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← Action to Protect Rural Scotland

2025-12-31-accounts

The Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland

(A Company Limited by Guarantee)

Report and Financial Statements

For the Year Ended

31 December 2025

Company Number: SC154563 Charity Number: SC016139

The Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland Report and Financial Statements For the Year Ended 31st December 2025

Contents Pages
Reference and Administrative Information 2
Report of the Directors 3 – 11
Independent Examiner’s Report 12
Statement of Financial Activities 13
Balance Sheet 14
Accounting Policies 15
Notes to the Financial Statements 16 – 19

The Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland Report of the Directors For the Year Ended 31 December 2025

Reference and Administrative Information

Name The Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland
also known as: APRS, Action to Protect Rural Scotland
Company registration SC154563
Company Limited by Guarantee
Converted to SCIO 26/01/2026
Charity registration SC016139
Scottish Charity
Registered office and
principal office address Augustine United Church
41 George IV Bridge
Edinburgh
EH1 1EL
Directors
Current Directors:
John Thomson Chair
Rebecca Simpson Vice-Chair
Iain Harrison Treasurer
Andrew Dorin
John Esslemont
Graeme Purves appointed 16/05/2025
Robert Reid
Suzie Saunders appointed 16/05/2025
Also serving in the year:
Victoria Presly resigned 16/05/2025
Company Secretary
Dr Katherine Jones Manager
Bankers Virgin Money
177 Bothwell Street
Glasgow
G2 7ER
Independent Examiner Anna Chworow
Craigart
Ladybank
KY15 7PA

The Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland Report of the Directors For the Year Ended 31 December 2025

The Directors are pleased to present their report and the financial statements for the year ended 31st December 2025.

Structure, Governance and Management

Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland (APRS) was founded in 1926 as an unincorporated association that was incorporated on 28 November 1994 as a company limited by guarantee governed by its Memorandum and Articles of Association. It commenced activities on 1 January 1995. It is registered as a charity with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator(OSCR). The charity converted to SCIO on 26 January 2026.

Membership

Membership is open to:

Anyone who wishes to become a member of the charity must submit a written request. Applications for membership will go before the Board of Directors for approval. Members each agree to contribute £1 in the event of the charity winding up.

Appointment of Directors

As set out in the Articles of Association the Council of APRS is selected at general meeting and from their number the Executive Committee is likewise elected at a general meeting. The Council is an Advisory body while the Executive Committee is responsible as Directors of the Company for the management of APRS.

At present, those Directors listed on page 8 are members of APRS. The Directors regularly review the membership of APRS to potentially widen the pool of those eligible to serve as Directors.

Director Induction and Training

New Directors are provided with a copy of the Memorandum and Articles of Association, OSCR and Companies House guidance on trustee/director responsibilities and other essential background material. If there are any areas where additional training is required, this is discussed by the Executive and an appropriate solution is identified.

Organisational Structure

APRS is governed by the Executive Committee, whose members are directors for the purposes of company law and trustees for the purpose of charity law.

The Executive Committee meets a minimum of four times a year and is responsible for the strategic direction of the charity. The Executive Committee has the power to set up sub-groups to deal with specific matters and is responsible for appointing the Association's Manager and Treasurer. The day to day running and administration of the charity is delegated to the Manager.

The Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland Report of the Directors For the Year Ended 31 December 2025

Objectives and Activities

Objectives

The object of the company are:

Activities

The highlights of 2025 include:

Summary of activities

Our key strands of work remain the same - to influence policy and processes, and to support communities and individuals to protect their cherished local countryside and landscapes through campaigning and engaging with the planning system. 2025 highlights have included:

National Parks

Planning and Greenbelts

The Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland Report of the Directors For the Year Ended 31 December 2025

Objectives and Activities (continued)

Energy and Climate

We have successfully grown our media presence and increased our audience with over 650 non-member subscribers to our newsletters, and this number continues to grow every day! We continue to promote the APRS Manifesto to political parties, and work in coalition with other organisations covering planning, land reform, circular economy, biodiversity and climate.

