837
	1,080 - - 1,080 1,231 3,270 952 - 4,222 3,201
	4,350 952 - 5,302 4,432 (1,025) 64 - (961) 2,405 98 - (8) 90 75
	(927) 64 (8) (871) 2,480 7,689 800 151 8,640 6,160
	6,762 864 143 7,769 8,640

All of the charity’s activities are continuing.

There are no gains and losses other than those shown above.

CAMPAIGN TO PROTECT RURAL ENGLAND

A COMPANY LIMITED BY GUARANTEE - COMPANY NO. 4302973

Balance sheet

AS AT 31 DECEMBER 2025

AS AT 31 DECEMBER 2025
Notes FIXED ASSETS Intangible assets 12 Tangible assets 13 Investments 14 Total fixed assets CURRENT ASSETS Debtors 16 Cash at bank and in hand Total current assets Liabilities: Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year 17 Net current assets Total assets less current liabilities Creditors: Amounts falling due after one year 18 Total net assets The funds of the charity: Unrestricted funds 20 Restricted funds 21 Endowment fund 22 Total charity funds	2025 £’000 2024 £’000 315 356 14 31 3,380 2,290
	3,709 2,677 1,878 3,446 2,662 2,940
	4,540 6,386 (480) (396)
	4,060 5,990 7,769 8,667 - (27)
	7,769 8,640
	6,762 7,689 864 800 143 151
	7,769 8,640

The financial statements were approved and authorised for issue by the Board and were signed on its behalf on 18 March 2026.

Simon Murray

Chair

Emily Tate ACA

Treasurer

CAMPAIGN TO PROTECT RURAL ENGLAND

A COMPANY LIMITED BY GUARANTEE - COMPANY NO. 4302973

Statement of cash flows

YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025

Reconciliation of net income to net cash flow from operating activities Net (expenditure) / income for the year Adjustments for: Depreciation charges (Gains)/ Losses on investments Dividends and interest from investments Reduction / (Increase) in debtors Increase in creditors Net cash provided by operating activities Cash flows from investing activities: Dividends and interest from investments Bank and other interest received Purchase of property, plant and equipment Purchase of investments Sale of Investments Net cash used in investing activities Change in cash and cash equivalents in the year Cash and cash equivalents at 1 January 2025 Cash and cash equivalents at 31 December 2025	2025 2024 £’000 £’000 (871) 2,480 64 63 (90) (75) (67) (87) 1,568 (489) 56 -
	660 1,892 4 4 63 83 (5) (12) (1,500) (1,500) 500 500
	(938) (925)
	(278) 967 2,940 1,973
	2,662 2,940

The Charity has no debt, therefore the movements in net debt are all shown in the main cashflow statement.

CAMPAIGN TO PROTECT RURAL ENGLAND

A COMPANY LIMITED BY GUARANTEE - COMPANY NO. 4302973

Notes to the Financial Statements Year ended 31 December 2025

1. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING POLICIES

a) Charity Information

The Campaign to Protect Rural England is a company limited by guarantee (No. 04302973) and a registered charity (No 1089685) in England & Wales. The registered office is 15-21 Provost Street, London, N1 7NH.

b) Basis of Accounting and Statement of Compliance

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention, with the exception of fixed asset investments, which are included at their fair value at the balance sheet date. The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice for Charities (SORP 2015) (Second Edition, effective 1 January 2019), the Companies Act 2006 and Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102).

The Trustees in developing the corporate strategy have also developed a multi-year financial model to underpin the corporate strategy. Whilst within the strategy there are risks associated with achieving the fundraising income, there are no material uncertainties related to events or conditions which would cast doubt on the charity’s ability to continue as a going concern.

Consolidated accounts have not been prepared, as the operation of the wholly owned trading subsidiary, CPRE Enterprises Limited, was dormant in the year and the net assets were not material to CPRE at the balance sheet date.

