BONIFACE TRAIL ASSOCIATION
REGISTERED CHARITY NO 1168111
TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR 1 JULY 2022 TO 30 JUNE 2023
Contact Details
Address 6 Woodlands, Newton St Cyres, Exeter, Devon, EX5 5BP
Telephone 01363 774752 and 07720 384924
Email bonifacetrail@gmail.com
Names of Trustees
Paul Taylor (Chair)
Clive Smith
Stephen Parker
Robert Lunnon
Nick Dyer
Structure Governance and Management
The Charity is a CIO using the model Constitution for voting by members other than trustees.
Membership is currently composed of six core members and is also open to those representatives from local Parish Councils, District Council and County Council representatives and local sustainable transport interest groups who fit the purpose of the objects of the Charity and accept the duties of membership.
Members and Trustees meet together as and when required.
A chair and an administrator/treasurer have each been appointed, and sub committees for various tasks have been appointed in the areas of the intended route of the project, legal matters, and publicity and website respectively.
Under the constitution Trustees retire by rotation at each AGM and are eligible for reappointment.
The Charity currently has five Trustees. This number is considered sufficient to meet the Charity’s current objectives.
Objects of the Charity and Aims and Objectves.
The objects clause of the Constitution reads as follows
To promote, encourage, provide and maintain an all purpose, traffic free trail, for general use by pedestrians, cyclists and wheelchair and mobility scooter users, in whole or in part between the town of Crediton, the village of Newton St Cyres and the city of Exeter, in the County of Devon.
This Charity is expected to promote a significant large scale, long term project, with the ultimate aim of securing an all purpose trail from Crediton to Exeter passing through the village of Newton St Cyres in Devon. This will comprise approximately 6 miles in distance.
Public consultation has shown to date much support for the proposed project with intrinsic benefits to the public at large. The scheme will offer an alternative for pedestrians, pedal cyclists, and wheelchair and motorised mobility scooter users, to what is currently a very busy and dangerous main road, the A377, a road where in many places there are no proper pavement facilities and along which there have been numerous serious accidents over the years some involving fatalities to cyclists as well as car users.
On line and printed surveys carried out in 2016, at the inception of the Charity, showed an impressive demand for the project amongst the public.
Initial consultations with an engineer with specialist experience in this type of project, resulted in the engineer’s opinion that there should be no unsurmountable burdens in the project in terms of construction, and that the scheme would be workable in practice. The construction methods would largely
comprise a tarmac path of suitable width, with stock proof fencing for most of the route, with a small number of small scale bridges over streams, a limited amount of excavation, improvement to an existing railway bridge, and it is likely that one river bridge may be required, which would be the biggest expense of the project. As mentioned further below, the view that most of this preferred route was workable was confirmed by consultants appointed by Devon County Council, now that the project has reached this level of consultancy stage, with the precise extent of the engineering challenges requiring further assessment.
Land owners have been very supportive to the project and a large number of land owners along the proposed route of the path have agreed an intention in principle to grant legal agreements to facilitate construction and use of the path along their respective parts of land without capital payment. The first and most comprehensive land owner agreement covering the whole length of that part of the route which runs past the village of Newton St Cyres was completed in April 2020. This comprises an agreement for a twenty five year lease of land conditional upon funding and planning permission. It is recognised that revisions to the agreement and lease may be necessary depending on the requirements of the appropriate authorities.
Relevant Parish, District and County Councils have been notified of the project and discussions have taken place with various officers regarding the project. As at the year end the project is now at the stage where regular meetings are taking place between interested Councillors and relevant officers of Devon County Council, who are now seeing the project as a feasible scheme. Support and discussions have progressed throughout the year.
Actvites within the Year
By way of prior background, in July 2020, the Association held an on-line meeting with Devon County Council Officers for Cycleway Engineering and Design and Highways Development, and respective County and District Councillors, in an attempt to progress the project. This was followed by a site meeting along a major part of the route in September 2020, between Trustees of the Association and the appropriate Devon County Council Officers. These meetings together
resulted in the offer from Devon County Council to provide assistance and guidance in terms of design and planning of the project.