National Parks

The year started in the midst of the public consultation for a new National Park for Galloway. This was being conducted by NatureScot (as the Reporter, appointed by the Scottish Government), we wrote a joint APRS/SCNP response. This consultation came after more than a decade of campaigning for a new National Park for Scotland by APRS/SCNP, and a local campaign in Galloway, which had run for seven years doing a huge amount of groundwork and local engagement and consultation. The Scottish Government had chosen Galloway as the proposed area precisely because of this ground work and the scale of local support. However, we were wary, having seen how a well-funded campaign of misinformation could bring down the deposit return scheme on the cusp of launch.

Over the period of the public consultation, the presumably very expensive campaign against the proposed Park run by PR company Media House International, funded by unknown sources continued. It had launched the day after Galloway was officially announced as the candidate for the National Park. Kat wrote a blog comparing the tactics of the ‘No National Park’ campaign with the campaign against a Deposit Return scheme which received a huge amount of traction with 2,709 views (1.4K on the days around its publication). It was published on the same day as the Ferret article showing major landowners were behind the no campaign.

With Valentine’s day as the closing date for the consultation, we put every effort into getting people to respond to the consultation with our ‘Show the Love for a Galloway National Park’ campaign. We created a webpage to help people to engage, sent out an email to all our supporters and social media asking for people to respond to the consultation, and sent out a press release which had very good pickup (even in the Daily Mail). We met with Cabinet Secretary Mairi Gougeon and Scottish Government officials at the end of January, and sent a follow up letter. Galloway National Park Association met with the Cabinet Secretary the same day and hosted a stall in the Parliament that week speaking to many supportive MSPs.

Despite all our efforts, the Scottish Government cancelled the plans for a Galloway National Park on 29 May 2025. There were angry responses in the chamber from MSPs - we spoke to most of the MSPs who attended the LINK Parliamentary reception, including those sitting on the committee for the Natural Environment Bill who were disappointed and wanted to help. Our in-depth analysis of the NatureScot report confirmed our concerns that misinformation had taken hold and had led to the cancellation of Scotland’s next National Park. Despite the government insisting they wouldn’t hold a referendum over the Park proposal, it appeared to treat the consultation response rather like a public vote. Another very popular blog, ‘How misinformation Brought down a park’, which led to some significant donations for APRS, followed.

Throughout 2025 we also worked on the Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill which included a section on National Parks. This addressed issues raised in earlier policy consultations intended to improve the management and support of National Parks in future, but it also offered an opportunity to incorporate learning from the Galloway experience to improve legislation around the selection and designation process for future National Parks. We submitted APRS/SCNP Evidence to the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee

The Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland Report of the Directors For the Year Ended 31 December 2025

Objectives and Activities (continued)

and Nikki gave evidence at the NE Bill Committee at Stage 1. We led on Part three (National Parks) of the Bill for LINK and we found MSPs to support our amendments. At the end of Stage two we had a big win with the inclusion, in the Bill, of a requirement on the Scottish Government to produce and review a policy statement on National Parks at least every 10 years. See Report on Stage 1, Report on Stage 2. The Bill was passed at Stage 3 and is set to become an Act in early 2026.

Planning and Greenbelts

This year we maintained Nikki Sinclair’s post working on Green Belts and Planning at two days a week.

 Winter Webinars Our 2024/25 webinar series on Biodiversity and planning was a success, comprising five webinars (including the bonus one on SUDS in August). We had 172 people in total registered – and most came to more than one. They were well attended in person and the videos have been viewed 388 times on YouTube (103 hours watched).

Our 2025/26 series started with a webinar on the Historic Environment and Planning, followed by a webinar on Battery Energy Storage Systems.

 In person event – the Nature of Planning Communities joined APRS and Planning Democracy at Palacerigg Country Park in April to discuss biodiversity and the planning system. The event ran at the end of our series of four webinars on the subject of Biodiversity and Planning. One of the key aims was to have plenty of time to chat informally, answer the many questions that arose during the webinars, and spend time sharing experiences and meeting other people who are interested in the same issues. We had speakers on tree surveys, the work of an ecologist in development, and two planners held surgeries for people with queries. There were groups present from all over Scotland and as far afield as Arran and Aberdeen.

