SOUTH WEST LAKES TRUST
Registered charity 1079966 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register
The Trust has charitable and trading activities, including safeguarding the environment and providing access and recreation for all abilities at its sites in Devon Cornwall and Somerset.Managing public access, education, conservation, forestry and land at 50 sites, 5,000 hectares of land with 2 million visits each year.Wheal Martyn is an independant China Clay Museum near St Austell
Causes: Education/training · Arts/culture/heritage/science · Amateur Sport · Environment/conservation/heritage · website · Get email alerts
Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts
The accounts state that the charity reported an unrestricted fund deficit of £151,146 before transfers, driven by high inflation and the withdrawal of National Citizen Service funding. However, total reserves held at the year-end were £4,192,712, which exceeds the trustees' stated free reserve target of £440,000. The trustees and auditors confirm that the charity has sufficient cash and unrestricted reserves to continue operating as a going concern.
Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.
What the accounts disclose
Largest income source: South West Water (21% of income)
“The annual fee from South West Water for land management, conservation and public access services under a management contract of £922,882 represented 21% of the Group’s income (excluding restricted funds) in the year ended 31 January 2025.” — page 13
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: CEO's family
“Two children and spouse of the CEO: Transactions totalling £15,887 (£16,185; 2024) relating to employment and consultancy (including employer’s pension contributions and expenses) took place during the year. There were nil amounts outstanding as at 31 January 2025.” — page 51
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Accounts audited by PKF Francis Clark. Discloses 3 of 6 completeness components.
In the news
Recent coverage mentioning this charity by name (automated match; headlines belong to their publishers).
Corporate structure
Leadership, per the charity’s website
- James Platts — Chief Executive (source)
- John Lee — Chairman (source)
- Colin Vallance — Director (source)
- Lesley Whitworth — Chief Financial Officer (source)
Listed on the charity’s own website when we last crawled it; roles may have changed. Pay-band disclosures above are anonymous statutory disclosures and are not attributed to any named individual.
Company officers (Companies House)
Current officers of the charity’s own company per the Companies House register, cross-checked against the Charity Commission trustee list by name. A director not on the trustee list is usually a timing or naming difference between the two registers — check both records before drawing conclusions.
- FARRELL, Corinne Susan — director, appointed 30/07/2026on trustee list
- CADMAN, Carolyn — director, appointed 22/06/2026on trustee list
- SHOPLAND, Ashley John — director, appointed 29/06/2023on trustee list
- TRAILL THOMSON, Josephine Ann, Dr — director, appointed 25/07/2019not on trustee list
- JAMES, Daniel Timothy — director, appointed 22/11/2018on trustee list
- LEE, John Albert Thomas — director, appointed 27/03/2014not on trustee list
- NICHOLS, Dinah Alison — director, appointed 27/03/2014on trustee list
- BELL, Malcolm — director, appointed 17/11/2011on trustee list
- READ, Monica Susan — director, appointed 14/11/2002on trustee list
- VALLANCE, Colin Peter Roy — secretary, appointed 19/08/2022
Official officers record.
Property (HM Land Registry)
16 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (1 freehold). 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 31/01/2025)
Cost of raising funds
£2.3m
Reported reserves equal ~1.3 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).
Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (52% 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: 41.7% of total income — above the 90th percentile for charities its size (median 5.2%) (benchmarks).
Register events
- Received assets from another charity (20/02/2025) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
- Received assets from another charity (21/05/2018) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
- JOHN ALBERT THOMAS LEE OBE DLchair · trustee of 14 other charities
- Ashley Shopland
- Carolyn Cadman
- Corinne Susan Farrell
- DINAH NICHOLS
- Daniel James
- Dr Josephine Traill Thomson
- MALCOLM BELL · trustee of 1 other charity
- MONICA SUSAN READ
Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).
Operates in: Cornwall · Devon · Somerset
Income and spending
Common questions
Is SOUTH WEST LAKES TRUST financially healthy?
Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the charity reported an unrestricted fund deficit of £151,146 before transfers, driven by high inflation and the withdrawal of National Citizen Service funding. However, total reserves held at the year-end were £4,192,712, which exceeds the trustees' stated free reserve target of £440,000. The trustees and auditors confirm that the charity has sufficient cash and unrestricted reserves to continue operating as a going concern. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by PKF Francis Clark.
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 WHEAL MARTYN TRUST LTD.
Side by side with its peers
Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.