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2025-04-01-accounts

FUTURE LANDSCAPES TRUST Annual Repor rear ending AJ)

Future Landscapes Trust

Charity no 1208426

Annual Review for the year ending April 1, 2025

Our Mission: To pioneer and deliver nature-based solutions that help communities solve critical environmental challenges, building resilient and sustainable landscapes for the future.

About Us: Our Approach

We are a charity that designs landscapes for our future. In an ever-changing climate and with weather patterns becoming increasingly extreme and unknown, we have to rethink our relationship with the land and how we live with it.

In the UK, we have changed our landscapes dramatically over the last 70 years with a combination of land use, farming, and urban spread. Our approach is of a regenerative nature, using a holistic approach embracing science and method to create projects and designs that imitate nature.

Biodiversity

We aim to increase biodiversity across all habitats, whether it is an Ancient Woodland or an arable farm; every landscape can benefit from improving the complexity of the system and the diversity of species.

We have destroyed over 50% of biodiversity in the UK. Biodiversity is the foundation of any healthy ecosystem, one that is complex and resilient, and can help mitigate the unknown events in the future. It is an essential part of a future landscape.

Carbon

Sequestering carbon is one of the most important issues we need to address. Removing carbon from the atmosphere and capturing it in the soil, plants, fungi, or animals is essential for reducing the damage done by Green House Gases (GHG). Developing complex nature projects will help do this in a far more efficient and immediate process. Locking carbon into nature is an essential part of solving the climate crisis.

Water

Water management is the first layer when designing holistic landscapes. It is the first level on the Scale of Permanence that we can have the largest effect on, and therefore has a huge positive effect on the landscape if designed correctly. We want to help mitigate floods in times of extreme rains, but also keep water on the land in the correct places for when there is drought and increased sunshine. Our first project is to Slow the Flow through the Marsham Valley in East Sussex to stop the flooding.

Future Landscapes Trust Charity No: 1208426

Food

Food is an inevitable part of our landscape and can have a powerful effect on the way it changes the land. It has the ability to regenerate our soils, our ecosystems, and our biodiversity. We work with landowners, managers, and farmers to advise and fund changes in the landscape that can have a positive regenerative effect to benefit nature, their yield, and the health of the soils.

Social Value

When designing landscapes for our future, we (humans) are an integral part of this conversation. We all need better access to nature for our physical and mental health, especially among young people. Future Landscapes Trust promotes and facilitates education and adds social value to the design process so that nature is a harmonious and progressive part of our lives.

Chairman's Statement

It is with immense pride that I present this review of our first year of operations. This initial year has been one of focus, learning, and deep community engagement. It has been enormously gratifying to see our foundational project, the groundbreaking Marsham Valley Natural Flood Management (NFM) project , come together.

This initiative is not just an environmental project; it is a potential lifeline for the village of Pett Level, which still faces the threat of catastrophic flooding. Our goal is to demonstrate that by working with nature—restoring wetlands, natural habitats, and farmland’s capacity to absorb water, "slowing the flow" of water—we can build a more resilient and safer future for the community.

From the outset, we knew this vision could only be achieved with the community, not for them. A key highlight of our year was our first public meeting, which brought together a huge and diverse range of the local community. It was a packed hall, full of energy, insightful questions, and valuable local knowledge. We have had the support of many people and have also learned deeply from those who had questions or concerns. This open dialogue has been fundamental, and it has been a personal passion of mine to help guide this process, showing the incredible potential of nature to solve our most pressing problems.

Of course, we are not doing this alone. We have been expertly guided by our funding partners, the Environment Agency and Southern Water . From them, we have been learning a huge range of sophisticated scientific monitoring techniques that are essential to proving the project's effectiveness.

This vital work has been driven forward by the tireless energy of our project leads, Ollie Hunter and Peter Smith . Alongside them, our expert advisors— Dr. Barry Yates , Andy Dinsdale , and the team at Green Curves Design —have worked frantically, putting together the complex baseline data that makes this groundbreaking project feasible.

This first year was about laying the foundations. The coming year will be about building on them. Thank you to everyone who has joined us on this journey.

Future Landscapes Trust Charity No: 1208426

Criag Sams

Chairman, Future Landscapes Trust

Our Achievements and Performance 2024-25

Our activity this year has been almost entirely focused on the successful launch and establishment of the Marsham Valley Natural Flood Management Project.

Project Spotlight: The Marsham Valley NFM Project

The Challenge: The Marsham Valley acts as a natural funnel for rainfall, which can rapidly overwhelm conventional drainage systems and put the village of Pett Level at high risk of severe flooding. With climate change promising more intense rainfall events, a new approach is urgently needed.

