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2023-03-31-annual-report

MOURNE HERITAGE TRUST - THE

(A company limited by guarantee)

DIRECTORS' REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

The Trustees (who are also the directors of the charity for the purposes of the Companies Act 2006) present their annual report with the audited financial statements of The Mourne Heritage Trust (the company) for the year ended 31 March 2023. The Trustees confirm that the Annual Report and financial statements of the company comply with the current statutory requirements, the requirements of the company's governing document and the provisions of the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP), 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 2015).

Structure, governance and management

Constitution

The company is registered as a charitable company limited by guarantee and was set up by a Memorandum of Association on 17 September 1997.

The company has now been officially registered with the Charities Commission NI under Charity Number NIC 105840.

Policies adopted for the induction and training of Directors

Trustees receive a thorough induction, including receipt of various key documents relating to the operation of the Trust and a briefing with the Chairman and Chief Executive.

Organisational structure and decision making

Day to day management of the charity is delegated to the Chief Executive Officer, Mr Martin Carey.

Trustees of Mourne Heritage Trust were originally appointed by The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Environment and Heritage Service of the Department of Environment (now Northern Ireland Environment Agency), Banbridge, Down and Newry and Mourne District Councils (now replaced by Newry, Mourne and Down District Council) and the Northern Ireland Tourist Board (now Tourism NI). (The successor agencies named remain funders of the Trust). In addition, a number of other Mourne interests were appointed by the nominated Trustees, after expressions of interest and nominations were sought by public advertisement and a selection procedure was carried out.

One third of the Board of Trustees retires from office each year at the Trust’s AGM. The retiring Trustees are eligible for re-election. The Trust then fills the vacated office by electing a person there to and, in default, the retiring Trustee, shall if offering themselves for re-election, be deemed to have been elected.

Persons other than a retiring Trustee can be eligible for election if recommended by the Board of Trustees or by nomination submitted before AGM by a member qualified to attend and vote at the meeting.

Voting if necessary is carried out by a membership panel, composed of accredited bodies and other Mourne Interests.

Risk management

The Trustees have assessed the major risks to which the charity is exposed, in particular those related to the operations and finances of the charitable company and are satisfied that systems are in place to mitigate exposure to the major risks.

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MOURNE HERITAGE TRUST - THE

(A company limited by guarantee)

DIRECTORS' REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Objectives and Activities

The Mourne Heritage Trust provides landscape management and sustainable development services for the Mourne Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Established in 1997, the Trust is a partnership of local and central government, local communities, and key stakeholders. The aim of Mourne Heritage Trust is as follows:

‘To sustain and enhance the environment, rural regeneration, cultural heritage and visitor opportunities of the Mourne Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and contribute to the wellbeing of Mourne’s communities.

The following are the strategic aims:

Natural Environment Enhancement and Protection

‘Safeguard, enhance and promote appreciation of the quality and diversity of the landscapes and biodiversity of the Mourne Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and to manage and influence change appropriately’.

Visitor Management and Visitor Services

‘To provide and maintain opportunities for public enjoyment, education, and recreation within the Mourne AONB in ways which safeguard the environment and protect land management and community interests’.

Built and Cultural Heritage

‘To identify, promote, safeguard and enhance the built and cultural heritage of the Mourne AONB’.

Sustainable Tourism

‘To promote regeneration through the development and facilitation of appropriate sustainable tourism initiatives in the Mourne AONB’.

Creating Awareness and Promoting Understanding

‘To create awareness and promote greater understanding of the Mourne AONB as a unique and special area to local, regional, national and international audiences.’

Each key objective is pursued through core operations and priority projects. Core operations are provided from the Trust’s ongoing core funding, and largely reflect the Trust’s Service Level Agreements and/or grant applications with its core funders. The core resources also provide the base from which priority projects are developed for complementary additional activities and for which the Trust seeks specific project funding.

Key Core activities revolve around coordination and implementation of the Mourne AONB Management Plan. Environmental protection and enhancement services include heathland management, wildfire prevention and erosion control as well as various projects to enhance biodiversity in line with the Mourne Biodiversity Action Plan. This is complemented by visitor management services in which the Trust maintains car parks and amenity sites, forest walking trails and mountain bike trails, Public Rights of Way, stiles, cycle routes, interpretive panels and undertakes weekly litter collection at visitor amenities. A Mourne Ranger Service is provided to monitor environmental issues and countryside access and promote positive links and understanding between landowners, local communities, visitors, business sectors and volunteers. Also important in core activity are visitor servicing and raising awareness of the special qualities of the Mourne AONB through, among other things, publications and online platforms including the Mourne live website and social media sites. The development of sustainable tourism initiatives with local communities and tourism businesses includes a range of activities agreed annually with Tourism NI.

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MOURNE HERITAGE TRUST - THE

(A company limited by guarantee)

DIRECTORS' REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Priority Projects in 2022/23 included:

Active Lifestyles Programme – Provision of a programme of volunteer activity with an emphasis on vulnerable adults and other specific target groups.

Erosion Control Upland Path Repair – Repair and protection of routes in key access corridors including Slieve Donard, Annalong Valley and Slieve Binnian .

Engagement Rangers – Promotion of responsible recreation and environmental awareness .

Trees for Mourne – Native woodland creation.

Key Objectives and detailed activities and targets in pursuit of the various core activities and key projects areas are set out in the Mourne AONB Management Plan and Action Plan.