 Planning Enquiries We have introduced a new spreadsheet to record planning enquiries and have received 35 enquiries this year from 19 of Scotland’s 34 planning authorities. These enquiries have covered Green Belts, energyrelated matters (including sites within Green Belts), Local Development Plans and planning processes, among other topics, including one relating to a data centre application.

We had disappointing news from Potterton, Aberdeenshire, in a case we had been supporting for five years, that planning permission for 192 houses on a former Green Belt site had been allowed (subject to legal agreements) despite a long running campaign by Keep Potterton Green. A sharp reminder of the potential result of changes to land allocations in LDPs happening before local people become aware of the implications. Another significant and long-running planning case on Green Belt in North Lanarkshire came to a head with the local authority rejecting the application for the Europark development as contrary to many of the policies in NPF4. The decision was then appealed by the developer.

 Evaluation

A specialist volunteer carried out an evaluation of our work advising communities on planning through bespoke advice, webinars, and guidance. Our two main impact goals in this work are: 1) to Build Awareness of how communities can engage in planning issues, and 2) to Empower Action from those communities. Key community concerns included greenspace loss (20%), wellbeing (18%), and environmental impacts (18%). Surveyed attendees reported both increased awareness of the planning system and increased willingness to act: with a 32% increase in confidence to take planning-related action. Our online advice resources were accessed over 700 times. Full report available.

 Policy Work Our response to a call from the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee (LGHP), for views on the implementation of NPF4 covered issues of biodiversity, energy, the Housing Land Audit and community

The Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland Report of the Directors For the Year Ended 31 December 2025

Objectives and Activities (continued)

benefit. We also responded to a review of permitted development rights.

We responded to the consultation on the next iteration of the Land Use Strategy. We were concerned that Regional Land Use Partnerships were only mentioned in passing in this consultation and there is a lack of any levers or processes by which the vision in this document can be realised.

Inspired by a couple of enquiries on battery storage in Green Belts, including a 330MW site near Cochno, and particularly one called Lower Bodachra near Aberdeen, where we found that biodiversity enhancement was ruled out by Energy Consents Unit (ECU), we began the battery energy storage systems (BESS) research project with two volunteers.

Looking at decisions made by ECU, we were concerned about failure to cover biodiversity enhancement in decision letters and conditions for some developments. We found common cause with RSPB who were also concerned about decisions ignoring biodiversity enhancement requirements on wind farms. We led on a LINK letter to the Chief Planner about our concerns. This work continues in parallel with our BESS project.

Energy Project

This year we focused much more on energy developments, due to the increase in the number of enquiries coming to us about energy projects, particularly those in Green Belts. Our aim is to work on issues that ensure we have a climate-safe future but also retain the beauty of our landscapes. We started with battery storage because of the volume of these developments being positioned in close proximity to settlements in Green Belts. We are now also looking at Data Centre developments because they have such a huge energy demand, which will impact on targets for net zero and the volume of renewable infrastructure needed to be built in the countryside.

 Battery Energy Storage Systems Project (BESS)

We published our ‘Battery Storage and the Planning System’ report with thanks to volunteers Katie Woodward and Cameron Luck. We found a huge over capacity of battery storage in the planning system with three times more consented than government targets for a net zero energy system. We also found that the Energy Consents Unit was often ignoring much of NPF4 in their decision making. This has created a lot of attention in the press - see below in the media section. Read the report: https://aprs.scot/pressrelease/bess-report/

 Data Centres

Scotland is being seen as a hub for data centres due to the potential for renewable energy resources, and the demand for data centres is skyrocketing due to the growth of AI. We are working on data centres because of their potential to completely blow the projections for energy demand, and divert renewable energy from the decarbonization of our economy into serving AI. We have found that, as of December 2025, there is as much electricity demand in the planning system for proposed data centres as the peak demand for energy for the whole of Scotland. This could have significant impacts on landscape – directly and indirectly. We have a research project with three volunteers and started a campaign on data centres in October.

