## The Trails Trust 

## Registered Charity No. 1094139 **www.thetrailstrust.org.uk** 

The Charity that creates, improves and preserves access to the countryside for all - on foot, bicycle, ridden and driven horse and disabled conveyance. 

Patrons : The Lord Hylton, The Rt Hon the Lord Waldegrave of North Hill PC. President : Angela Yeoman OBE DL 

## Trustee Report 2022 - 2023 

The work of The Trails Trust is to lobby for and provide green infrastructure routes for public access and biodiversity. This work has continued throughout 2022 – 23 under the chairmanship of  Paul J Hooper OBE. 

Hannah Gardner was elected as Vice Chairman. The Board was also pleased to welcome three new trustees to the Trust during this period. These were Lachlan Wilson, Miranda Fyfe and Andrew Combes who individually bring legal, public access and railway path development expertise adding to the Board’s skillset and expertise. 

## **During the period the Board has:** 

- Introduced bi-monthly member forums and periodic railway path forums, so that members and others are able to share information, process, good practice and issues. 

- Responded to, lobbied on or joined a  number of  National campaigns, forums and consultations  including: 

   - Government response to Julian Glover Protected Landscapes 

   - Access and Engagement with Nature Forum 

   - Nature for everyone campaign Wildlife & Countryside Link (TTT has become an informal member) 

   - Definitive Map cut off 2026, stakeholder working group and deregulation bill 

   - `o` Levelling Up Bill 

## **Individual Members of the Board are also involved with:** 

- Working with other access groups on a local and national level particularly the British Horse Society and Cycling UK 

- Farming in Protected Landscapes panels and projects 

- Local access forums 

- Local Community Networks 

## **Defra ELMs contract** 

TTT has been successful in achieving a contract for a second Test and Trial 159A valued at £160,000. The test is designed around the processes, mechanisms and advice & guidance required to help landowners and land managers ‘layer’ access into land management plans. (The test commenced in July 2022 and will run until June 2024 

> Trustees: Chairman – Paul Hooper OBE, Vice Chairman- Hannah Gardner BSc (Hon), MSc, CEnv, MRICS, Miranda Fyfe MA Cantab ,  Greg Glendell, Jennifer Ham BHSI MAE, Sonia Kundu, Fiona Powell, Sally Whittaker, Lachlan Wilson  BA Oxon, Andrew Combes, Consultants: Lynn Myland, Rachel Thompson MBE Company Secretary: Rachel Thompson MBE. Registered Company Address: Townsend Cottage, Townsend, Priddy, Wells BA5 3BP 

TTT is a Company limited by Guarantee registered in England and Wales No 3637593. 



## **Access routes and infrastructure** 

A number of access routes have been achieved or are being worked on in various locations including 

- Somerset: local estate rides at Ammerdown, in Kilvea  permissive bridle path and quiet lane initiative, Mendip Yeo Valley Trail, Strawberry line development. 

- Yorkshire Dales:  Yorkshire Dales Coast to Coast path multi user route on or within a 10 mile zone of the original Wainwright route. 

- Suffolk:  carriage driver permits to use the tracks in the local Forestry Commission woods. 

- Greater Cambridge Partnership (12) greenways project  issues with multi use and signage 

New infrastructure - Access bridges – Andrew Combes has developed a cost-effective new bridge, details are being circulated to local highway authorities. 

## **Papers and training** 

A facts & figures carriage driving paper has been produced and is intended to be included on the TTT website when planned work to the site has been concluded (planned for 2024). 

Volunteer training  for Somerset Rail2trail was undertaken to assist volunteers with approaches to landowners. 

The Trails Trust looks forward positively to the next year 2023 – 2024 with a strong and hard-working Board. 

