Whitby & Esk Valley Active Travel
Annual Report and Financial Statements for the period 2024-2025
Whitby and Esk Valley Active Travel, registered as a charity in England and Wales : 1206506
Legal and administrative information
Whitby & Esk Valley Active Travel is a registered charity governed by its Constitution.
Registered Office Sea Level, East Row, Sandsend, Whitby YO21 3SU Charity Number 1206506
Financial Year
Between 11/01/2024 and 01/04/2025
Trustees
The trustees who were in office during the financial year and up to the date of signing the Annual Report and Financial Statements were:
| Name | Position | Appointed | Resigned |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ian Suckling | Chair | 11/01/2024 | |
| Andrew Hatchwell | Secretary | 11/01/2024 | |
| Andrew Jefferson | Treasurer | 11/01/2024 | |
| Ben Noble | 11/01/2024 |
Governance & Management
The trustees aim to meet every 2 or 3 months as a minimum, and more frequently whenever decisions are required. During the financial year there have been meetings as follows
| Meeting Date | Trustee Attendance |
|---|---|
| 01/03/2024 | 100% (4/4) |
| 12/06/2024 | 100% (4/4) |
| 29/10/2024 | 75% (3/4) |
| 04/12/2024 | 75% (3/4) |
| 11/12/2024 | 100% (4/4) |
| 20/12/2024 | 75% (3/4) |
| 15/01/2025 | 100% (4/4) |
Conflicts of Interest
Each Trustee is required to disclose potential / actual conflicts of interest at board meetings if relevant. Such disclosures are registered in minutes of the meetings.
Employees
During the financial year Whitby & Esk Valley Active Travel had 0 employees.
Bank
Our current bank is The Cooperative Bank.
Whitby and Esk Valley Active Travel, registered as a charity in England and Wales : 1206506
Work of the Charity
Establishing A Presence
Much of the financial year 2024-2025 has been spent raising awareness of the charity, its aims and activities, as well as documenting what is available in terms of active travel.
During this period we have developed a website with sections on the charity itself, how to donate and support our aims, details of our activities both current and future, as well as how to access active travel in our area. Additionally the website defines several potential path projects for future reference. The website will be continually developed as we move forward, and will adapt to changing goals and activities.
We have created a social media presence, primarily on Facebook (around 140 followers), but also including X, Instagram and YouTube accounts. This is expected to increase significantly moving forward, as we have more projects being developed and more people become interested in getting active.
We have also been active attending events in the area, spreading the message about increased active travel. In March 2024 we presented at a Whitby Community Network CIC (WCN) public meeting on the topic of “Health and Wellbeing”, being well received by all attendees with plenty of interesting discussion. We made a further appearance at a WCN meeting in January 2025 giving a progress update was also well received, and we aim to provide regular updates at these meetings which are a great opportunity to engage with residents of the district.
In June 2024 we had a stall at the Whitby Community Day 2024 event held at Whitby Rugby Club; this attracted a significant amount of local people, and we provided flyers and business cards to attendees as well as other community groups - we would anticipate attending similar events in future years.
We participated in a focus group with Sustrans around reducing conflict on the CinderTrack . We have also made
contact with active travel groups across North Yorkshire as well as nationally, to share common goals as well as to gain from the experiences of others.
Whitby and Esk Valley Active Travel, registered as a charity in England and Wales : 1206506
Gathering Support
We have provided on our website a mechanism for organisation, groups and individuals to register their support for more active travel in the district. We now have all GP surgeries in the district signed up, along with the secondary school and several primary schools, several community groups, as well as members of the public. This is a great start, and sends a strong message.
Planning for the Future
Active travel can only really be promoted successfully if the infrastructure matches the ambition. Our area has a decent network of walking paths and rights of way, often let down by the absence of crossings, or a poor quality of surface or lack of adequate vegetation management. From the perspective of disabled users, there are also many areas lacking dropped kerbs and well placed tactile pavements.
In terms of cycling the story is much worse, with solely a 3 mile section of the CinderTrack with a proper surface, and just 1 access point in the urban area. The scope for improvement is vast, and indeed our aim to improve the level of active travel in the area is very much dependent on addressing the amount and quality of infrastructure available.
