CHARITY REGISTRATION NUMBER: 1193562
The Sheaf And Porter Rivers Trust Trustees’ Annual Report and Unaudited Financial Statements
Year ended 31 March 2024
The Sheaf and Porter Rivers Trust
Contents
| Page | |
|---|---|
| Trustees report | |
| Reference and Administrative Details | 3 |
| Overview | 4 |
| Purpose and objects | 5 |
| Castlegate | 5 |
| Planning and Route Development | 5 |
| Water Quality and River Clean-ups | 6 |
| Proects | 7 |
| Tours, Talks and Walks | 7 |
| Members and Supporters | 7 |
| Governance, Financial Review | 8 |
| Declarations | 8 |
| Independent Examiner's Report | 9 |
| Financial Statements | |
| Statement of Financial Activities | 10 |
| Statement of Financial Position | 10 |
| Notes to Financial Statements | 11-13 |
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The Sheaf and Porter Rivers Trust
Trustees' Annual Report Year ended 31 March 2024
The trustees present their report and the unaudited financial statements of the charity for the period ended 31 March 2024.
Reference and Administrative Details
Registered charity name The Sheaf And Porter Rivers Trust Charity registration number 1193562 Principal office 43 Harcourt Road Sheffield S10 1DH Email info@sheafportertrust.org Website www.sheafportertrust.org The trustees Simon Ogden (chair) Andrew Buck (secretary) Stuart Barkworth Viv Thom Cathy Ann Spiers Dominic Harris Liz Sharp Peter O’Connell (treasurer) Independent examiner David Campbell, FCA 19 Endcliffe Grove Avenue Sheffield S10 3EJ
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The Sheaf and Porter Rivers Trust
Trustees' Annual Report Year ended 31 March 2024 (continued)
The Sheaf and Porter Rivers Trust (the “Trust”) was formed in 2019. The Trust is constituted as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (a “CIO”) and was registered as a charity on 16 February 2021. It is administered and managed by the trustees in accordance with the powers set out in the Trust’s Constitution. This is our fourth annual report, and third as a registered charity.
Overview
The year has seen progress in almost every area of our work although not always as much or as fast as we would like! Our membership, profile, influence and range of activities continues to grow.
One of our most high-profile objectives and projects – to ‘put the Sheaf back into Sheffield’ within the old Castle Market in Castlegate is now taking shape on site and we are hopeful of achieving all three of our objectives for the river.
We have seen results from several successful interventions on planning applications such as at Little London Road, St Mary’s Gate (Lidl) and Queens Road (Dunkin Donuts). We are hopeful of more from long-running planning campaigns elsewhere on the Sheaf at Queens Road (Costa Coffee/Travis Perkins/Big Yellow) and Millhouses (STEPS) and on the Porter at Summerfield Street and Sylvester Gardens. Some of these campaigns could also open opportunities for us to directly construct missing links in the river trails using some of the funds we have built up.
We organised an impressive programme of well supported clean-ups in partnership with the River Stewardship Company. However, the growing problem, in particular on the Sheaf, has been the industrial scale dumping of waste into the river from cannabis factories. We have therefore begun talks with local residents, the Police and Council about how to catch perpetrators as well as better protecting the river from this despicable crime.
Working with the Don Catchment Rivers Trust and our sister organisations we are also building a network of trained ecological and chemical samplers who are gathering evidence of successes and failings in the water quality of the two rivers.
Our working relationship with the Environment Agency has been strengthened, with joint visits to stretches of the rivers and better arrangements for reporting and following up concerns.
Our Hidden Rivers urban caving tours were again sold out, with over 2,000 guests. They continue to be one of our most high profile and unique ways to engage new volunteers and partners as well as bringing in valuable income.
Other successful outreach activities have included regular stalls and guided walks at the monthly Pollen Markets in Castlegate, stalls at the Porter Brook Duck Race, Sharrow Festival, Norfolk Park Heritage Fair and Broadfield Mela, walks for the Heritage Open Days and other events and numerous speaker invitations.