The principal accounting policies and estimation techniques are as follows:

c) Local CPREs

Our partners in the CPRE network, the local CPRE organisations, receive a share of the membership subscription paid in respect of members assigned to them, which includes tax recovered from gift aid. The majority are autonomous, separately registered charities and produce their own financial statements, which are not consolidated. Three are part of national CPRE (Lincolnshire, County Durham and Northumberland). These are accounted for within these financial statements.

d) Income

Voluntary income and membership subscriptions are recorded when received at the national office.

Legacies are recognised when the conditions of entitlement, probability and measurement are met. Each bequest is recognised once a reasonable estimate of its value can be made and providing there is no evidence of any significant contentious claims against the deceased’s estate. Where CPRE is left part of the residue of an estate, the deceased’s Will, initial statements of assets and liabilities and draft estate accounts are used to calculate the estimated value of the bequest. This estimate is only recognised as income once the executors have proved the Will (i.e. obtained probate). Probate values will normally be used to estimate value.

CAMPAIGN TO PROTECT RURAL ENGLAND

A COMPANY LIMITED BY GUARANTEE - COMPANY NO. 4302973

Income from government and other grants, whether ‘capital’ grants or ‘revenue’ grants, is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the grants have been met, it is probable that the income will be received, and the amount can be measured reliably.

Merchandise income are accounted for on an accruals basis.

On receipt, donated gifts, professional services and donated facilities are recognised on the basis of the value of the gift to the charity which is the amount the society would have been willing to pay to obtain services or facilities of equivalent economic benefit on the open market; a corresponding amount is then recognised in expenditure in the period of receipt.

e) Intangible Fixed Assets

Items over £1,000 are capitalised. Intangible Fixed assets are stated at historical cost less accumulated amortisation.

Amortisation of Intangible fixed assets is provided at rates calculated to amortise the cost of the assets over their anticipated useful lives and is charged on a monthly basis from purchase. The rates used during the year were as follows:

CRM Database 10% straight line

f) Tangible Fixed Assets

Items over £1,000 are capitalised. Fixed assets are stated at cost less accumulated depreciation. Assets are reviewed for impairment if circumstances indicate their carrying value may exceed their net realisable value in use.

Depreciation of fixed assets is provided at rates calculated to write off the cost of fixed assets over their anticipated useful lives and is charged on a monthly basis from purchase. The rates used during the year were as follows:

Leasehold improvements 10% straight line Furniture and equipment 25% or 33 1/3% straight line Computer equipment 33 1/3% straight line

g) Fixed Asset Investments

Fixed asset investments are stated at fair value. Investment income is included in the Statement of Financial Activities on a receivable basis. Realised and unrealised gains and losses on investment assets are shown in the Statement of Financial Activities. Realised gains are based on disposal proceeds compared with either opening market value or cost if acquired during the year.

h) Cash at bank and in hand

Cash at bank and cash in hand includes cash and short term highly liquid investments with a short maturity of 95 days or less from the date of acquisition or opening of the deposit or similar account.

i) Operating Leases Operating lease rentals are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities on a straight-line basis over the lease term.

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j) Fund Accounting

Restricted funds are those the use of which is restricted by the conditions imposed by the donors. Endowment funds are those where the income can be spent but the capital element retained. General funds are those which are available for the general advancement of CPRE’s objectives.

Designated funds are unrestricted funds earmarked by the Trustees for particular purposes.

k) Allocation of Costs

Overheads and support costs have been allocated to the cost headings in the Statement of Financial Activities as follows:

An estimate of staff time spent on each activity during the year, together with the individual’s salary cost, has been used to calculate the actual cost of staff time spent on each activity. These staff cost figures have been used to calculate a percentage figure, which has been used to apportion the total overhead and support costs.

Support costs include the costs of Human Resources and IT, Finance and Governance. Overhead costs include rent, depreciation and office costs.

