## The Broadleaf Foundation
F8, 55a Augustus rd London SW19 6LW Registered Charity No. 1188383. broadleaffoundation@gmail.com
## TRUSTEE'S ANNUAL REPORT
The Broadleaf Foundation Registered Charity No. 1188383 Registered in England and Wales
For the year 01/01 2025 To. 31 December 2025
Broadleaf Foundation exists to protect ancient woodland and, where appropriate, to plant for the future. Our principal asset is 5.5 acres of ancient broadleaf woodland in North Devon, containing trees that have grown continuously for over 200 years.
Our approach is deliberately simple: we protect what already exists. Ancient woodland is not something we create. It is something that survives. Its value lies in its unbroken continuity — in the soil life, fungal networks, invertebrate communities, and standing and deadwood carbon that take centuries to develop and cannot be replicated by planting new trees, however well-intentioned.
Our Objectives and How We Sought to Achieve Them During the year, the Trustees focused on three priorities:
## 1. Protecting the woodland
Our core activity is the ongoing stewardship of the woodland. This involves minimal intervention — maintaining boundary integrity, carrying out modest land maintenance, monitoring for disease or pest incursion, and ensuring the woodland is not subject to clearing, logging, or development. We do not manage for timber. We do not clear understorey.
We allow the woodland to follow its own ecological trajectory.
This is not inaction. It is the single most effective conservation intervention available for a site of this age and character. Research consistently shows that passive management of ancient woodland delivers the highest long-term carbon storage and the greatest biodiversity of any woodland management strategy, because the ecological community has had two centuries to develop in ways that no new planting can match.
## 2. Communicating our case
We continued to seek to engage the public and potential donors with the value of protecting existing ancient woodland. We acknowledge that this has been an ongoing challenge. The public narrative around trees and climate is dominated by planting schemes — many of which, we believe, are examples of the kind of "greenwash" we are not willing to be associated with. The counter-intuitive idea that the most valuable thing you can do for a 200-year-old woodland is “leave it alone” is difficult to communicate in a market saturated with "we planted X,000 trees" announcements.
We believe the case is becoming harder to ignore. In August 2026, “The Guardian” reported (Sandra Laville, 21 August 2026) on aerial imagery from the National Trust's Holnicote estate in Somerset showing how rewilded areas — where rivers had been returned to their natural courses and wetlands restored — remained green and lush through five successive summer heatwaves while the surrounding intensively
managed countryside turned brown. The message is clear: landscapes that are allowed to recover and function naturally are more resilient to the extreme weather events that climate change is bringing. The same principle applies to our woodland. Mature canopy cover moderates temperature. Deep root systems access water unavailable to shallowrooted crops. The soil structure retains moisture. A landscape left to itself is, in many respects, more resilient to the extremes we are now experiencing than one intensively managed.
We will use this evidence, and the growing body of research on the value of ancient woodland, to strengthen our public-facing narrative in the coming year.
3. Planting for the future (selectively) Subject to available resources,
We remain committed to selective, native-species planting where gaps in the woodland present a genuine opportunity for natural regeneration to take hold. We are deliberate about this. We will only plant where we can demonstrate a clear, evidence-based benefit, and we will not participate in schemes we consider to be driven by public-relations rather than ecological need.
The Case for Ancient Woodland: A Note for Supporters
Many people ask us: “what are you actually doing?” The honest answer is that our primary work is restraint. We do not clear. We do not plant over. We do not manage for yield. We allow the woodland to follow its own trajectory.
Ancient woodland holds the highest carbon stocks of any UK woodland habitat. For mature broadleaf woodland on mineral soils, estimated carbon storage is in the region of 82–93 tonnes of carbon per hectare, spread across standing trees, deadwood, and soil. Over our 5.5 acres (approximately 2.2 hectares), this represents a substantial carbon reserve built up over more than two centuries - a reserve that would be
released, in whole or in part, were the woodland to be felled or lost. Protecting it is, in carbon terms, an act of preservation of existing emissions avoidance of the highest order.
Beyond carbon, ancient woodland supports species found nowhere else. The invertebrate, fungal, and bird communities that develop over centuries in unbroken woodland are irreplaceable. They cannot be recreated by planting new trees, no matter how many.
This is what we protect. This is why it matters.