Manifesto Asks

The APRS Manifesto highlights key asks for the Holyrood elections in May 2026.

 Land Use Planning

Give communities more of a voice in how land is used, deliver public interest benefits and create more sustainable patterns of land use by introducing a planned and integrated approach to land use and development at the national, regional and local levels.

A planning system that continues to strongly protect landscapes, natural heritage and deliver public interest

The Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland Report of the Directors For the Year Ended 31 December 2025

Objectives and Activities (continued)

outcomes. An Equal Right of Appeal. Battery storage to be included in Local Development Plans and consents to be decided at local authority level.

 Circular Economy Ensure that Scotland's shift to a circular economy brings swift benefits in reduction of waste and litter. Deliver Scotland’s deposit return scheme on schedule. Deliver the disposable coffee cup charge and a roll out of a universal returnable cup scheme. Develop a comprehensive EPR Scheme.

 Designated Landscapes Develop a new approach for the designation and operation of National Parks and landscapes of national, regional and local importance, helping realise the benefits of our landscapes for Scotland’s people, biodiversity and climate resilience.

 Access to the Countryside

Ensure local access to the countryside through accurate, joined-up and easily accessible maps of the core path network, with local authorities providing up to date and accurate data, presented on one map for ease of use, with the data openly available and easily accessible for all.

 Affordable Housing and the Rural Economy Turn around depopulation in rural areas and facilitate the provision of more affordable housing in rural areas by improving the way land is delivered for housing, taking a public interest approach.

Other Policy

Circular Economy became a smaller part of our work this year, however we are still part of a group meeting with Cabinet Secretary Gillian Martin quarterly, and respond to consultations and contribute to letters to both the UK and Scottish Government. Ensuring the implementation of the UK Deposit Return Scheme is a key aim.

We contributed to and signed various joint letters and consultations, mainly as members of LINK, but also with ERCS and Wildlife and Countryside LINK. These included LINK’s Holyrood Manifesto, 6 actions on the circular economy, 3 on protected areas, 3 on planning, 2 on biodiversity, 1 on energy and 1 on funding.

We were part of a coalition campaigning for a review of the rollout of phone masts on a geographical area basis, rather than to cover homes and businesses meaning many were going up in remote mountain areas where they served no homes or businesses. This was led by JMT and Mountaineering Scotland and it was gratifying to have a win, which also saved the tax payer millions of pounds.

Our work on the Internal Market Act (IMA) led directly to the publication of a LINK report on the IMA. We responded to the Land Use strategy consultation – including attending two workshops.

In June 2025 the new Scotland’s Landscape Charter was launched. It highlights the importance of our landscapes to people, place and nature and has been endorsed by the Scottish Government and its agencies. APRS undertook some of the background work that underpinned the revision of the Charter in 2024.

Staff and Volunteer News

In June, after 13 years in post our administrator Nina Sobecka retired. We were very sorry to lose Nina, who was so well loved by staff and by our members, who she had got to know well over the years. Laura MacLeod joined us as administrator/office manager working three days a week. Nikki Sinclair, Green Belts and National Parks Manager, and Kat Jones, Director, continued working three days a week each during 2025.

During 2025 we had eight volunteers: two working on the archive project, one on the webinars and evaluation, two on our BESS report and three on our data centres report. We estimate that, over the year, volunteers worked 1080 hours, which is the equivalent of another person on the team working three and a half days a week for the whole year. In addition we had a specialist volunteer, Fran Booth, who very expertly facilitated our Board day away which was a chance to think about our strategy for the 2026

The Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland Report of the Directors For the Year Ended 31 December 2025

Objectives and Activities (continued)

Holyrood Elections.

History of APRS

An edited version of a blog on the Hydropower campaigning history of APRS is going into the next magazine of Mountaineering Scotland and, we hope, JMT. We are encouraging people to take photos of places from the 1935 publication of Scotland’s lochs today.