Paul J Hooper OBE Chairman 



**The Trails Trust** 

**Registered Company Number: 03637593(England and Wales) Registered Charity Number: 1094139** 

**Report of the Trustees and Unaudited Financial Statements For The Year Ended 31 March 2023 For THE TRAILS TRUST** 

1 



## **The Trails Trust Contents of the Financial Statements For the Year Ended 31 March 2023** 

||**Page**|
|---|---|
|Report of the Trustees|**3**|
|Independent Examiner’s Report|**4**|
|Statement of Financial Activities|**5**|
|Balance Sheet|**6 - 7**|
|Notes to the Financial Statements|**8 - 9**|
|Detailed Statement of Financial Activities|**10**|



2 



## **The Trails Trust** 

## **Report of the Trustees For the Year Ended 31 March 2023** 

The trustees who are also directors of the charity for the purposes of the Companies Act 2006, present their report with the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 March 2022. The Trustees have adopted the provisions of the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) ‘Accounting and Reporting by Charities’ issued in March 2005. 

## **REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS** 

Registered Company Number 03637593 (England and Wales) Registered Charity Number 1094139 Registered Office Townsend Cottage Townsend, Priddy Wells, Somerset BA5 3BP 

Trustees Jennifer Mary Ham Sally Whittaker Paul J Hooper OBE Hannah Gardner Greg Glendell Sonia Kundu Fiona Powell Lachlan Wilson (appointed Nov 2022 ) Miranda Fyfe (appointed Nov 2022 ) Andrew Combes (appointed March 2023) 

Company Secretary Rachel Thompson MBE Independent Examiner Priddy Accountancy Ltd (Rick Tobiassen) 

## **STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT** 

## Governing document 

The charity is controlled by its governing document, the Memorandum and Articles of Association, and constitutes a limited company, limited by guarantee, as defined by the Companies Act 2006. 

## Risk management 

The trustees have a duty to identify and review the risks to which the charity is exposed and to ensure appropriate controls are in place to provide reasonable assurance against fraud and error. 

## **ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD** 

Trustee Paul J Hooper OBE Date   30/09/2023 

3 



**The Trails Trust** 

## **Independent Examiner’s Report to the Trustees of The Trails Trust** 

I report on the accounts for the year ended 31 March 2023 set out on pages five to nine. 

## **Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner** 

The charity’s trustees (who are also directors for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The charity’s trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year (under Section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act) and that an independent examination is required. 

Having satisfied myself that the charity is not subject to audit under company law and is eligible for independent examination, it is my responsibility to: 

Examine the accounts under Section 145 of the 2011 Act 

To follow the procedures laid down in the General Directions given by the Charity Commission (under Section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act); and 

To state whether particular matters have come to my attention. 

## **Basis of the independent examiner’s report** 

My examination was carried out in accordance with the General directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from you as trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a ‘true and fair view’ and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statements below. 

## **Independent examiner’s statement** 

In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention: 

- (1) which gives me reasonable cause to believe that, in any material respect, the requirements 

- to keep accounting records in accordance with Sections 386-387 of the Companies Act 2006; and 

- to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records, comply with the accounting requirements of sections 394-395 of the Companies Act 2006 and with the methods and principles of the Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities. 