As your Chairman I encourage all trustees to communicate these facts to potential donors.
## Statement of Compliance
We confirm that during the year the charity has complied with the requirements imposed on it by the Registrar of Charities under section 43(1)(b) of the Charities Act 2011, including its duty to comply with the Statement of Community Involvement.
## Governance
The Trustees confirm that they have had regard to their duty under section 17 of the Charities Act 2011 when directing how the charity's resources should be applied.
The Trustees have reviewed the charity's financial position and operations and are satisfied that the charity is able to continue in operation for the foreseeable future and is able to meet its liabilities as they fall due.
The Trustees of the charity during the year were:
Gary Dyson, Chair Constance Starling Will Sirr Patrick Jacquelin
Financial Review
Total income for the year was £84.08. Total expenditure was £471.08, comprising bank charges (£71.88), insurance (£198.60), and land maintenance (£200.60). The charity incurred a net loss of £387.00 for the year.
The charity closed the year with a bank balance of £4,850.20. This is more than sufficient to cover ongoing costs for the foreseeable future without additional income.
We were not successful in procuring significant new donations during the year. As noted above, we believe this reflects the current financial climate and the ongoing difficulty in communicating the value of protecting existing ancient woodland in a public narrative dominated by new planting schemes. We remain optimistic that the growing body of evidence on the resilience and carbon value of natural landscapes will make this case more accessible in the coming year.
## Future Plans
- Continue the passive stewardship and protection of the woodland - Develop a clearer, evidence-based public narrative around the value of ancient woodland, drawing on the 2026 heatwave evidence and published research on carbon storage and biodiversity
- Explore whether the woodland qualifies for recognition under current government woodland and nature recovery programmes
- Assess opportunities for native-species planting where ecologically justified
- Seek funding from sources aligned with the protection of existing habitats rather than new planting schemes
- Consider presenting the woodland's value as a local green
infrastructure asset (flooding, heat mitigation, biodiversity) to local authorities as a case for support
## Acknowledgements
We are grateful to our neighbours and individuals who have advised us during the year.
Signed:
Gary Dyson. Chair Date: 02-09- 2026
## REGISTERED CHARITY NUMBER: 1188383
Report of the Trustees and Unaudited Financial Statements for the Period Ended 31 December 2025
for
## The Broadleaf Foundation
Gary Dyson Flat 8, 55A Augustus Rd London SW19 6LW
## **The Broadleaf Foundation**
**Contents of the Financial Statements for the Period Ended 31 December 2025**
||Page|
|---|---|
|Report of the Trustees|1|
|Statement of Financial Activities|2|
|Balance Sheet|3|
|Notes to the Financial Statements|4 to 7|
## **The Broadleaf Foundation**
## **Report of the Trustees**
## **for the Period Ended 31 December 2025**
The Trustees of The Broadleaf Foundation present their annual report and unaudited accounts for the period ended 31st December 2025.
The trustees have adopted the provisions of Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019).
This report covers:
- Structure, governance and management
- Objectives and activities
- Achievements and performance
- Financial review
- Future plans
## **STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT**
## **Governing document**
The charity is controlled by its governing document, a deed of trust and constitutes an unincorporated charity.
## **REGISTERED OFFICE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS**
## **Registered charity number**
1188383
## **Principal address**
Flat 8 55a Augustus Road London SW19 6LW
## **Trustees**
G Dyson W E Sirr C L Starling P H Jacquelin
Approved by the board of trustees on ......................... and signed on its behalf by:
...................................................... G Dyson - Trustee
## **The Broadleaf Foundation Statement of Financial Activities for the Period Ended 31 December 2025**
|Notes
**INCOME AND ENDOWMENTS FROM**
Donations and legacies
3
**EXPENDITURE ON**
Charitable activities
4
**NET INCOME/(EXPENDITURE)**
**RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS**
Total funds brought forward
**TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD**|Year ended
Year ended
31.12.2025
31.12.2024
Total Funds
£
Total Funds
£
84
770
471.08
1027|
|---|---|
||**(387.08)**
**(257)**
61,167
61,424|
||**60,779.92**
**61,167**|
## **The Broadleaf Foundation Balance Sheet 31 December 2025**
|Notes
**FIXED ASSETS**
Tangible assets
9
**CURRENT ASSETS**
Cash at bank and in hand
**CREDITORS**
Amounts falling due within one year
6
**NET CURRENT ASSETS**
**TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT LIABILITIES**
**NET ASSETS**
**FUNDS**
Unrestricted funds
7
**TOTAL FUNDS**|31.12.2025
31.12.2024
Total Funds
£
Total Funds
£
59,891
59,891
4,850.20
5,237
(3,997)
(3,977)
853.20
1,260|
|---|---|
||**60,744.20**
**61,167**
**60,744.20**
**61,167**
60,744.20
61,167|
||**60,744.20**
**61,167**|
The financial statements were approved by the Board of Trustees and authorised for issue on ......................... and were signed on its behalf by:
...................................................... G Dyson - Trustee
**The Broadleaf Foundation Notes to the Financial Statements for the Period Ended 31 December 2025**
## **1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES**
## **Basis of preparing the financial statements**
The financial statements of the charity, which is a public benefit entity under FRS 102, have been prepared in accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102) 'Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019)', Financial Reporting Standard 102 'The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland' and the Charities Act 2011.