Communications

Our email newsletter audience is continuing to grow with 650 non-member recipients. We sent an e-news out 6 times this year and one longer newsletter of 12 pages. In 2025 we produced 45 blogs and news articles on the website and uploaded 41 items to the resources section (reports, open letters, consultation responses, case-studies, etc). The most viewed news item was the blog on misinformation and the National Park with 2,700 views directly leading to new life memberships and donations. Altogether the website had 60,000 page views from 22,000 user sessions.

APRS becoming a SCIO

This year we made significant progress towards changing to a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO). We agreed a new constitution at an EGM in September and we obtainer approval from OSCR on 26 January 2026.

IT Security Review

We undertook a review of our IT and cyber security funded through the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO). The report will give recommendations on where changes can be made to our IT policies and procedures to improve our cyber security and ensure our files and data are held safely.

Fundraising and Communications

APRS is a small charity with very limited reserves and so bringing in enough money to sustain the organisation each year is critical. This year we have concentrated on getting APRS more widely known and to direct that interest towards membership and donations, with some success, (though we have a long way to go if we are to be on a long-term sustainable footing).

We are extremely grateful to the following charitable trusts that have provided funding for APRS this year, some of which have provided regularly for many years, and without whom we couldn’t do our work: Tay Charitable Trust, Sylvia Aitken Charitable Trust, Whitley Animal Protection Trust, Cruden Foundation, Mrs M H McMillan's Charitable Trust, and a generous charitable trust which supports the National Park Strategy project.

We reapplied to Patagonia for continued support for our Planning and Green Belts work and secured funding for one day a week work until October 2026. There was a gap in funding for Nikki’s role, which we covered from a legacy received. It has been a challenging fundraising environment in 2025 and we did not secure any additional funding from grants and trusts, despite many applications, including to Esme Fairbairn and Jonathan Ellerman for core costs. However, our partnership with the Big Give Green Match Fund continued, which doubled gifts to APRS during a week in April. This year we set a target twice that of 2024 (£10,000), and raised £7,974 from 47 donors, more than double the number of donors from last year. Together with the matched funding and gift aid this came to a total of £17,924.

We were extremely fortunate to receive two legacies this year: from David Maisels and from Sonia Jacks. We are also expecting a legacy from the estate of Margaret Hunter in 2026. We have relied on these legacies to give us the confidence to re-recruit for the administrator role and to keep Nikki in post three days a week.

The Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland Report of the Directors For the Year Ended 31 December 2025

Objectives and Activities (continued)

Memberships and donors are growing, which we hope is due to the new flexible membership fee and credit card function we put in place last year, combined with the awareness raising we have been doing on APRS’s work. We now have 318 memberships, including 26 paying by monthly donation. With the flexible membership fee, we are receiving higher donations – average £10 per month for those donating monthly. We also have some members paying a small amount per month, which shows we are also attracting members who can only afford a small contribution. However, we still have a long way to go to get to a sustainable level of support. We had 23 new members this year (last two years 15 and 20 new members, and an average of 7 new members per year over the 6 years before that). Some of the work we are doing has been especially good for attracting donations and members.

Having noticed a large number of visitors to our webpage from the US, we created a landing page for Friends of the US and Canada in the hope of bringing in donations.

We are now seeking support for our new area of work around energy from various philanthropic sources and are grateful for help received from Julie Christie of Environment fFunders Network, and Alison Connelly for advice on our fundraising generally.

Media coverage

We no longer have paid for media monitoring so this just gives a snapshot of the extensive press coverage APRS achieved in 2025.

There were some key campaigns that received excellent media coverage including: the National Parks campaign including coverage of the Valentine’s day campaign ‘Show the love for Galloway National Park’ which even got into the Daily Mail. A fast reaction to press from the energy renewables industry on the Galloway National Park decision got our rebuttal into most papers, for example, The Herald, and The Ferret articles on who was behind the campaign against the National Park. In May, our press release ahead of the announcement by the Scottish Government on a new National Park made it onto the front page of the Herald, as well as onto STV, Scottish Farmer and all Scottish outlets. Similarly our reaction to the cancellation of a new National Park the following day was very broadly communicated by the BBC, among many others.