have not been met, or 

- (2) to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached 

Signed R Tobiasson 

4 



5 

## **The Trails Trust** 

## **Statement of Financial Activities for the year ended 31 March 2023** 

|||**2023**|**2023**|**2023**||**2023**|**2022**|**2022**|**2022**||**2022**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||**Unrestricted**||**Restricted**||**Total**|**Unrestricted**||**Restricted**||**Total**|
||||**Funds**|**Funds**||**Funds**||**Funds**|**Funds**||**Funds**|
||**Notes**||**£**|**£**||**£**||**£**|**£**||**£**|
|**Incoming Resources**||||||||||||
|Incoming resources from<br>generated funds||||||||||||
|Voluntary Income|||60,946.50|-||60,946.50||26,458.45|-||26,458.45|
|Activities for generating<br>funds|2||-|-||-||-|-||-|
|Investment Income|3||96.04|-||96.04||71.48|-||71.48|
|||||||||||||
|**Total Incoming**<br>**Resources**|||**61,042.54**|**-**||**61,042.54**||**26,529.93**|**-**||**26,529.93**|
|||||||||||||
|**Resources Expended**||||||||||||
|Costs of Generating<br>Funds||||||||||||
|Costs of Generating<br>VoluntaryIncome|||-|-||-||-|-||-|
|Governance Costs|||-|-||-||-|-||-|
|Other resources expended|||62,583.15|-||62,583.15||23,031.80|-||23,031.80|
|||||||||||||
|**Total Resources**<br>**Expended**|||62,583.15|**-**||62,583.15||**23,031.80**|**-**||**23,031.80**|
|||||||||||||
|**Net incoming /**<br>**(outgoing) Resources**|||**-1,540.61**|**-**||**-1,540.61**||**3,498.13**|**-**||**3,498.13**|
|||||||||||||
|Reconciliation of Funds||||||||||||
|||||||||||||
|Total Funds brought<br>forward|||21,872.14|||21,872.14||18,374.01|||18,374.01|
|||||||||||||
|**TOTAL FUNDS**<br>**CARRIED FORWARD**|||**£20,331.53**|||**£20,331.53**||**21,872.14**|||**21,872.14**|
|||||||||||||
|||||||||||||



**The notes form part of these financial statements.** 

**- 5 -** 



## **The Trails Trust** 

## **Balance Sheet as at 31 March 2023** 

||||**2023**|**2023**|**2023**||**2023**|**2022**|**2022**|**2022**||**2022**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||||**Unrestricted**<br>**Funds**||**Restricted**<br>**Funds**||**Total**<br>**Funds**|**Unrestricted**<br>**Funds**||**Restricted**<br>**Funds**||**Total**<br>**Funds**|
|||**Notes**||**£**|**£**||**£**||**£**|**£**||**£**|
||**CURRENT**<br>**ASSETS**||||||||||||
||Prepayments &<br>accrued income|||-|-||-||-|-||-|
||Cash at Bank|||20,331|||20,331||21,872|||21872|
||||||||||||||
||**NET CURRENT**<br>**ASSETS**|||20,331|||20,331||21,872|||21,872|
||||||||||||||
||**TOTAL ASSETS**<br>**LESS CURRENT**<br>**LIABILITIES**|||20,331|||20,331||21,872|||21,872|
||||||||||||||
||**NET ASSETS**|||**20,331**|||20,331||**21,872**|||**21,872**|
||||||||||||||
||**FUNDS**||||||||||||
||Unrestricted funds|||20,331|||**20,331**||21,872|||21,872|
||Restricted funds||||||||||||
||||||||||||||
||**TOTAL FUNDS**|||20,331|||**20,331**||21,872|||21,872|
||||||||||||||
||||||||||||||



**The notes form part of these financial statements.** 

**- 6 -** 



The Trails Trust 

## **Balance Sheet (continued) At 31 March 2023** 

The charitable company is entitled to exemption from audit under Section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 for the year ended 31 March 2022. 

The trustees have not required the charitable company to obtain an audit of its financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2022 in accordance with section 476 of the Companies Act 2006. 

The trustees acknowledge their responsibilities for 

Ensuring that the charitable company keeps accounting records that comply with sections 386-387 of the Companies Act 2006 and Preparing financial statements which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company as at the end of each financial year and of its income and expenditure for each financial year in accordance with the requirements of sections 394-395 and which otherwise comply with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 relating to financial statements, so far as applicable to the charitable company. 

These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the special provisions of Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small charitable companies and with the Financial reporting Standard for Smaller Entities (effective April 2008). 

The financial statements were approved by the Board of Trustees on and were signed on its behalf by 

Paul J Hooper OBE Trustee (Chairman) 

**The notes form part of the financial statements** 

**- 7 -** 



The Trails Trust 

## **ACCOUNTING POLICIES** 

## **Accounting Convention** 

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention, and in accordance with the Financial reporting Standards for Smaller Entities (effective April 2008), the Companies Act 2006 and the requirements of the Statement of Recommended Practice, Accounting and reporting by Charities. 