Expenditure is recognised on an accruals basis when a liability is incurred.

l) Raising Funds

The cost of raising funds includes the production and postage costs of appeals and raffles, the marketing and promotional costs of all our fundraising programmes, the costs of members and supporter recruitment and the administrative cost of processing donations.

m) Charitable Activities

Charitable activity costs include all expenditure incurred in direct pursuit of CPRE’s charitable objectives.

These include all policy work, development of the branches and regional groups and the production of policy information about its work.

It also includes Membership and Supporter services including the materials, administrative and processing costs for member and supporter services.

n) Taxation

VAT

Irrecoverable VAT is included under the relevant expense headings. In 2025 this amounted to £137k (2024: £139k).

Corporaton Tax

CPRE is a registered charity and can claim exemption from Corporation Tax on income and gains, which are applied for charitable purposes under the Corporation Taxes Act 2010.

o) Pension Schemes

CPRE operates defined contribution pension schemes for all qualifying employees. The assets of the schemes are held in separate funds administered by independent providers.

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2. DETAILED COMPARATIVES FOR THE STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES

Note Income from Donations and legacies 3 Other trading activities 5 Investments 6 Total Expenditure on Raising funds 7 Charitable activities 8 Total Net Income/ (expenditure) before gains / (losses investments Net gains on investments Net movement in funds (being net income /(expenditure)) for the year Reconciliation of funds: Total funds brought forward Total funds carried forward	Unrestricted Restricted Endowment 2024 Funds Funds Fund Total £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 6,048 698 - 6,746 4 - - 4 83 4 - 87
	6,135 702 - 6,837
	1,231 - - 1,231 2,681 520 - 3,201
	3,912 520 - 4,432
	2,223 182 - 2,405 71 - 4 75
	2,294 182 4 2,480 5,395 618 147 6,160
	7,689 800 151 8,640

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3. INCOME FROM DONATIONS AND LEGACIES

Unrestricted Funds Membership subscriptions Less:Branch share of subscriptions (note 1c) Legacies Appeals Charitable Trusts and Companies (note 4) Committed giving Major personal donations General donations Charitable Activities Give as You Earn donations Branch Income Total Unrestricted Funds Restricted Funds Charitable Trusts and Companies (note 4) Legacies Charitable Activities -Gift in kind Total Restricted Funds Total income from Donations & Legacies	2025 2024 £’000 £’000 1,281 1,333 (595) (557)
	686 776 1,827 4,576 234 203 139 119 181 193 90 73 92 77 - 25 4 3 5 3
	3,258 6,048 841 487 1 211 170 -
	1,012 698
	4,270 6,746

At 31 December 2025, our estimate of the value of legacies that had been bequeathed to CPRE, but which had not been included in the financial statements, was £357k (2024: £50k). None of these bequests has a remaining life interest.

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4. GENERAL, CORPORATE AND TRUST DONATIONS

2025 MW TOPS Wildlife Conservaton Fund (ESG TOPS Foundaton) The Pilgrim Trust Constance Travis Charitable Trust The Derek & Clare Stevens Trust TD Paton Trust Donatons less than £10,000 Comparatve 2024 2024 Nancy Bateman Charitable Trust MW TOPS Wildlife Conservaton Fund (ESG TOPS Foundaton) Groundwork UK Scouloudi Foundaton Donatons less than £10,000	Unrestricted Funds Restricted Funds Total 2025 £’000 £’000 £’000 - 820 820 - 14 14 60 - 60 10 - 10 10 - 10 59 7 66
	139 841 980
	Unrestricted Funds Restricted Funds Total 2024 £’000 £’000 £’000 - 100 100 - 375 375 50 - 50 - 12 12 69 - 69
	119 487 606

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5. OTHER TRADING ACTIVITIES Other income CPRE publications All other trading actvity is unrestricted. 6. INVESTMENTS UK listed securities – restricted Bank interest – unrestricted	2025 2024 £’000 £’000 1 2 3 2
	4 4
	2025 2024 £’000 £’000 4 4 63 83
	67 87

RAISING FUNDS

Fundraising costs: Direct costs Employment costs Support costs Total	2025 2024 £’000 £’000 272 338 597 671 211 222
	1,080 1,231