We had coverage on Radio Scotland and in most local and national newspapers with an article on the Internal Market Act, coming from the LINK report. One example in the Daily Record.

On Battery Storage, we had a big article on the Cochno BESS in the Clydebank Herald, using Kat’s photos, and an STV interview for an onside piece. We were also in the Herald.

The launch of our Battery Storage report made a big impact with a radio story recorded in advance running on Farming today, and Radio Scotland. We had articles featured in most newspapers run by the PA, for example the Scotsman. The Herald also ran a special in-depth article.

On Data Centres we had a front page headline in the National and articles in the ipaper, and some Ayrshire local papers. We also had multiple articles in the Herald, including an article on the results of parliamentary questions Ariane Burges submitted on data centres and NPF4.

Looking forward to 2026

The Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland Report of the Directors For the Year Ended 31 December 2025

Objectives and Activities (continued)

The extent we can work in-depth on both data centres and energy will depend on finding resourcing for additional staff time.

Financial Review

At the end of the financial year the carry forward sum was £113,649 (2024: £88,382), of which £84,566 was unrestricted, and £29,083 was restricted. This represents an increase of total funds by £25,267 compared with previous year, owing largely to legacies received during the year.

Reserves Policy

Free reserves as at the year end, being unrestricted funds, amounted to £84,566 (2024: £35,019). The reserves policy is to accumulate a level of financial reserves which ensures that APRS's core activities can continue to operate for a period of three months, in the event of unforeseen financial events that result in a reduction of income to the charity. Three months operating costs, plus reasonable costs of winding up, equates to around £25,000.

Risk Management

The APRS Executive Committee regularly assesses the potential risks to which the charity is exposed, including reviewing the risk register prepared by the Director and presented at every board with a review at least once a year. This lists the potential risks and assesses them by multiplying a rating for potential impact with one for likelihood to produce an overall risk score. Risks which score highly under this system include:

The Executive Committee is satisfied that systems are in place to mitigate the exposure of APRS to these and other risks.

This report has been prepared in accordance with the provisions in Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006 applicable to companies subject to the small companies’ regime.

By order of the Board of Trustees

Date: 31/03/2026

Name: Iain Harrison

Independent Examiner’s Report

To the Directors of The Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland

I report on the accounts of the charity for the year ended 31 December 2025 which are set out on pages 13 to 19.

Respective responsibilities of directors and examiner

The charity’s directors are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the terms of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006. It is my responsibility to examine the accounts as required under section 44(1) (c) of the Act and to state whether particular matters have come to my attention.

Basis of independent examiner’s statement

My examination is carried out in accordance with Regulation 11 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeks explanations from the directors concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently I do not express an audit opinion on the view given by the accounts.

Independent examiner’s statement

In the course of my examination, no matter has come to my attention

  1. which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements:

• to keep accounting records in accordance with Section 44(1) (a) of the 2005 Act and Regulation 4 of the 2006 Accounts Regulations, and

• to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with Regulation 8 of the 2006 Accounts Regulations

have not been met, or

  1. to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Anna Chworow AAT Professional Diploma Craigart Ladybank KY15 7PA

Date: 31/3/2026

The Association for Protection of Rural Scotland

Statement of Financial Activities

For the Year Ended 31 December 2025

Note
Income from:
Donations and legacies
1
Charitable activities
2
Investments
3
Total
Expenditure on:
Charitable activities
4
Total
Net income / (expenditure)
Transfers between funds
Net movement in funds
Funds brought forward
Funds carried forward		 Unrestricted
Funds
£
108,181
-
634
108,815
59,268
59,268
49,547
-
49,547
35,019
84,566		 Restricted
Funds
£
21,114
-
-
21,114
45,394
45,394
(24,280)
-
(24,280)
53,363
29,083		 Total
2025
£
129,295
-
634
129,929
104,662
104,662
25,267
-
25,267
88,382
113,649		 Total
2024
£
142,080
10,491
1,915
154,486
164,440
164,440
(9,954)
-
(9,954)
98,336
88,382

The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year. All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.