In previous reports we have complained of lack of support or interest from local transport planners in our vision of river trails as a significant part of the city’s active travel strategy. There are now encouraging signs that this approach is changing led by the South Yorkshire Combined Mayoral Authority (SYMCA) whose Active Travel team appear to be taking a rather different approach encouraged by a re-energised Active Travel England. This is a welcome shift which we hope to build on in the coming year.
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The Sheaf and Porter Rivers Trust
Trustees' Annual Report Year ended 31 March 2024 (continued)
Purpose and Objects
Our objects are:
To conserve, protect, regenerate and improve the channel and banks of the urban River Sheaf and Porter Brook in Sheffield for the benefit of the public with a view to improving public access to the rivers for amenity, health, opportunities for active travel and better stewardship and providing opportunities for the public to take part safely in practical activities to improve, explore and look after the rivers.
To advance the education of the public and any association, institution, voluntary organisation, company, local authority, administrative or governmental agency or public body or representative body about:
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the better understanding of these rivers, their corridors and catchments, including their fauna, flora, biodiversity, history, heritage and cultural significance, their role in health, wellbeing and appropriate economic or social activity, and their better management;
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the need for, and benefits of conservation, protection, regeneration and improvement of the aquatic environments of these rivers.
Our trustees have paid due regard to guidance issued by the Charity Commission in managing the Trust and in preparing this report.
Castlegate
October 2023 saw the establishment of a Castlegate Area Board following a lengthy campaign led by the Trust. The Board includes a broad spread of local partners including the Trust and has been chaired by Paul Blomfield MP, who is handing over to his successor Abtisam Mohamed. With this improved governance a much more collaborative relationship with the Council’s regeneration and design teams has been established. As a result we have made much progress on our principal three objectives:
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Complete daylighting of the Sheaf within the Castle site.
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Re-naturalising the channel including overcoming the barrier of the Castle Orchard Weir for wildlife.
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Public access to the river close to water level and visibility from the rest of the new park.
Although the latter feature remains dependent on funding including an additional contribution from the SYMCA we believe its feasibility, benefits and public popularity are now well understood by the Council. Partners including the Trust have also offered their support to raise additional funds for any element of the park which falls beyond the limits of the current budget.
Work on the main contract began in summer 2024 and will be completed in spring 2026.
Planning and Route Development
The year has seen an improving responsiveness from planning officers and planning committee, with many of our supporters echoing our comments. We successfully intervened in several applications including:
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an application to open a Lidl store on St Mary’s Gate without improving or deculverting the Porter – refused.
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The Sheaf and Porter Rivers Trust
Trustees' Annual Report Year ended 31 March 2024 (continued)
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a proposal to create a temporary car park on the Porter at Summerfield Street without improvements to the river or public access – withdrawn.
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proposed drive-in Costa Coffee takeaway on Queens Road – plans amended to retain access and visibility of the river.
The Costa Coffee development is underway and will eventually open up further currently closed sections of existing trail behind Travis Perkins and Big Yellow.
Less successful was our attempt to get a permissive route from the Broadfield Park ‘dead end’ to Little London Road included in the conversion of the former Lavers Builders Merchants to an indoor football centre. To their credit the operators were more than willing to allow this but Lavers would not give landlord approval so the frustrating ‘path to nowhere’ continues to disappoint users, new and old.
Enforcement of planning conditions by Sheffield’s Planning Service also remains weak and painfully slow as exemplified by the ongoing sagas of the missing riverside trail at the STEPS building at Troutbeck Road Millhouses where four years of campaigning by the trust and local community have yet to bring any resolution or decision, and the Platform apartments on Sylvester Street/Mary Street where the developers have so far got away with a series of breaches including cutting over a metre’s width from the riverside Porter Trail and a string of unfinished or unsatisfactory workmanship in the public areas.
Nevertheless the prospect of an almost continuous public trail following the Lower Porter from the Railway Station to the General Cemetery is starting to become achievable if we can keep up our pressure.
In March the Trust participated in the UK Walking Summit in Sheffield organised by Living Streets and sponsored by SYMCA. Less exclusive focus on ‘utility’ commuter journeys and embracing of all travel modes and journey purposes and an equal emphasis on health as low carbon were promoted. We are hopeful that the event signaled a new energy and greater imagination locally in the promotion and expansion of active travel in the region driven by SYMCA and a fresh, newly assembled team. However, the impact of this is yet to be demonstrated.