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NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED)

YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025

8. ANALYSIS OF EXPENDITURE

Charitable activities Countryside Next Door Future Countryside Build Our Movement Total Charitable activities Raising funds	Direct Employment Costs Grant Making Activities Other Direct Costs Suppor t Costs 2025 Total £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 694 - 1,112 220 2,026 821 108 239 280 1,448 238 - 404 106 748
	1,753 108 1,755 606 4,222 597 - 272 211 1,080
	2,350 108 2,027 817 5,302

Grant making activities relate to grants made to the local CPRE Groups as part of our centenary activities.

ANALYSIS OF SUPPORT COSTS BY CHARITABLE ACTIVITY

Countryside Next Door Future Countryside Build Our Movement 2025 Total charitable support costs	Overheads IT & HR Finance Governance Total £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 108 49 44 19 220 137 63 56 24 280 52 24 21 9 106
	297 136 121 52 606

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COMPARISON TO 2024

OMPARISON TO 2024
	Direct Employment		Other	Support Costs	2024
		Costs	Direct		Total
			Costs
		£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
Charitable activities
Countryside Next Door		632	540	209	1,381
Future Countryside		795	136	275	1,206
Build Our Movement		236	313	65	614
Total		1,663	989	549	3,201
Charitable activities
Raising funds		338	222	671	1,231
		2,001	1,211	1,220	4,432
Overheads		IT & HR	Finance	Governance	Total
	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
Countryside Next Door	102	49	42	16	209
Future Countryside	134	64	55	22	275
Build Our Movement	32	15	13	5	65
2024 Total charitable	268	128	110	43	549
support costs

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9. EMPLOYEE INFORMATION

The average monthly headcount was 45 (2024: 45). The average number of employees, on a fulltime equivalent basis was as follows:

ime equivalent basis was as follows:
Full time Part time (FTE) Employee costs were as follows: Salaries Redundancy/ Termination costs fully paid and settled National Insurance Employer’s Contribution to defined contribution pension scheme	2025 2024 No No 38 38 7 5
	45 43
	£’000 £’000 2,173 2,224 - 23 258 218 187 131
	2,618 2,596

CPRE operates a Group Personal Pension Plan that all members of staff are eligible to join after the completion of their probationary service period. CPRE contributes 7% of eligible employees’ salaries to their pension plans. 47 members of staff (2024: 44) were members of the Group Personal Pension Plan at the end of the year. All of the higher paid employees were members of the Group Personal Pension Plan. Contributions into the Plan for these employees were £40k (2024: £28k). The total value of employee benefits received by key management personnel, (our principal officers (see page 24) was £532k (2024: £506k).

Employees paid £60,000 or more:

	2025	2024
£100,000 - £110,000	1	1
£80,000-£89,999	3	3
£70,000 - £79,999	1	1

In August 2025 CPRE changed the pension scheme to a salary sacrifice design to try and mitigate the cost of the increased NIC and to provide a more tax efficient scheme to staff. Under the scheme the sacrificed employees salary is paid over as additional employers pension contribution.

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10. TRUSTEES’ REMUNERATION AND EXPENSES

None of the Trustees received any remuneration during the year (2024: none). Travelling expenses reimbursed to 8 (2024:6) Trustees during the year amounted to £3,544 (2024: £2,641).

11. NET INCOME/ (EXPENDITURE) FOR THE YEAR

	2025	2024
This is stated after charging/ (crediting):	£’000	£’000
Depreciation	23	22
Amortisation	41	43
Operating lease rental:
Property	187	202
Other	1	1
Auditor’s Remuneration (excluding VAT):
Audit	22	21
Non audit services	2	-

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12. INTANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS

Cost At 1 January 2025 and 31 December 2025 Amortisation At 1 January 2025 Charge for the year At 31 December 2025 Net book value At 31 December 2025 At 31 December 2024	CRM System Total £’000 £’000 415 415
	415 415 59 59 41 41
	100 100
	315 315

	356 356

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13. TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS

Cost At 1 January 2025 Additions Disposals At 31 December 2025 Depreciation At 1 January 2025 Charge for the year Disposals At 31 December 2025 Net book value At 31 December 2025 At 31 December 2024	Furniture Computer and Equipment Equipment Total £’000 £’000 £’000 86 26 112 5 - 5 (22) - (22)
	69 26 95 61 20 81 16 6 22 (22) - (22)
	55 26 81
	14 - 14

	25 6 31

All assets are held for charitable purposes.