The statement of financial activities also complies with the requirements for an income and expenditure account under the Companies Act 2006.

The Association for Protection of Rural Scotland Balance Sheet at 31 December 2025

Note 2025 2024
£ £
Current assets:
Debtors 7 17,015 21,819
Cash at bank and in hand 98,372 71,579
115,387 93,398
Liabilities:
Amounts due within one year 8 1,738 5,016
Net current assets 113,649 88,382
Total net assets 113,649 88,382
Funds
Unrestricted funds 9 84,566 35,019
Restricted funds 9 29,083 53,363
Total Funds 113,649 88,382

The directors are satisfied that the charitable company is entitled to exemption from the provisions of the Companies Act 2006 relating to the audit of the financial statements for the year by virtue of the Section 477, and that no member or members have requested an audit pursuant to Section 476 of that Act. The directors acknowledge their responsibilities for:

a) ensuring that the company keeps accounting records which comply with Sections 386 and 387 of the Companies Act 2006

b) preparing financial statements which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the company as at the end of the financial year and of its profit or loss for each financial year in accordance with the requirements of Sections 394 and 395, and which otherwise comply with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 relating to financial statements, so far as applicable to the company.

The accounts on pages 13 to 19 were authorised for issue by the directors and are signed on their behalf by:

Director

Name Iain Harrison Date 31/03/2026

The notes on pages 16 to 19 and the accounting policies on page 15 form part of these financial statements.

The Association for Protection of Rural Scotland

Accounting policies

Basis of accounting

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention, and in accordance with Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005, the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended) and ‘Accounting and Reporting by Charities: 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) (effective 1 January 2019)’ – referred to as ‘the Charities SOPR’. The charity is a public benefit Entity as defined by FRS 102.

The charity has applied the alternative structure for smaller charities allowed under paragraph 4.22 of the Charities SORP and has not reported on activity basis. Similarly, as a smaller charity, a cash flow statement has not been prepared.

Going concern

At the time of approving the financial statements, the trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Thus the trustees continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.

Income

Income from annual grants is recognised in the period to which the grant relates. Any annual grants received in advance are included as deferred grants in creditors. Income from other grants and donations is recognised on receipt.

Where a grant or donation is received for a specific purpose, it is included in restricted income and any unexpended portion carried forward as a restricted fund.

Expenditure

All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis.

Debtors

Debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due.

Creditors

Creditors and provisions are recognised, at settlement amount, where the charity has a present obligation resulting from a past event, which is likely to result in the transfer of funds to a third party, and the amount due can be measured or estimated reliably

Fixed assets

Fixed assets are initially measured at cost and subsequently measured at cost or valuation, net of depreciation and any impairment losses. Depreciation is recognised so as to write off the costs or valuation of assets less their residual values over their useful lives on the following basis:

Fixtures and fittings 25% straight line

Expenditure below £1,000 pounds is not capitalised. The gain or loss arising on the disposal of an asset is determined as the difference between the sale proceeds and carrying value of the asset, and is recognised as net income or expenditure for the year.

Taxation

The company is exempt from corporation tax on its charitable activities. The company is not registered for VAT and expenditure includes VAT where relevant.

Fund accounting

Restricted funds may only be used for particular purposes within the objects of the charity as specified by the donor or by the terms of an application for the funds.

The Unrestricted general fund is available to be used for any of the charitable objects at the discretion of the Directors.

The Association for Protection of Rural Scotland

Notes to the Accounts

1. Donations and legacies

Unrestricted
£
National Lottery Community Fund
-
Patagonia
-
Donation from TOMRA
-
Anynymous family trust ()
-
Whitley Animal Protection Trust
5,000
Sylvia Aitken Charitable Trust
5,000
Tay Charitable Trust
5,000
Mrs MH McMillan's Charitable Trust
4,000
Income from membership
27,781
Legacy income
59,785
Other grants and donations
1,615
Total donations receivable*
108,181		 Restricted
£
11,114
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
10,000
21,114		 2025
£
-
11,114
-
-
5,000
5,000
5,000
4,000
27,781
59,785
11,615
129,295		 2024
£
20,000
7,733
45,000
30,000
2,000
2,000
5,000
4,000
26,347
-
-
142,080

* A small family trust does not accept unsolicited funding requests and wishes to remain anonymous.