The Trust continues to press its comments on the draft Local Plan as it goes through its formal Examination in Public, which was delayed by the General Election.
The Trust also plans to fully engage with the Nature Recovery Strategy when public consultation is launched later in 2024.
Water Quality and River Clean-ups
The Sheaf and Porter Rangers have continued to grow in number and skills.
Water quality monitoring and pollution reporting have been established in close partnership with our sister organisations the Friends of Porter Valley and the Meersbrook Conservation Group and training in ecological sampling was provided by the Don Catchment Rivers Trust. Our ability to record and report incidents have led to a number of rectification of pollution sources in the two river valleys. This has allowed us to develop a better level of trust and confidence with the Environment Agency’s small and under-resourced Land and Water team in Sheffield. We are also developing a more direct line of communication with Yorkshire Water whilst remaining critical of the increasingly discredited privately operated model of the water industry. We are also investigating other sources of pollution including discharges apparently related to the main rail line at Totley and at the Midland Station culvert.
River Rangers are also providing invaluable local support for Ecomix - a three year Yorkshire-wide research project led by York University to measure and analyse the levels and impacts of ‘chemicals of concern’ in the Meersbrook and Sheaf.
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The Sheaf and Porter Rivers Trust
Trustees' Annual Report Year ended 31 March 2024 (continued)
We are continuing to take direct action to clean up the rivers. During the year we organised 5 clean ups, supported by about 50 volunteers and supervised by the River Stewardship Company. These have removed tonnes of waste from the rivers, everything from shopping trolleys and beds, to plastic wrapping and litter. We have seen several incidents of cannabis production waste being dumped into the rivers and with the RSC have intervened quickly to clear this – particularly thankless and challenging work. The City Council has responded positively to our request for preventative action by installing CCTV at one hotspot. Whilst identifying and prosecuting those responsible is not easy, we are hopeful that they will be deterred from dumping into the rivers.
Projects
The Station Lightwells pilot project at Platform 5 has continued to move painfully slowly mainly due to the vagaries of Network Rail’s byzantine approval process. However, we reached an agreement with Network Rail in March 2024 for the formal assessment of the project and transferred funds to them for this purpose. We remain cautiously optimistic that approval will eventually be granted and this initial pilot will be followed by a series of further less high profile installations contributing to our overall vision of facilitating fish passage through the whole Sheaf and Porter culvert system, of which the key first step will be taken by the replacing Castle Orchard Weir with a fish pass by 2026.
We are also hopeful that 2024/5 will see opportunities to promote construction of some short ‘missing links’ at Millhouses Tesco and at Big Yellow on Queens Road using some of our own funds matched with other sources.
We also await the City Council’s and the EA’s proposals for Flood Protection in the Sheaf and Porter valleys. We hope this could also deliver restoration of the river channel in locations such as Broadfield Road and Park.
Our Arts Group have worked with several artists including the Porter Brook poets, the Castlegate Public Art Stakeholder Group and organised a successful ‘paint the river’ event for the 2023 Castlegate Festival.
Tours, Talks and Walks
Some 2,000 people came on our 2023 Hidden Rivers Tours, bringing many new members and supporters and raising the major part of our annual income. For the 2024 season we have decided to employ a temporary Tours Administrator to take on the management of Eventbrite bookings, guide rotas and enquiries.
The Trust also provided regular guided tours of Castlegate for the monthly Pollen Markets for the Castlegate Festival and for the Walking Festival. Speakers were provided for many local audiences including the Women’s Institute, Walkley History, University of the Third Age, Ranmoor Society and Landscape students.
Members and Supporters
Membership of the Trust is open to anyone who is interested in furthering our purposes.
We had 440 members at 31 March 2024; this has since risen to 650. We have a further 2,000 email subscribers and are followed by over 5,000 people on Facebook.
We have enjoyed excellent support from a range of riverside businesses including Showroom Cinema, Triple Point Brewery, Yorkshire Artspace, Firmachrome, Wolf Safety Lamp Co, Starprint and Dorothy Pax. Working with the River Stewardship Company we also hope to set up a more formal partnership for businesses on or close to the two rivers to show their support and engage their staff.