## **Incoming Resources** 

All incoming resources are included on the Statement of Financial Activities when the charity is legally entitled to the income and the amount can be quantified with reasonable accuracy. 

## **Resources Expended** 

Expenditure is accounted for on an accrual basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all costs related to the category. Where costs cannot be directly attributed to particular headings they have been allocated to activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources. 

## **Taxation** 

The charity is exempt from corporation tax on its charitable activities. 

## **Fund accounting** 

Unrestricted funds can be used in accordance with the charitable objectives at the discretion of the trustees. 

Restricted funds can only be used for particular restricted purposes within the objects of the charity. Restrictions arise when specified by the donor or when funds are raised for particular restricted purposes. 

Further explanation of the nature and purpose of each fund is included in the notes to the financial statements. 

|ACTIVITIES FOR GENERATING FUNDS||
|---|---|
||2022                         2023|
||£                                £|
|Fundraising events<br>|0                                0|
|INVESTMENT INCOME|2022                        2023|
||£                                £|
|Deposit Account Interest|71                           96|



**The notes form part of the financial statements** 

**- 8 -** 



The Trails Trust 

## **TRUSTEES’ REMUNERATION AND BENEFITS** 

There were no trustees’ remuneration or other benefits for the year ended 31 March 2021 nor for the year ended 31 March 2022. 

|||2022                         2023|
|---|---|---|
|||£                                £|
|Trustees’ Expenses||-                               -|
|**STAFF COSTS**||2022                         2023|
|||£                                £|
|Wages and salaries||-                                  -|
|**MOVEMENT IN FUNDS**|||
|||Net|
|||movement|
||At 01.04.22|in funds          At 31.03.23|
||£|£                         £|
|**Unrestricted funds**|||
|General fund|21,872|-1,541              20,331|
|**Restricted funds**|||
|Restricted funds<br>|-|-|
|**TOTAL FUNDS**|**21,872**|**20,331**|
|Net movement in funds, included in the above are as follows:|||
||Incoming|Resources        Movement|
||Resources|Expended        in funds|
||£|£                         £|
|**Unrestricted funds**|||
|General fund|61.042|62,583                    3498|
|**Restricted funds**|||
|Restricted funds|-|-                        -|
|**TOTAL FUNDS**|**61,042**|**62,583                     -1,541**|



**The notes form part of the financial statements** 

**- 9 -** 



The Trails Trust 

||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|||**2023**||**2022**|
|||£||£|
|**INCOMING RESOURCES**|||||
|**Voluntary Income (Contracts)**||59895.50||18308|
|||0||0|
|Donations||0||7035|
|Grants||0||0|
|Subscriptions||1051||1115|
||||||
|**Activities for generating funds**||**60946.4**||**26458**|
|Fundraising Events||0||0|
|**Investment Income**|||||
|Deposit incoming interest||96.04||71|
|**Total incoming resources**||**61042.54**||**26529**|
||||||
|**RESOURCES EXPENDED**|||||
|**Costs of generating voluntary income**|||||
|Sundries||0||0|
|**Governance costs**|||||
|Legal fees & bank charges||0||7|
|**Support Costs**|||||
|**Management**|||||
|Trustee's expenses||0||0|
|IT||232.22||196|
|Expenses||30.98||185|
|**Finance**|||||
|Insurance||924.45||947|
|**Other**|||||
|Maintenance||0||1160|
|Events||0||0|
|**Project expenses**||0||0|
|Consultancy Services||1900||0|
|Facilitation (Defra T&T)||59,495.50||20,536|
||||||
|**Total resources expended**||**62,583.15**||**23,031**|
||||||
|**Net (expenditure)/income**||**-1540.61**||**3498**|
||||||
||||||



