THE FOREST OF MARSTON VALE TRUST

Registered charity 1069229 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as FOREST OF MARSTON VALE, MARSTON VALE TRUST, THE MARSTON VALE TRUST

To benefit the public through the conservation, protection and improvement of the physical and natural environment of the Marston Vale and surrounding area by creating the Forest of Marston Vale. Planting trees and managing woodlands and green spaces to stimulate social and economic regeneration, and providing major landscape, environmental, recreation, biodiversity, and quality of life benefits.

Objects

(1) The promotion and advancement of biodiversity, by planting trees and establishing and managing woodlands in the Marston Vale in Bedfordshire and the surrounding area;(2) To promote for the benefit of the public the conservation, protection and improvement of the physical and natural environment of the Marston Vale in Bedfordshire and the surrounding area by creating the Forest of Marston Vale as a Community Forest;(3) To advance, through community engagement, the education of the public in the improvement and protection of the environment, and in the environmental, social and economic benefits of tree planting, woodland creation and access to nature.(4) To provide recreational and other facilities in the Marston Vale and the surrounding area to members of the public at large in the interests of social welfare.

Area of benefit: MARSTON VALE AND THE SURROUNDING AREA

The charity’s charitable objects and area of benefit, quoted from its governing document as held on the Charity Commission register.

Causes: Environment/conservation/heritage · website · Get email alerts

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity holds total funds of £18,383,145, with unrestricted funds of £3,352,145. The trustees report that accessible unrestricted reserves are equivalent to approximately eight months of Forest Team costs, which is below the stated policy target of one year. The auditors confirmed that the financial statements give a true and fair view and identified no material uncertainties regarding the going concern basis.

Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Hillier Hopkins LLP. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.

Policies the charity declares

In its annual return the charity told the Commission that it has the policies listed below. This is self-declared: it is not verified by the Commission or by this site, and it is not evidence of how a policy works in practice.

• Bullying and harassment policy and procedures
• Complaints policy and procedures
• Financial reserves policy and procedures
• Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
• Internal risk management policy and procedures
• Investing charity funds policy and procedures
• Investment
• Risk management
• Safeguarding policy and procedures
• Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
• Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
• Social media policy and procedures
• Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
• Volunteer management

From the charity’s annual return (Part A, self-declared)

Answers and figures the charity gave in Part A of its annual return to the Charity Commission. They are self-declared: not verified by the Commission or by this site. Only positive answers and figures are listed; items not listed are simply not shown.

Source: this charity’s annual returns on the Charity Commission register.

In the news

Recent coverage mentioning this charity by name (automated match; headlines belong to their publishers).

• Forest of Marston Vale Trust appointed as development partner for country’s second new national forest bedfordtoday.co.uk · 19/08/2026

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — The Forest of Marston Vale Trust (matched by registered charity number).

Property (HM Land Registry)

8 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (5 freehold); recorded price paid £53k. All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook · instagram

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/03/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~1.9 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.7 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (55% of income) — components as reported reconcile to the return’s total income; not from the accounts narrative.

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 20.6% of total income — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 5.3%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (25/11/2024) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• Rod Calvert OBEchair
• Cllr Sue Clark
• Craig Austin
• DEBRA JANE HASSALL
• David John Pryor
• GORDON JOHNSTON
• Gareth Richard Ellis
• John Christopher Thelwall · trustee of 1 other charity
• PETER JOHN FAULKNER ACMA
• ROBERT WALLACE · trustee of 1 other charity

Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).

Operates in: Bedford · Central Bedfordshire

Income and spending

Common questions

Known funders

Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.

Government & lottery funding

Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).

Funders of similar charities

Funders whose accounts show grants to charities similar to this one (and no recorded grant to this charity) — a starting list for fundraisers.

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with NEW FOREST TRUST.

• NEW FOREST TRUST income £84k
• COMMUNITY FOREST TRUST income £8.9m
• MERSEY FOREST FOUNDATION income £124k
• TEES VALLEY WILDLIFE TRUST LTD income £708k
• THE FRIENDS OF ASHDOWN FOREST income £120k
• WALESBY FOREST income £1.5m

Side by side with its peers

Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.