The Association has continued to meet regularly to seek to progress matters with particular emphasis on Devon County Council’s input, since this is likely to have a major positive influence on the future status of the project in terms of acquiring planning approval and funding.
The Association has been greatly assisted by the work of the recently formed A377 Action Group, which is a campaign group composed of relevant ward Parish Council Chairs, District and County Council Ward members and appropriate Devon County Council Officers. The aim of this group is to campaign for improved road safety along the A377, an issue which is intrinsically linked to the Boniface Trail project. The Group promotes two main campaigns, one being better speed control and traffic calming along the A377, and the other being the advancement of the Boniface Trail Project itself. The first significant development from the Group’s work was that in November 2021, Devon County Council agreed to allocate funding of £20,000 for an outline feasibility study of the route from Crediton to Exeter with focus on the route between Crediton and Newton St Cyres (but with the hope that the Association may be able to persuade Devon County Council to extend this focus further along the route towards Half Moon). The appointed Consultants, WSP, had a background meeting with the Association in March 2022. At the conclusion of the meeting it was agreed that WSP would seek to produce a consultancy report on the project which was expected during summer 2022. The Association has continued to meet and liaise with the A377 Action Group and the consultants WSP. At further meetings of the A377 Action Group two options for schemes were produced, one being the enhancement of the existing quiet lanes, the other being a route close to the A377, closely following the preferred route which the Association have been working on. Following a further meeting in March 2023, whilst it would appear that there is much public opposition to the “quiet lanes” option, for reasons of feared congestion and likely conflict between agricultural and other vehicles on the one hand and pedestrians, cyclists
and other users on the other hand (resulting in likely lack of use by the latter), the more comprehensive second option was accepted as a scheme that could be achievable and Devon County Council agreed to instruct WSP to carry out further work to prepare a report for the two alternative schemes, to be presented at a public consultation.
The expectation of the Trustees is that the “quiet lanes” option will receive little or no support from the public, therefore committing Devon County Council to progress a more comprehensive route which is close in position to what the Association have been campaigning for.
The position of funding has been discussed at relevant meetings. Whilst it is likely that no immediate funding is directly available from Devon County Council, save that to continue the consultancy study, if a viable scheme can be shown to be achievable and meet government objectives, then bids can be made to fund the scheme from central government and other grant providers.
Additionally the Association continues to participate in discussions called Climate Conversations instigated by Mid Devon District Council. Mid Devon District Council has recognized the climate emergency. As a result of discussions, some key roads in Crediton have been mentioned as being possibly classified to provide priority for cyclists over other road users.
Looking forward, the Association will continue to work with Devon County Council and other relevant Councils, authorities and interest groups to advance the project and to press Devon County Council to hold a public consultation as soon as possible in the hope that a viable scheme can be presented for funding.
Public Beneft
The Trustees declare that they have had due regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit.
The Trustees confirm that the objects of the Charity have appropriate public benefit.
In carrying out its activities during the year, the Charity has had due regard to its objects and has served the public by continuing to promote the objects of the Association and has worked to promote support from local government, thus furthering the objects of the Charity which will, ultimately, benefit the public.
The Trustees can summarise how it is anticipated that the project will benefit the public as follows:
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a) It will provide a facility which will be open to all persons, which, in the particular location, does not presently exist.
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b) It is accessible to a wide range of potential users to encompass pedal cyclists, pedestrians, and those with mobility impairments.
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c) Any person living within, or visiting, the geographical area will be able to enjoy the facility
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d) Walking and cycling are widely regarded to have benefits for public health and well being.
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e) The proposed route of the path is in a place of high natural beauty, providing further benefits to well being.
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f) The path will bring large improvements in terms of safety to the public, with a large percentage of respondents to the Charity’s initial survey having expressed the view that the only currently available equivalent route along the A377 is particularly unsafe
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g) The project will improve Air Quality particularly in the Crediton area.