**The notes form part of the financial statements** 

**- 10 -** 



The Trails Trust
Indepelldent Ex4rniDer's Report to th¢ Trustees of
The Trnils Tru
I repoTt on ihe aLVOUllts for the year ended 31 March 2023 w out on pAge¥ tive to tiinc.
Respeellve re%pons5bllities of trusteei #lld ex*miDer
Thc Lhuriiy'¥ Iru%leeq (who alyA) dirccl()rs for pun￿￿¢$ ()f c()mpany law) rLypi)ngible l()r ihc prLparition the
4ccounl4. The LhaTily'¥ Ini4ics Lonsid¥J' Iha( audil 1.% tJ(71 re4uirLxi fc)[ this y¢ai {ui)der SeLIi4)n 144(21 of Ihe Cliarilies
ALI 2011 Ithe 2011 ALI) and ihai ittdepKndenl examiiutloll iy rcquir¢d.
Ilaving 8aii%fi¢d my%klf (hai th¢ Lb￿]ry iy n(>1 qubj¢LI li) audit under conjpatiy law is elI￿1b]e ftsr ind¢pend¢ni
examinalion. it iy iny responsibility k()..
ExamiThc ihc 11CLOUDl% un(ler Section 14.5 of Ihtt 2011 All
ro follow lh¢ tYoc¢dutt% laiit down in thv CILnctal DircclioiJ$ 8ivm hy ihc Charity (".ommi88ion lundcr Seelion
14515llbl ol. IhL 201 l Acl}' and
T(Tr $141¥ wh¢th¥r particular mait¢r4 hav¢ Loine l(Imy thitL'NIl(￿.
BAsly of the IndependeDI ex8mlner'• report
My ¢xaminatiun WA¥ ¢atrL¢d i)Ul in accordance wlih iht GL'nLYal dircclioDY givLn by th¢ C'.harity ComtlliYSLon. An
¥x&min4litsn ii)¢ludc% & T￿IrW ol Ihc UCLouniin8 rccord4 kepi by It￿ elmrily a￿1 a ciunpariyot) iTrfihc accoun1% pi'¢4ciilcd
willi Ih(14L recnrds. 11 Jl%o include% LCwi%ider￿ltlI1n nt. aiiy imu5ual ileiny Dr Lli¥cloyurLy in Ihe aL¢I)uni%, and sLLkn'ng
¢xpl4nJtivny froni you #q Irusl¢¢s LoiiL¢rniiig any yuch Inaii¥r%. TlieproLedurL8 i1ndcr1AkL￿ d(¥ noi pri)vidL all lh¥ ¥vid¥ncL
that would be rc4uired iii an oudii, nnd ¢on9¢4u¢'Thily nil ()piiiion i¥ givcii lo whether the aL¢Duni$ prex'tii a 'lnJ¢ rtiir
view. and Ilje rep(>rt ig liinilLd 10 Iho%e maiiLry sei oui iii thL &lalLinLnls beluw.
l￿dePendent ex•mlner'$ it8temtnt
In Lurniillion wilh iny LxaJnind1io￿ no inalt¢r hu5 LUrnL l() my all¢'iilion'.
I I I which 8iv¢s me rea#onAbl¢ ca￿￿. lo beli¥yc ihul. irt any inalu'iul rL￿Pl￿1. th¢ r¢quiT¢m¢nly
lo k¢cp accounting reLufLts in ￿COrd￿n¢￿' with scci1￿5 3Xfv3¥7 0l.ihc C.'oinpllnie8 ALI 2006; aNJ
lo pr¥pdr¥ J¢ii)unl8 whi¢h iLii)rd wilh lh¥ aLLiiuJilirig TCL(Irds. L(?Jnply wiilj ihL aLcounling r¢'quir¢inen15 of
$ccli()ny 394-3115 LifthL C()IFipanie¥ ALt 2￿ £llllt wilh th¥ meih(yJs and prinLipILY of tlic Stal¢inwnt of
ReLomniendcd PraclLCC.' ALrounting and Re￿)llirtg by L'l￿rItil￿.
have noi been mel, or
Iny opinion, Iilliniion be drawn in order lo ¢nabl¢ J prop¢r under41dtKling ofihe oL'COLinly lo
Sign¢d
R Tobias%