14. INVESTMENTS

INVESTMENTS
Value at 1 January 2025 Additions Disposals Investment gains Value at 31 December 2025	Listed Investments Total £’000 £’000 2,290 2,290 1,500 1,500 (500) (500)
	90 90
	3,380 3,380

The Charity’s listed investments represent its only financial assets measured at fair value.

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15. TRADING SUBSIDIARY

CPRE Enterprises Limited

The organisation has a wholly owned subsidiary registered in England, CPRE Enterprises Limited. CPRE Enterprises Limited has been dormant throughout 2025 and 2024.

Summarised Balance Sheet of CPRE Enterprises Limited Cash at bank Called up share capital 16. DEBTORS Accrued legacy income Accrued Income Prepayments Other debtors	2025 2024 £ £ 2 2 2 2 2025 2024 £’000 £’000 1,271 3,209 439 79 105 84 63 74
	1,878 3,446

Included within Other debtors is £51k (2024: £51k) which relates to the rent deposit on Provost Street which is recoverable after more than one year.

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17. CREDITORS:amounts falling due within one year Share of subscriptions owed to branches and regional groups Accruals and deferred income Trade creditors Taxation and social security Pension schemes Accrued rent 18. CREDITORS:amounts falling due after more than one year Accrued rent	2025 2024 £’000 £’000 163 138 107 62 97 91 63 58 22 17 28 30
	480 396
	2025 2024 £’000 £’000 - 27

19. ANALYSIS OF NET ASSETS BETWEEN FUNDS

General Funds Designated Funds Total Unrestricted Funds Restricted Funds Endowment Fund At 31 December 2025	Net Total Fixed Other Net Assets Investments Assets Assets £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 - 3,237 2,025 5,262 329 - 1,171 1,500
	329 3,237 3,196 6,762 - - 864 864 - 143 - 143
	329 3,380 4,060 7,769

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COMPARATIVE 2024

RATIVE 2024
General Funds Designated Funds Total Unrestricted Funds Restricted Funds Endowment Fund At 31 December 2024	Net Total Fixed Other Net Assets Investments Assets Assets £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 - 2,140 3,407 5,547 387 - 1,755 2,142
	387 2,140 5,162 7,689 - - 800 800 - 151 - 151
	387 2,291 5,962 8,640

20. Unrestricted Funds	1 Jan				Transfer	31 Dec
	2025	Income	&	Expenditure	from General	2025
		Gains		& Losses	Funds
Designated Funds	£’000	£’000		£’000	£’000	£’000
Legacy fund for work in	275		-	(275)	-	-
North Yorkshire
Funds held by local	88		-	(48)	2	42
groups
Legacy fund for work in	230		-	-	-	230
Surrey
Dilapidations	100		-	-	-	100
Centenary Support	468		-	(305)	317	480
Grow Income	228		-	(146)	44	126
Technology	235		-	(89)	(100)	46
Campaigns Support	55		-	(54)	94	95
Knowledge Transfer	76		-	(24)
Partnership					-	52

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Net Book Value Fixed Assets Total Designated Funds General Funds Total Unrestricted Funds	387 - - (58) 329
	2,142 - (941) 299 1,500 5,547 3,423 (3,409) (299) 5,262
	7,689 3.423 (4,350) - 6,762

Purposes of Designated Funds

Legacy fund for work in North Yorkshire. This has been transferred to our North Yorkshire branch.