The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention.
## **Income**
All income is recognised in the Statement of Financial Activities once the charity has entitlement to the funds, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably.
## **Expenditure**
Liabilities are recognised as expenditure as soon as there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the charity to that expenditure, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefits will be required in settlement and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all cost 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 tax on its charitable activities.
## **Going Concern**
The Trustees have reviewed the Financial Position of the Foundation and consider that the going concern basis of accounting is appropriate. There are no material uncertainties in relation to the going concern status of the Foundation.
## **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.
## **Tangible fixed assets**
Depreciation is provided at the following annual rates in order to write off each asset over its estimated useful life.
**The Broadleaf Foundation Notes to the Financial Statements for the Period Ended 31 December 2025**
## **2. TRUSTEES' REMUNERATION AND BENEFITS**
There were no trustees' remuneration or other benefits for the period ended 31 December 2025.
## **3. INCOME**
|**3. INCOME**|||
|---|---|---|
||31.12.2025|31.12.2024|
||£|£|
|Donations|84.08|770|
|**4. EXPENDITURE**|||
||31.12.2025|31.12.2024|
||£|£|
|Support Costs (See note 5)|471.08|1,027|
|**5. SUPPORT COSTS**|||
||31.12.2025|31.12.2024|
||£|£|
|Repairs and maintenance|200.60|692|
|Accountancy Fees|-|-|
|Motor expenses|198.60|206|
|Printing, postage and stationery|-|72|
|Sundries|71.88|57|
|**6. CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR**|||
||31.12.2025|31.12.2024|
||£|£|
|Accruals|-|-|
|Amounts due to related parties|3,997|3,977|
**The Broadleaf Foundation Notes to the Financial Statements for the Period Ended 31 December 2025**
## **7. MOVEMENT IN FUNDS**
|**7. MOVEMENT IN FUNDS**||||
|---|---|---|---|
||At|Net movement|At|
||01.01.2025|in funds|31.12.2025|
||£|£|£|
|Unrestricted funds||||
|General fund|61,167|(387.08)|60,779.92|
|**TOTAL FUNDS**|**61,167**|**(387.08)**|**60,779.92**|
|Net movement in funds, included in the above are as follows:||||
||Incoming|Resources|Movement|
||resources|expended|in funds|
||£|£|£|
|Unrestricted funds||||
|General fund|84.08|(471.08)|(387.08)|
|**TOTAL FUNDS**|**84.08**|**(471.08)**|**(387.08)**|
## **8. RELATED PARTY DISCLOSURES**
At the reporting date 31 December 2025, the charity had amounts due to a related party of £3,997.
## **The Broadleaf Foundation Notes to the Financial Statements for the Period Ended 31 December 2025**
## **9. TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS**
|**IBLE FIXED ASSETS**|||
|---|---|---|
||Freehold||
||property|Totals|
||£|£|
|**COST**|||
|At 1 January 2025|59,891|59,891|
|Additions|-|-|
|At 31 December 2025|59,891|59,891|
|**DEPRECIATION**|||
|At 1 January 2025|-|-|
|Charge for year|-|-|
|At 31 December 2025|-|-|
|**NET BOOK VALUE**|||
|At 31 December 2025|59,891|59,891|
|At 1 January 2025|59,891|59,891|