2025-03-31-accounts

THE CHURCH LAND TRUST

The Church Land Trust (TCLT) (Charity number 1193793) presents its annual report for the period ended 31[st] March 2025.

TCLT is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation registered with the Charity Commission on 12[th] March 2021 and operates under its Governing Document dated 9[th] March 2021.

OUR MISSION

TCLT aims to help Christian Churches use their land and property to further their mission and provide benefit for their congregations and their local communities. It is common for churches to sell assets to meet short-term needs. TCLT aims to help explore more creative solutions allowing them to retain their asset base for long-term benefit and to achieve a sustainable income flow.

OUR OBJECTIVES

• Provide consultancy and mentoring to churches seeking to upgrade their property assets. The aim is to benefit the church itself and the local community and to contribute towards the alleviation of the current housing crisis.

• Build a database of churches which have successfully enhanced their building facilities to the benefit of the church itself and the local community, as well as databases of funding sources and organisations working in this field. This would be available to all on payment of a modest subscription (this subscription to be used to contribute to TCLT’s costs, not to generate a profit for TCLT). While much of this information is publicly available, we do not believe that there is any single place where it can be easily found. The absence of an accessible source of all or most of the relevant information has been an obstacle to the effective financing and development of church assets for the benefit of the community.

• The aim is to establish TCLT as the pre-eminent destination for relevant data for the benefit of churches seeking to develop their assets and organisations in a position to assist them.

• Seek opportunities for church property to be creatively used to provide affordable housing.

• Work with relevant stakeholders – eg dioceses, parishes, local authorities, housing charities and various related agencies – acting as an interface between these parties to provide relevant information and advice.

• Provide specific advice on finding potential donors, how to secure funding, and development advice.

• TCLT will engage with other organisations who will actively commission construction projects for public benefit in this sector such as Registered Providers and Community Benefit Societies.

Three of TCLT’s founding trustees have decades of experience in the property industry (two as architects and one as a quantity surveyor). Their expertise will be central in driving the development of TCLT’s activities.

REVIEW OF ACTIVITIES

TCLT’s activities during the year were constrained by a lack of significant cash flow. While we lost use of our fine part-time employee the trustees continued to carry out important research. This included the consolidation of and reflection on the work of previous years. We have now available a database of over 7000 files which is continually updated.

TCLT has continued to develop its strategic vision of how its intellectual property might best be leveraged. TCLT deepened its relationship with an a Community Benefit Society which is developing projects on church land to house those in need of accommodation in the social rented sector.

It was a productive year for expanding connections with other organisations working in this field. In particular TCLT has formed a new working relationship with the Housing project at the Church of England to supply it with case studies of housing on church land and the first of these studies is now in progress.

FINANCES

TCLT’s sole source of income during the year was from donations from trustees totalling £700. Outgoings included the payment for the website. The Charity’s bank account was in credit to the tune of £550.55 at the end of the period.

FUTURE PLANS

• The trustees will continue to seek a more secure financial basis in order to fulfil its mission. TCLT is actively investigating ways in which the charity might generate revenue from use of its intellectual property and intends to approach charitable trusts for support as well.

• In particular TCLT will continue to develop its relationship with the Community Benefit Society (referenced above). This society is actively involved in developments of building projects for church communities.

• The continuing enlargement of our databases remains an ongoing objective..

• Fund-raise for our operating costs – targeting specific individuals and organisations who have expressed support of what we are doing.

• Extend our range of contacts in all relevant stakeholders, notably churches, dioceses, housing-focused charities, local authorities, property professionals, other relevant agencies and academia.

• Provide mentoring services to churches which recognise the potential of their property assets while lacking the professional knowledge of how to exploit them.

TRUSTEES

The trustees of the charity are as follows:

Mr MJR Potter (Chair) Ms SA Dorkings Mr JMB Eddison Mr SJ Jacklin Mr CAA Congdon

Appointed 12 March 2021 Appointed 12 April 2021 Appointed 12 March 2021 Appointed 12 March 2021 Appointed 12 March 2021

CONTACT DETAILS

Address: C/o PCH-a Worlds End Studios 132-134 Lots Road London SW10 0RJ Tel: [phone] Email: [e-mail] Website: https://www.thechurchlandtrust.org.uk/