The state of our rivers and the opportunity they present is of great interest and we are pleased that so many people support our work.
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The Sheaf and Porter Rivers Trust
Trustees' Annual Report Year ended 31 March 2024 (continued)
Governance
The Trust is managed by our trustees. The trustees are subject to election at the Annual General Meeting of members. The secretary has ensured that all trustees have access to relevant Charity Commission regulations and guidance. The secretary maintains a register of trustees’ interests. The Trust has no paid employees.
The trustees met ten times during the year, with a number of active members and volunteers also in attendance. The minutes of these meetings are available to all members on request.
Financial Review
The Financial Statements detail the receipts and payments during the year and the closing financial position. We were satisfied to have a surplus in the year. The closing financial position was satisfactory in light of the planned activities of the Trust. We anticipate the Restricted Funds will be spent in full as the Station Lightwell project progresses.
In line with our Reserves Policy, we aim to hold a minimum reserve of unrestricted funds sufficient to cover the following six months of anticipated routine activities at any time. There is no maximum reserve, however when the reserves represent more than the following three years expected expenditure, the trustees shall explain to members at the next AGM how they anticipate funds being spent. As at 31 March 2024, such reserves are £60,8334, which we anticipate spending in the following 12 to 18 months.
The are no uncertainties about the Trust continuing as a going concern at this time.
Declarations
The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report.
Signed on behalf of the trustees
Simon Ogden Chair DATE 25 October 2024
Andy Buck Secretary
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The Sheaf and Porter Rivers Trust
Independent Examiner's Report to the Trustees of Sheaf & Porter Rivers Trust Year ended 31 March 2024
I report to the trustees on my examination of the financial statements of Sheaf & Porter Rivers Trust ('the charity') for the year ended 31 March 2024.
Responsibilities and basis of report
As the trustees of the charity you are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 ('the Act').
I report in respect of my examination of the charity’s financial statements carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.
Independent examiner's statement
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination to give me cause to believe that in any material respect:
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accounting records were not kept in respect of the charity as required by section 130 of the Act; or
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the financial statements do not accord with the accounting records;
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
David Campbell, FCA Independent Examiner 19 Endcliffe Grove Avenue Sheffield S10 3EJ
Dated 8th November 2024
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The Sheaf and Porter Rivers Trust
Statement of Financial Activities
Year ended 31 March 2024
| Note Receipts Tour income 2 Donations, membership, other 3 Total receipts Payments Expenditure on charitable activities 4 Total payments Net receipts / (payments) Transfers Net movement after transfers Cash funds brought forward Cash funds carried forward |
Year ended 31 March | Year ended 31 March | 2024 Total 2024 £ 25,925 9,221 35,146 27,292 27,292 7,854 - 7,854 67,024 74,878 |
Year ended 31 March 2023 | Year ended 31 March 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unrestricted funds £ 25,925 9,221 35,146 18,627 18,627 16,519 - 16,519 44,314 60,833 |
Restricted funds £ - - - 8,665 8,665 8,665 - - 8,665 - 22,710 14,045 |
Unrestricted funds £ 25,300 3,749 29,049 13,182 13,182 15,867 2,000 - 13,867 30,447 44,314 |
Restricted Total funds 2023 £ £ - 25,300 150 3,899 150 29,199 - 13,182 - 13,182 150 16,017 2,000 - 2,150 16,017 20,560 51,007 22,710 67,024 |
Statement of Financial Position
As of 31 March 2024
| Cash assets Current account Total assets |
31 March 2024 | 31 March 2024 | Total 2024 £ 74,878 74,878 |
31 March 2023 | 31 March 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unrestricted funds £ 60,833 60,833 |
Restricted funds £ 14,045 14,045 |
Unrestricted funds £ 44,314 44,314 |
Restricted Total funds 2023 £ £ 22,710 67,024 22,710 67,024 |
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The Sheaf and Porter Rivers Trust
Notes to the Financial Statements period ended 31 March 2024
1. General information
The Trust is a public benefit entity and a registered charity in England and Wales and is unincorporated. The address of the principal office is 43 Harcourt Road, Sheffield S10 1DH.