Active Travel Plans
During the financial year we have been the local stakeholder on the development of a Local Cycling Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP) for the Whitby area, provided by consultants WSP. This is being developed largely due to the campaigning of one of our trustees. The other stakeholders in this process were Sustrans, and NYC. Our proposals for particularly the cycling network were supplied in to this process, and we expect the final document to be provided to NYC by March 2025.
Additional to the Whitby LCWIP, we were pleased to be a consultee on the development of an LCWIP for the North Yorkshire Moors National Park. This project has a very ambitious aim of providing multiple routes to/from as well as through the local national park, enabling active travel for many more people. This document is expected to be available by late Spring 2025.
Whitby and Esk Valley Active Travel, registered as a charity in England and Wales : 1206506
The above LCWIP documents will effectively provide a master-plan for the whole of our area. We then have to await suitable funding to push forward with provision. Our prioritisation from the outset is one of building paths within the urban area of Whitby first, and gradually expanding outwards. We await to see what 2025-2026 brings on this.
Assessing The Current Situation
Whilst there is a limited amount we can do to impact on legacy infrastructure, it is clearly beneficial to have assessments of what we have currently in different parts of our area. These assessments can include what facilities are present for active travel, but also identify the shortcomings, and ideally propose what could be achieved with some investment. With this in mind, in the financial year we have provided 3 detailed assessment reports.
Broomfield Farm estate
The first assessment covered the scope of the Broomfield Farm housing estate. This estate will ultimately provide 474 residences, over 2 developments. The first development is approximately half built, whilst the second development has planning approval. The assessment concluded that the active travel provision is deficient, and noncompliant with DfT LTN 1/20, providing no way for people on bikes to cross
the busy A171, providing no prioritisation for pedestrians or people on bikes at side roads, and providing no compliant way of reaching the nearby CinderTrack from the estate for people on bikes.
Action : As a result of our report and representations to North Yorkshire Council (NYC) and Stonebridge Homes, NYC have notified us that the planning for the Stonebridge Homes development will be modified to include a crossing point over the central spine road, as well as a 3m wide (compliant) shared path to reach the CinderTrack . The requirement for a cycle crossing of the A171 is still being pushed.
Broomfield Eco development
- We also provided an assessment of the Broomfield Eco 49 home development (part of the Whitby “Town Deal”) alongside the Broomfield estate. Whilst walking provision was included to get to this development, and the inclusion of communal bike parking at the front of the development was welcome, sadly there was no compliant bike path provision.
Whitby and Esk Valley Active Travel, registered as a charity in England and Wales : 1206506
Action : After petitioning of NYC, NYC has agreed that there should also be a compliant path across to the Broomfield Eco development .
Whitby Business Park
One further assessment covered the Whitby Business Park. It concluded that there is zero provision for people on bikes, and the provision for pedestrians is very poor with inadequate vegetation management, non-existent parking enforcement by North Yorkshire Police (NYP), next to no paths away from roads, and poor lighting. Additionally, due to the factors mentioned for pedestrians, the area is a virtual no-go zone for disabled people. We identified several items that could be improved to make active travel in this area viable.
Action : After making representations to NYC and NYP, the vegetation encroachment has now been tackled by NYC, and they also informed us that they plan on introducing parking restrictions along the length of Fairfield Way (by mid 2025), which will allow enforcement, and consequently provide safe pedestrian access to this part of the business park. We will continue monitoring this but this also looks like a victory for active travel.
Barriers to Access
Following on from a month long survey of residents of the area we have established a website mechanism for reporting barriers to access in active travel infrastructure, whereby members of the public can define a location and the type of barrier preventing them using the path etc. Whilst members of the public could equally go direct to the website of NYC or the NYMNP, our method adds a marker on a map, providing a record of where known issues are (unlike the NYC / NYMNP methods). We have relayed the majority of these reports to the relevant authority.
Adaptive Bikes
We identified adaptive bikes as being one key route to attracting significant attention to active travel in this area, given that the nearest facility providing such bikes is a 40 mile round trip away and given that purchase of such bikes is out of reach for many people.
We have developed a wish list of such bikes for the long term, and identified the VanRaam Fun2Go as being the best option for a first adaptive bike, due to its range of applicability. Grants have subsequently been obtained from the Woodsmith Foundation as well as the Normanby Charitable Trust, and an e-assist
Whitby and Esk Valley Active Travel, registered as a charity in England and Wales : 1206506
version of this bike was ordered in December 2024 . We felt that the e-assist was an essential addition. We expect this bike to arrive early in the 2025-2026 financial year, and will complete this purchase with loans from trustees should it be necessary, with the intention of repaying these loans from the future hire costs.