Our Solution: Nature-Based Flood Management Instead of solely relying on hard

engineering (like concrete walls), our project uses a "Natural Flood Management" (NFM) approach. This involves implementing a range of measures across the valley to slow water down, store it temporarily, and increase infiltration into the ground. These measures include:

Progress in Our First Year (2024-25): This foundational year was dedicated to data, design, and dialogue.

  1. Baseline Data & Feasibility: Before we can measure our impact, we must understand the landscape as it is today. Our expert team has been undertaking extensive baseline studies, including:

  2. Hydrological monitoring to track water flow and volumes.

  3. Ecological surveys to map existing habitats and species.

  4. Advanced computer modelling to simulate flood events.

  5. Community Engagement & Dialogue: Our engagement has been central to our work.

  6. Public Meeting: We held a packed public meeting in June to introduce our plans, answer questions, and listen to local concerns.

Future Landscapes Trust Charity No: 1208426

Our People & Partners

Our success is a shared success, built on the energy and expertise of our team and the generous support of our partners.

Our Team & Volunteers We extend our deepest gratitude to our Board of Trustees and our core project management team, Ollie Hunter and Peter Smith, who have truly gone above and beyond. We are also incredibly thankful to our dedicated Trustees for their strategic guidance in this first year, and to the many community volunteers who have helped with initial site surveys especially Chris Saint.

Our Funders & Expert Partners This ambitious project would be impossible without our key partners. We thank:

Their collective expertise in hydrology, ecology, and landscape design has provided the scientific bedrock for this entire initiative.

Financial Review (2024-25)

As this is our first year of operation, our financial activity has been focused on securing initial seed funding and grants, and directing those resources effectively to establish our flagship project.

All spending has been carefully managed by the Board of Trustees to maximise impact and ensure long-term viability. Our full, audited accounts are available via the Charity Commission website.

Future Landscapes Trust Charity No: 1208426

Independent Examiner’s Report to the Trustees of Future Landscape Trust

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the Future Landscapes Trust for the year ended 01/04/2025.

As the charity's trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011

I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, 1 have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:

I have no concems 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.

Martin Tytherleigh Independent Examiner

Future Landscapes Trust Charity No: 1208426

Category Details Amount (£) Notes
Income
Donations General donations 5 Small individual
donations
Grants Environment
Agency & Southern
Water		 56,250 Restricted funds
only
Total Income 56,255 All restricted
Expenditure
Charitable
Activities		 Environmental
projects &
programme costs		 50,389 Fully restricted
Total Expenditure 50,389
Net Surplus
(Income –
Expenditure)		 5,866 Carried forward
Funds
Unrestricted Funds – 0 None received
Restricted Funds – 5,866 Carried forward
Total Funds
Carried Forward		 5,866
Assets - -
Cash at Bank 5,866 No other assets
Liabilities 0 No debts or
creditors

Expenditure Breakdown:

Income £56,250

Future Landscapes Trust Charity No: 1208426

Expenditure £50,389

Essential overheads, including insurance, are considered part of our charitable activities, as they are necessary to support the safe and effective delivery of our mission. The Trustees are committed to ensuring that all resources are directed towards charitable purposes. During the reporting period, no charitable funds were spent on administration.

All information technology, fundraising, and administrative work has been undertaken entirely on a voluntary basis by Trustees and dedicated volunteers. This approach ensures that every pound received is used directly to advance our charitable objectives, while maintaining robust governance and accountability.

Plans for the Future (2025-26)

With the foundational data and design work now largely complete, the year ahead will be one of tangible action. Our key priorities for 2025-26 are:

  1. Begin Phase 1 Works: We will break ground and begin implementing the first NFM measures in the Marsham Valley, starting with leaky dam installation in the upper catchment.

  2. Continue Monitoring: We will expand our scientific monitoring programme to measure the real-world impact of these new measures as they are installed.

  3. Deepen Community Involvement: We will launch our first practical volunteer days, inviting the community to get hands-on with activities like leaky dam construction, biodiversity and river health monitoring .

  4. Secure Long-Term Funding: We will work to secure the next phase of funding to ensure the project can be completed in full over the coming years.

Future Landscapes Trust Charity No: 1208426

Structure, Governance & How to Help

Governance Future Landscapes Trust is a registered charity in England and Wales (Registered Charity No.1208426 ). We are governed by our Board of Trustees, which meets quarterly to oversee our strategic, financial, and operational performance.

Our Board of Trustees:

Bankers:

The Co-operative Bank p.l.c.(Financial Services Register No: 121885). Registered office: 1 Balloon Street, Manchester, M4 4BE. Registered in England and Wales (Company No: 990937)

Auditor:

Martin Tytherleigh Independent Examiner

Get Involved

Our work is just beginning, and we need your help.

Visit us online: www.futurelandscapes.org.uk Email us: info@futurelandscapes.org.uk

Future Landscapes Trust Charity No: 1208426