Statement of compliance
These financial statements have been prepared in compliance with FRS 102, 'The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and the Republic of Ireland', the 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) (Charities SORP (FRS 102)) and the Charities Act 2011.
Accounting policies Basis of preparation
The financial statements have been prepared on the historical cost basis, as modified by the revaluation of certain financial assets and liabilities and investment properties measured at fair value through income or expenditure.
The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the Trust.
Going concern
There are no material uncertainties about the Trust’s ability to continue.
Judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty
Judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty in the application of the Trust’s accounting policies, the trustees are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying amount of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and associated assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates. The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised where the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future periods where the revision affects both current and future periods. There were no significant judgements or estimates in relation to the period under review.
Fund accounting
Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees to further any of the Trust’s purposes.
Designated funds are unrestricted funds earmarked by the trustees for a particular future project or commitment.
Restricted funds are subjected to restrictions on their expenditure declared by the donor or through the terms of an appeal, and fall into one of two sub-classes: restricted income funds or endowment funds.
2. Tour Income
The Trust completed a number of tours which resulted in income from ticket sales for the year totalling £25,925 (period ended 31 March 2023: £25,300). This income was offset by tour costs in terms of qualified and experienced tour guides of £9,545 (period ended 31 March 2023: £12,054) as noted within the breakdown of expenditure at note 5.
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The Sheaf and Porter Rivers Trust
Notes to the Financial Statements period ended 31 March 2024 (continued)
3. Grant Income
No grant income was received in the year.
4. Donations
| Year ended 31 March 2024 Unrestricted Restricted Total funds funds 2024 £ £ £ Donations & memberships Transfer from Sheaf & Porter Rivers Trust (pre charity reg) - - - Donations from companies/individuals 6,548 - 6,548 Membership fees 1,430 - 1,430 Bank interest 1,244 - 1,244 Total Donations & memberships 9,221 - 9,221 Transfer - Gripple - misclassified as unrestricted donation in March 2022 and now recategorised as restricted - - - Total donations after transfer 9,221 - 9,221 |
Year ended 31 March 2023 | Year ended 31 March 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Unrestricted funds £ - 1,127 2,310 313 3,750 2,000 - 1,750 |
Restricted Total funds 2023 £ £ - - 150 1,277 - 2,310 - 313 150 3,900 2,000 - 2,150 3,900 |
5. Expenditure on charitable activities by fund type
| Analysis of expenditure Tour costs Event costs IT costs Miscellaneous costs Station lightwell project Total expenditure |
Year ended 31 March 2024 Unrestricted Restricted Total funds funds 2024 £ £ £ 9,545 - 9,545 5,055 150 5,205 2,096 - 2,096 1,932 - 1,932 - 8,515 8,515 18,627 8,665 27,292 |
Year ended 31 March 2024 Unrestricted Restricted Total funds funds 2024 £ £ £ 9,545 - 9,545 5,055 150 5,205 2,096 - 2,096 1,932 - 1,932 - 8,515 8,515 18,627 8,665 27,292 |
Year ended 31 March 2023 | Year ended 31 March 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unrestricted funds £ 9,545 5,055 2,096 1,932 - 18,627 |
Restricted funds £ - 150 - - 8,515 8,665 |
Unrestricted funds £ 12,054 548 405 177 - 13,184 |
Restricted Total funds 2023 £ £ - 12,054 - 548 - 405 - 177 - - - 13,184 |
6. Independent examination fees
No fee has been charged for completion of the independent examiners time spent on this.
7. Staff costs
The Trust has no employees and no employee benefits were therefore paid during the period.
8. Trustee remuneration and expenses
The trustees received remuneration of £Nil. The trustees received expenses of £Nil.
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The Sheaf and Porter Rivers Trust
Notes to the Financial Statements period ended 31 March 2024 (continued)
9. Related party transactions
There were no related party transations to report during the financial period.
10. Contingent liabilities
The trustees were not aware of any liabilities at the end of the financial period.
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