Mourne Heritage Trust makes significant use of volunteers in the course of undertaking a wide range of both core and project activities. These include the Mourne Conservation Volunteer programme which offers people the chance to make a practical and worthwhile contribution to the conservation of the environment.

Achievements and performance

Review of activities

The Trust’s main achievements in 2022/23 are elaborated in our online Annual Report at www.caringformourne.com. Highlights include the following:

Natural Environment Enhancement and Protection

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MOURNE HERITAGE TRUST - THE

(A company limited by guarantee)

DIRECTORS' REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Visitor Management and Visitor Services

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MOURNE HERITAGE TRUST - THE

(A company limited by guarantee)

DIRECTORS' REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Visitor Management and Visitor Services (continued)

Sustainable Tourism

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MOURNE HERITAGE TRUST - THE

(A company limited by guarantee)

DIRECTORS' REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Built and Cultural Heritage

Creating Awareness and Promoting Understanding

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MOURNE HERITAGE TRUST - THE

(A company limited by guarantee)

DIRECTORS' REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Creating Awareness and Promoting Understanding (continued)

Pension fund

Consistent with many other charities and not for profit organisations, Mourne Heritage Trust Limited (“MHT”) had partaken in a multi-employer defined benefit pension scheme operated by NILGOSC. The Trust exited this scheme effective from 31st December 2022 after discussions and agreement from the employees who were in the scheme. Following an actuarial valuation on exit, the Charity received a repayment of £434,100, being the fund surplus of assets over liabilities, less professional fees at the exit date. No pension liability or asset therefore is included in the accounts.

The charitable company agreed specific defined contribution pension scheme terms with those employees affected by the exit from the NILGOSC scheme. MHT continues to offer the standard defined contribution pension scheme to all new employees.

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MOURNE HERITAGE TRUST - THE

(A company limited by guarantee)

DIRECTORS' REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Financial review

The results for the year are set out on page 15 of the accompanying financial statements.

The Mourne Heritage Trust accounts this year are showing an actual operation surplus of £44,305 (2022 - £42,898) before taking account of the extraordinary income of £436,400 (2022- £318,000 actuarial gain) received on exiting the NILGOSC multi-employer defined benefit pension scheme.

The total surplus reported is therefore £480,705 (2022 - £360,898).

Core funders of the Mourne Heritage Trust are detailed below, and amounts contributed for the year 2022/23:

£ 229,270 £ 300,000 £ 65,000

Major Project Funders for the year 2022/2023 were as follows:

Active Lifestyles Programme Citigroup Belfast; Department for
Communities and National Lottery Heritage
Fund
Upland Path Enhancement NI Water
Erosion Control Northern Ireland Environment Agency
£283,000
Engagement Ranger Project Northern Ireland Environment Agency
£100,000
Newry, Mourne & Down District Council
Sport NI
Trees for Mourne Woodland Trust

Going concern

After making appropriate enquiries, the trustees have a reasonable expectation that the company has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. For this reason, they continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the financial statements. Further details regarding the adoption of the going concern basis can be found in the Accounting Policies.

Reserves policy

The Board are in the process of reviewing the needs of the charity and have put in place an interim reserve policy. The Mourne Heritage Trust needs general unrestricted reserves equivalent to six months outgoing resources and an additional £400,000 for working capital cashflow facilities.

The recommended level of general unrestricted reserves at 31 March 2023 is £940,000. The general unrestricted reserves at 31 March 2023 was £1,113,919. At this level, the Trustees feel that they would be able to continue the current activities of the organisation and are developing a more thorough reserves policy as well as an action plan to increase the unrestricted reserves to ensure there will be no issues in performing future activities. The unrestricted reserves of £1.1m comprise net assets, excluding fixed assets, of £1m which are readily available to fund working capital requirements of the Trust. Currently, the Trust has no borrowings, has a strong asset base, which underpins its activities. The funds historically held by the charity have been boosted significantly following the charity’s exit from the NILGOSC pension scheme. The level of uncertainty that the charity historically had to plan for has also been reduced.

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MOURNE HERITAGE TRUST - THE

(A company limited by guarantee)

DIRECTORS' REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

The Reserves Policy will be monitored and reviewed at least annually. The Board actively considers the reserves target.

At the balance sheet date, the restricted reserves of the charity amounted to £91,826 (2022 - £54,314).

Future developments

Our work will be guided by the Mourne AONB Management Plan and AONB Action Plan for 2023 - 2027. Copies are available on www.Mournelive.com.

Directors' responsibilities statement

The Directors (who are also directors of The Mourne Heritage Trust for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the Directors' report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

Company law requires the Directors to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under company law the Directors must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the Directors are required to:

The Directors are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the charitable company's transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

Disclosure of information to auditor

The Directors have confirmed that there is no information which they are aware of which is relevant to the audit, but of which the auditor is unaware. They have further confirmed that they have taken appropriate steps to identify such relevant information and to establish that the auditors are aware of such information.

Auditors

UHY Hacker Young Fitch Limited were appointed as auditors during the period in accordance with section 485 of the Companies Act 2006 and are eligible for reappointment. A resolution to re-appoint UHY Hacker Young Fitch Limited will be proposed at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting.

30/11/2023 This report was approved by the Directors and authorised for issue on …………………. and signed on their behalf by:

................................................ David Maginn Chairman

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