All adaptive bikes will be available to rent from the premises of one of our trustees with funds going direct to the charity. Funds obtained from hiring will go to firstly pay for the required maintenance on such bikes, as well as the cost of bike hire insurance. Any excess will then be utilised for future adaptive bike purchases as demand develops. We also aim to provide these adaptive bikes at a reduced rate for local charities / groups. This will clearly develop over time.
Active Travel in Schools
One of our trustees delivered a lesson in a local primary school, and gathered data on the chosen way that children arrive at school, with 58% walking to school, but 0% cycling to school, highlighting the challenge that exists. We have engaged with the local secondary school regarding attitudes towards walking and cycling to school and understanding any issues that they may have with allowing cycle to school. The school kindly gave us sight of their new school travel plan, which contained very reasonable ambitions aimed at increasing walking and cycling levels, with sensible timescales, and we offered to assist as required. Given their timescales for improvements to cycle to school provision should be effective during the 2025-2026 financial year, we hope to have more to report next year.
Volunteering
We recognise that our charity has few trustees and so we need to utilise volunteers wherever possible to achieve more. We have held 2 volunteer events in the financial year. The first was in conjunction with the Whitby Litter Pickers group, clearing the Stakesby Vale / Bagdale Beck area. The second was vegetation management at the start of the Cinder Track. We hope to hold many more of these events in 2025-2026 as we get more established.
Fundraising
Our website now provides all mechanisms that we think are likely needed to support accepting donations, whether by debit/credit card, by bank transfer, or via a will. We additionally have made available convenience mechanisms that people can use whilst shopping on-line, where retailers give a percentage of any
Whitby and Esk Valley Active Travel, registered as a charity in England and Wales : 1206506
purchase price to a nominated charity – we currently support Easyfundraising and GiveToLive. We have already been the beneficiary of funds from a community group tombola session, and have other opportunities earmarked for the 2025-2026 financial year.
Thanks
Thanks go to the Woodsmith Foundation for a grant of £5000 and to the Normanby Charitable Trust for a grant of £3000, both towards the purchase of the VanRaam Fun2Go e-bike. Thanks also to North Yorkshire Council for a grant of £1000 to cover start up and running costs for the charity. Finally thanks to those that have donated to the charity (such as Carers Plus) or contributed ideas, or simply registered their support for more active travel in Whitby & the Esk Valley.
Whitby and Esk Valley Active Travel, registered as a charity in England and Wales : 1206506
Statement of Financial Activities for the year[1] ended 01 April
2025.[1] – period starting 11/01/2024
Receipts and Payments
| Unrestricted | Restricted |
Total Funds |
Total Funds |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Funds | Funds | 2024-2025 | 2023-2024 | ||
| £ | £ | £ | £ | ||
| Receipts | |||||
| Grant Funding | 1,000 | 8,000 | 9,000 | - | |
| Donations | 156 | 156 | - | ||
| BikeHire | - | ||||
| Bank Interest | 1 | 1 | |||
| SubTotal | 1,157 | 8,000 | 9,157 | - | |
| Asset/Investment Sales | |||||
| SubTotal | - | ||||
| Total Receipts | 1,157 | 8,000 | 9,157 | - | |
| Payments | |||||
| Stationery | 105 | 105 | - | ||
| SubTotal | 105 | 105 | - | ||
| Asset/Investment Purchases | |||||
| VanRaam Fun2Go e-assist bike | 3,310 | 3,310 | - | ||
| DEPOSIT to GetCycling | |||||
| SubTotal | 3,310 | 3,310 | - | ||
| Total Payments | 105 | 3,310 | 3,415 | - | |
| Receipts less Payments | 1,052 | 4,690 | 5,742 | - | |
| Transfer between funds | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | |
| Cash Funds last year end | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | |
| Cash Funds this year end | 1,052 | 4,690 | 5,742 | - |
Whitby and Esk Valley Active Travel, registered as a charity in England and Wales : 1206506
Statement of assets and liabilities at end of period
| Cash Funds | Details | Unrestricted Funds | Restricted Funds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cash Fund | 1,052 | 4,690 | |
| BikeHire | |||
| Total Cash Funds | 1,052 | 4,690 | |
| Other Monetary | Details | Unrestricted Funds | Restricted Funds |
| Assets | |||
| Investment | Details | Fund name | Cost |
| Assets | |||
| Assets retained | Details | Fund name | Cost |
| for charity use | |||
| VanRaam Fun2Go e-assist | BikeHire Equipment | 3,310 | |
| DEPOSIT | |||
| Liabilities | Details | Fund name | Amount due |
Breakdown of donations and grants
The line entries for donations and grants in the above receipts table are broken down as follows.