Financial Review of the Year
During the year grant activities have been limited largely due to the fact the project is likely to be at the stage where it will be in a position to attract larger scale funding in the foreseeable future. The Association remains optimistic regarding longer term funding as noted above. One small grant of £400 was received from Crediton Town Council, as per the previous year. Operating costs for the year have been limited to small hall hire fees to cover personal meetings. There remains cash in hand in the sum of £13,156 as at the year end for the purposes of pursuing further land owner agreements and planning permission costs if and when necessary.
Longer term financial objectives would be to raise additional funds for the planning application for the first intended phase, and for construction itself, and the Trustees consider it a high possibility that funding may be forthcoming in the longer term from Devon County Council, utilising appropriate allocated funding streams and central government initiatives for this type of project. Possible avenues of longer term, larger scale, funding, would include as follows:
Developers’ contributions under Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and Community Infrastructure Levy
Landfill Tax Credits
Local Enterprise Partnership
Local fundraising/donations/crowd funding.
Volunteer Labour/skills
Business sponsorship
Lottery
Heritage
Sports Council
Supermarket “bag tax” donation schemes
Crowd funding
Central Government Sustainable Transport funding schemes
Allocated cycleway funding from County Council
Signed on behalf of the Trustees
Paul Taylor (Chair)
1st July 2024
| BONIFACE TRAIL ASSOCIATION |
BONIFACE TRAIL ASSOCIATION |
BONIFACE TRAIL ASSOCIATION |
1168111 | CC16a | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| For the period from |
Period start date 01/07/2022 |
To | Period end date 30-Jun-23 |
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| Section A Receipts and payments | |||||
| A1 Receipts Crediton Towbn Council Grants 400 - - - - - - 400 - - Sub total - Total receipts 400 A3 Payments Newton St Cyres Parish Hall Rent 39 - - - - - - - - Sub total 39 - - Sub total - Total payments 39 Net of receipts/(payments) 361 A5 Transfers between funds - A6 Cash funds last year end 12,795 Cash funds this year end 13,156 Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ Sub total(Gross income for AR) A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table) |
to the nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Restricted funds |
to the nearest £ Endowment funds |
Total funds to the nearest £ 400 - - - - - 400 - - - 400 39 - - - - - - - - 39 - - - 39 361 - 12,795 13,156 |
Last year to the nearest £ |
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| - | 400 | 400 | |||
| - | - | ||||
| - | - | ||||
| - | - | - | |||
| - | - | - | |||
| - | - | - | |||
| - | - | - | |||
| - | - | - | |||
| - | 400 | 400 | |||
| - | - | ||||
| - | - | - | |||
| - | - | - | |||
| - | 400 | 400 | |||
| - | 39 | - | |||
| - | - | - | |||
| - | - | - | |||
| - | - | - | |||
| - | - | - | |||
| - | - | - | |||
| - | - | - | |||
| - | - | - | |||
| - | - | - | |||
| - | 39 | - | |||
| - | - | ||||
| - | - | ||||
| - | - | - | |||
| - | 39 | - | |||
| - | - | 361 | 400 | ||
| - | - | - | - | ||
| - | - | 12,795 | 12,047 | ||
| - | - | 13,156 | 12,447 |
Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
| Categories B1 Cash funds B2 Other monetary assets B3 Investment assets B5 Liabilities B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees |
Details Cash in Bank Details Details Details Details Signature Total cash funds (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) |
to nearest £ to nearest £ 13,156 - - - - - 13,156 - OK OK to nearest £ to nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - Cost (optional) - - - - - Cost (optional) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Print Name Paul Taylor(Trustee/Chair) Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Fund to which asset belongs Fund to which asset belongs Fund to which liability relates Amount due (optional) |
to nearest £ Endowment funds |
|---|---|---|---|
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| OK | |||
| to nearest £ Endowment funds |
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| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| Current value (optional) |
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| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| Current value (optional) |
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| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| When due (optional) |
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| Date of approval |
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| Paul Taylor(Trustee/Chair) | 18/08/2024 | ||