2.
Charitable activities income
Fee income
Event income
Total income from charitable activities
3.
Investment income
Bank interest
Total donations receivable		 2025
£
-
-
-
2025
£
634
634		 2024
£
10,343
148
10,491
2024
£
1,915
1,915

The Association for Protection of Rural Scotland

Notes to the Accounts (continued)

4. Charitable activity costs Unrestricted Restricted 2025 2024
£ £ £ £
Staff costs 5 42,210 37,771 79,981 108,080
Consultants 3,000 7,412 10,412 31,317
Publications 1,284 - 1,284 612
Travel 103 - 103 292
Subscriptions 1,616 120 1,736 1,647
Events 92 - 92 1,022
Overheads 7,852 91 7,943 18,024
Governance 6 3,111 - 3,111 3,446
Total charitable activity costs 59,268 45,394 104,662 164,440
5. Staff costs 2025 2024
£ £
Salaries 72,698 96,631
Social security costs 830 2,167
Pension costs 6,453 9,282
Total staff costs 79,981 108,080
The average total number of employees during the year, calculated on a head count basis, was 3
(2024: 5). No employees received employee benefits of more than £60,000.
Key management personnel received total remuneration of £57,283 (2024: £53,637) during the year.
Figures for 2024 have been restated to show corrected allocation between salaries, social security
and pension costs
6. Governance costs 2025 2024
£ £
Accounts and independent examination 950 950
Other accountancy services 823 1,565
Board and AGM costs 1,338 931
3,111 3,446
7. Debtors 2025 2024
£ £
Grants receivable 15,000 20,000
Other debtors 1,713 1,487
Prepayments 302 332
17,015 21,819

The Association for Protection of Rural Scotland Notes to the Accounts (continued)

8.
Creditors
Accruals and creditors
9.
Movement on Funds
Note
Restricted funds:
National Parks
(a)
Deposit Return Scheme
(b)
Green Belts
(c)
Data Centres
(d)
Total restricted funds
Unrestricted funds:
General fund
Total unrestricted funds
Total funds		 2025
£
1,738
1,738
At
1/1/25
£
25,062
19,137
9,164
-
53,363
35,019
35,019
88,382		 2024
£
5,016
5,016
Incoming
resources
£
2,000
-
11,114
8,000
21,114
108,815
108,815
129,929		 Outgoing
resources
£
(11,889)
(15,090)
(18,415)
-
(45,394)
(59,268)
(59,268)
(104,662)		 Transfers
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 At
31/12/25
£
15,173
4,047
1,863
8,000
29,083
84,566
84,566
113,649

Notes on Funds

10. Trustee expenses and remuneration

None of the trustees received any remuneration or benefits in the year (2024: nil). No travel expenses were reimbursed to any of the trustees (2024: nil).

The Association for Protection of Rural Scotland

Notes to the Accounts (continued)

11. Statement of Financial Activities - Comparative figures by class for the prior year

Note
Income from:
Donations and legacies
1
Charitable activities
2
Investments
3
Total
Expenditure on:
Charitable activities
4
Total
Net income / (expenditure)
Transfers between funds
Net movement in funds
Funds brought forward
Funds carried forward		 Unrestricted
Funds
£
39,347
10,491
1,915
51,753
78,769
78,769
(27,016)
-
(27,016)
62,035
35,019		 Restricted
Funds
£
102,733
-
-
102,733
85,671
85,671
17,062
-
17,062
36,301
53,363		 Total
2024
£
142,080
10,491
1,915
154,486
164,440
164,440
(9,954)
-
(9,954)
98,336
88,382