Funds held by local groups which are part of National CPRE. These will be spent when suitable projects are identified by those groups.

Legacy fund for work in Surrey. This will be spent when suitable projects are identified with our Surrey branch.

Dilapidations relate to costs of vacating the London office and the end of the lease.

Centenary Support relates to the programme of event and projects to celebrate our centenary in 2026.

Grow Income is a fund to help grow and diversify our income.

The Technology fund is for the update and development of our digital infrastructure including the website and will be spent in 2025/6.

Campaigns Support relates to investment in the better planning coalition work and will be utilizied over the next year.

Knowledge Transfer Partnership relates to the 2 years partnership with Bayes Business School.

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20. Unrestricted Funds Designated Funds Strategic Collaboration Fund for the CPRE Network Legacy fund for work in North Yorkshire Funds held by local groups Legacy fund for work in Surrey Dilapidations Centenary Support Grow Income Technology Campaigns Support Knowledge Transfer Partnership Net Book Value Fixed Assets Total Designated Funds General Funds Total Unrestricted Funds	1 Jan 2024 Income & Gains Expenditure & Losses Transfer from General Funds 31 Dec 2024 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 30 - - (30) - 284 - (9) - 275 83 5 - - 88 - - - 230 230 - - - 100 100 - - - 468 468 - - - 228 228 - - - 235 235 - - - 55 55 - - - 76 76 438 - - (51) 387
	835 5 (9) 1,311 2,142
	4,560 6,201 (3,903) (1,311) 5,547
	5,395 6,206 (3,912) - 7,689

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21. RESTRICTED FUNDS

RESTRICTED FUNDS
CPRE Mark Pilgrim Trust Nancy Bateman Charitable Trust Lake District CPRE Lincolnshire Bedford Road Charitable trust Project giving back MW TOPS Wildlife Conservaton Fund Total restricted funds	Balance at 1 January Income and Gains Expenditure & Losses Balance at 31 December 2025 2025 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 49 4 - 53 - 14 (14) - 473 - (326) 147 210 1 - 211 33 - (33) - - 7 (1) 6 - 170 (170) - 35 820 (408) 447
	800 1,016 (952) 864

Purposes of Restricted Funds

CPRE Mark fund is used for the branch award scheme as noted in note 22.
The Pilgrim Trust provided seed funding to develop a campaign on light pollution.
Nancy Bateman Trust is funding our visionary planning work.
Lake District relates to funding of work in the Lake District.
CPRE Lincolnshire relates to the cash balances of the local CPRE.
Bedford Road Charitable Trust is funding our Planning Policy Officer.
Project Giving Back is funding our garden for the Chelsea Flower show in May 2026.
MW TOPS Wildlife Conservation Fund is supporting our Hedgerow Heroes Project (previously known as ESG Tops Foundation).

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Comparatve 2024 CPRE Mark European Climate Foundaton Nancy Bateman Charitable Trust Lake District CPRE Lincolnshire MW TOPS Wildlife Conservaton Fund Total restricted funds	Balance at 1 January Income and Gains Expenditure & Losses Balance at 31 December 2024 2024 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 45 4 - 49 - 12 (12) - 476 100 (103) 473 - 210 - 210 33 1 (1) 33 64 375 (404) 35
	618 702 (520) 800

CPRE Mark fund is used for the branch award scheme as noted in note 22.
European Climate Foundation contribute toward our Better Planning Coalition work.
Nancy Bateman Charitable Trust is funding our visionary planning work.
Lake District relates to funding of work in the Lake District.
CPRE Lincolnshire relates to the cash balances of the local CPRE.
MW TOPS Wildlife Conservation Fund is supporting our Hedgerow Heroes Project (previously known as ESG Tops Foundation).

