Heart of England Forest

Registered charity 1097110 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as THE FOREST OF DENNIS LIMITED, THE HEART OF ENGLAND FOREST LTD

To establish, maintain and preserve, ideally a contiguous forest or a forest connected by corridor for the benefit of the public in the ancient borders of the Forest of Arden to the Vale of Evesham (The Heart of England). To engage in the education of the general public and for research relating to the promulgation of trees, woodlands,and wildlife and their habitats in the Heart of England.

Objects

THE OBJECTS OF THE CHARITY ARE: (I) TO ESTABLISH, MAINTAIN AND PRESERVE, IDEALLY A CONTIGUOUS FOREST OR ELSE A FOREST EVENTUALLY CONNECTED BY CORRIDOR (INCLUDING THE ACQUISITION OF NEW LAND, WOODLANDS, AND WETLANDS) FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE PUBLIC, STRETCHING FROM THE ANCIENT BORDERS OF THE FOREST OF ARDEN TO THE EDGE OF THE VALE OF EVESHAM (THE "HEART OF ENGLAND"), (II) TO ENGAGE IN THE PLANTATION, RE-PLANTATION, CULTIVATION, CONSERVATION, PROTECTION, PRESERVATION AND RESTORATION OF TREES, WOODLANDS, WET LANDS AND PLANT LIFE IN THE HEART OF ENGLAND FOR THE PURPOSES OF MAINTAINING THIS NATURAL HABITAT AND FOR ENSURING THAT IT BENEFITS BOTH THE PUBLIC AND THE NATIVE NATURAL WILDLIFE (AND ENSURING THE SURVIVAL OF ENDANGERED SPECIES) THAT LIVE IN AND AROUND THIS FORESTED AREA, AND (III) THE EDUCATION OF THE GENERAL PUBLIC BOTH FOR GENERAL PURPOSES AND FOR SPECIFIC SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH RELATING TO THE PROMULGATION OF KNOWLEDGE AND APPRECIATION OF TREES, WOODLANDS, WETLANDS AND WILDLIFE AND THEIR HABITATS IN THE HEART OF ENGLAND REGION. TO USE PARTS OF THE FOREST TO PROMOTE: I) RECREATION AND LEISURE WITH THE JOINT OBJECTIVES OF ADVANCING THE EDUCATION OF THE PUBLIC IN THE CONSERVATION, PROTECTION AND IMPROVEMENT OF THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT AND IMPROVING THE CONDITIONS OF LIFE FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE PUBLIC; AND II) ART (BY HOSTING DISPLAYS AND EVENTS) WITH THE JOINT OBJECTIVES OF ADVANCING THE EDUCATION IN THE CONSERVATION, PROTECTION AND IMPROVEMENT OF THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE PUBLIC AS WELL AS IN THE ARTS.?

Area of benefit: WARWICKSHIRE.

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

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

Registered contact address: Stratford-on-Avon, West Midlands, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that total income increased to £7,590k while expenditure rose to £6,327k, resulting in a surplus before investment movements of £1,263k. Per the trustees' report, net assets increased to £220,986k, with unrestricted general reserves standing at £2,885k. The charity maintains significant designated funds for land acquisition and holds sufficient liquid resources to mitigate short-term risks.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Forvis Mazars 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 handling
• Complaints policy and procedures
• Conflicting interests
• 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
• Paying staff
• 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
• Trustee expenses 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.

Corporate structure

• Registered company of the charity Companies House 04309564

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Heart of England Forest (matched by registered charity number).

Leadership, per the charity’s website

• Andy Parsons — Chief Executive (source)
• Heather Acton — Chair of Trustees (source)
• Steve Eddy — Chief Financial and Operating Officer (source)
• Tom Davies — Director of Forest Operations (source)
• Nick Simms — Director of Land Use Policy and Planning (source)
• Ian Nutt — Director of Fundraising and Engagement (source)
• Laura Campbell — Director of People & Culture (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.

• SMITH, Jonathan Paul — director, appointed 29/09/2025on trustee list
• SPRUCE, David Ian — director, appointed 29/09/2025on trustee list
• MACKENZIE, Angus Robert, Professor — director, appointed 06/12/2024on trustee list
• ACTON, Heather Jane — director, appointed 10/05/2024on trustee list
• DARLISON, Neil Stewart — director, appointed 10/05/2024on trustee list
• THROUP, David John — director, appointed 28/04/2023on trustee list
• GURDEN, Asa — director, appointed 01/05/2020on trustee list
• PRICE, Anthony Steven — director, appointed 20/02/2018on trustee list
• HUNTER, Alison Clare — director, appointed 01/09/2014on trustee list

Official officers record.

Property (HM Land Registry)

124 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (122 freehold); recorded price paid £14.8m. All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

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

Reported reserves equal ~5.5 months of spending — above the median for charities its size (median 4.7 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 9.4% of total income — above the median for charities its size (5.3%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (11/07/2025) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• ANTHONY STEVEN PRICE
• Alison Clare Hunter
• Asa Gurden · trustee of 2 other charities
• Dame Caroline Spelman
• David John Throup
• David Spruce · trustee of 1 other charity
• Elizabeth Thompson
• Heather Jane Acton · trustee of 1 other charity
• Jonathan Paul Smith · trustee of 2 other charities
• MICHAEL ROSS MURRAY · trustee of 2 other charities
• Neil Stewart Darlison
• Professor Angus Robert Mackenzie

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

Operates in: Warwickshire · Worcestershire

Income and spending

Common questions

Known funders

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

Grants marked “Unverified read” were flagged by automated checks as possibly misread from the funder’s filed accounts. They are listed, but left out of the totals, counts and funder relationships this site computes.

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 HEART OF ENGLAND COMMUNITY FOUNDATION.

• HEART OF ENGLAND COMMUNITY FOUNDATION income £13.6m
• FOREST OF HEARTS income £149k
• THE HEARTH FOUNDATION income £133k
• FOREST OF SELWOOD income £120k
• EARTH TRUST income £2.6m
• WOODLAND HERITAGE LIMITED income £1.7m

Side by side with its peers

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