| Donations | Grants | Total Funds | Total Funds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-2025 | 2023-2024 | |||
| £ | £ | £ | £ | |
| North Yorkshire Council | 1,000 | 1,000 | - | |
| Normanby Charitable Trust | 3,000 | 3,000 | - | |
| Woodsmith Foundation | 5,000 | 5,000 | - | |
| Easyfundraising | 57 | 57 | - | |
| Individual Donation | 10 | 10 | - | |
| Carers Plus | 89 | 89 | - | |
| Total | 156 | 9,000 | 9,156 | - |
Whitby and Esk Valley Active Travel, registered as a charity in England and Wales : 1206506
Declaration
The trustees declare that they have approved the financial statements as set out on pages 9 to 10.
For and on behalf of all of the Trustees.
Treasurer, Whitby & Esk Valley Active Travel
10/04/2025 Date
Whitby and Esk Valley Active Travel, registered as a charity in England and Wales : 1206506
| Whitby & Esk Valley Active Travel |
Whitby & Esk Valley Active Travel |
Whitby & Esk Valley Active Travel |
Whitby & Esk Valley Active Travel |
CC16a | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| For the period from |
11/01/24 | To | |||
| Section A Receipts and payments | |||||
| A1 Receipts Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ |
to the nearest £ Restricted funds |
to the nearest £ Endowment funds |
Total funds to the nearest £ |
Last year to the nearest £ |
|
| Grant Funding | 1,000 156 - 1 - - - 1,157 |
8,000 - - - - - - 8,000 |
- | 9,000 156 - 1 - - - 9,157 |
- |
| Donations | - | - | |||
| BikeHire | - | - | |||
| Bank Interest | - | - | |||
| - | - | ||||
| - | - | ||||
| - | - | ||||
| Sub total(Gross income for AR) | - | - | |||
| A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). |
- - - |
||||
| - - - |
- | - - - |
|||
| - | - | ||||
| Sub total | - | - | |||
| Total receipts 1,157 A3 Payments |
|||||
| 1,157 | 8,000 | - | 9,157 | - | |
Stationery |
105 - - - - - - - - 105 |
- - - - - - - - - - |
- | 105 - - - - - - - - 105 |
- |
| - | - | ||||
| - | - | ||||
| - | - | ||||
| - | - | ||||
| - | - | ||||
| - | - | ||||
| - | - | ||||
| - | - | ||||
| **Sub total ** | - | - | |||
| A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table) |
- - - |
||||
| VanRaam Fun2Go – DEPOSIT to GetCycling | 3,310 - 3,310 |
- | 3,310 - 3,310 |
||
| - | |||||
| **Sub total ** | - | - | |||
| Total payments 105 Net of receipts/(payments) 1,052 A5 Transfers between funds - A6 Cash funds last year end - Cash funds this year end 1,052 |
|||||
| 105 | 3,310 | - | 3,415 | - | |
| 1,052 - - 1,052 |
4,690 - - 4,690 |
- | 5,742 - - 5,742 |
- | |
| - | - | ||||
| - | - | ||||
| - | - |
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 Fund BikeHire Details Details Details VanRaam Fun2Go – DEPOSIT PAID Details Signature Total cash funds (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) |
to nearest £ Unrestricted funds |
to nearest £ Unrestricted funds |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,052 | - | ||
| - | - | ||
| - | - | ||
| 1,052 | 4,690 | ||
| OK to nearest £ Unrestricted funds |
|||
| - | - | ||
| - | - | ||
| - | - | ||
| - | - | ||
| - | - | ||
| - | - | ||
| Fund to which asset belongs |
|||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| Fund to which asset belongs |
|||
| BikeHireEquipment | 3,310 | ||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| Fund to which liability relates |
|||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| Andrew Jefferson | |||