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22. ENDOWMENT FUND

	Balance at1	Investment	Balance at 31
	January	Gains/ (losses)	December
	2025		2025
	£’000	£’000	£’000
Endowment Fund (Colonel Hill)	151	(8)	143
Comparatve 2024	Balance at	Investment	Balance at
	1 January	Gains/ (losses)	31 December
	2024		2024
	£’000	£’000	£’000
Endowment Fund (Colonel Hill)	147	4	151

The Permanent Endowment Fund was established by a donation in 1997. The income from the Fund is used to fund the CPRE Mark which is treated as restricted income, which signifies approval for constructive developments and schemes, which leave the environment protected or enhanced.

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23. OPERATING LEASE COMMITMENTS

At 31 December 2025, CPRE was committed to making the following payments in respect of non-cancellable operating leases:

Land & Buildings Payments due within 1 year Payments due within 2-5 years (*) Total Land & building Other Payments due within 1 year Payments due within 2-5 years Total Other	2025 2024 £’000 £’000 186 202 - 185 186 387
	1 1 1 2 2 3

(*) The lease for 15-21 Provost Street has a break clause in December 2026.

24. RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

All Trustees are members of CPRE and pay at least the standard membership subscription.

Emily Tate is director of Farewill Ltd who provide will writing service for CPRE. These arrangements are on an arm’s length basis. During the year Farewill Ltd charged CPRE £1,900 (2024:£1,850) Nothing was owed at the year-end (2024:£nil).

Janette Ward is a Trustee of CPRE Somerset. During the year CPRE paid CPRE Somerset their share of membership fee income which amounts to £16,114 (2024: £13,690). These arrangements are on an arm’s length basis. At the end of the year £4,060 (2024 3,609) was outstanding but not overdue.

Reema Khan was Advancement Director at Bayes Business School which is a joint partner of the Knowledge Transfer Partnership. During the year Bayes charged CPRE £6,953 for the contribution towards the KTP Associate’s costs (2024: £nil). This amount was outstanding at the year-end but not overdue (2024: £nil).

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Professional advisors

Honorary Standing Counsel

Paul Brown KC

Solicitors

Bates Wells LLP 10 Queen Street Place London EC4R 1BE

Auditor

Sayer Vincent LLP 110 Golden Lane London EC1Y 0TG

Bankers

NatWest 2a Charing Cross Road London WC2H ONN

Investment Managers

CCLA Senator House 85 Queen Victoria Street London EC4V 4ET

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A message from our chair

Simon Murray

Trustees’ report

a) Objects and activities

b) Our vision and mission

c) Our Strategy 2020-26

Future Countryside

Countryside Next Door

d) Activities and services provided

Our achievement in 2025

a) Future countryside

Planning reform: standing up for nature and communites

Roofop solar and challenging mega solar farms

Protectng farmland and Green Belt from weak policy

Grey belt: failed policy, not a soluton

Solutons for the sustainable use of land

Giving the countryside a voice at natonal events

b) Countryside Next Door

Hedgerow Heroes

Grow Build our movement

Supporter Engagement

Brand development and awareness

Increasing our profle in the media

Website performance and development

Social media reach and engagement

Income

Membership and Income Generation

Philanthropy and Partnerships

Volunteers

Network engagement

Governance

Diversity & Inclusion

IT Upgrade

Our Staf

Commitment to Fossil Free

Strategic Performance Results 2025

Diversity of income and membership

Infuence and Reach

People

Financial review

Income and Fundraising Performance

Expenditure

Financial Policy

Table: Unrestricted Free Reserves

Fundraising Approach

Risk Management

Future plans

2026 priorities

Structure, governance and management

a) Legal and Administrative Details

b) Structure

General Council

The Board

Recruitment of Trustees

c) Statement of Trustees’ Responsibilities

Sub-Commitees

d) Health and Safety

e) Employees and Volunteers

f) Reward Policy

g) Reference and Administrative Details

Management

President

Vice Presidents

The Board (Trustees/Directors)

Policy and Campaigns Commitee

Professional Advisers:

Auditor

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Independent auditor’s report

Opinion

Basis for opinion

Conclusions relating to going concern

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Other Information

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

Responsibilities of trustees