Join Our Board

Board Statements of Middle Marches Community Land Trust (“The Trust”)

Thank you for your interest in joining the Middle Marches Community Land Trust Board. Please read the following sections to understand our process for electing new Board members:

To apply, please see our current vacancies and submit a written statement setting out your full name, address, occupation and the reasons for your suitability to info@middlemarchescommunitylandtrust.org.uk. Thank you. We look forward to hearing from you.

The values and objectives of the Trust

We are a community-led Trust based in the Marches committed to the promotion and development of sustainable and environmentally responsible agriculture that supports a thriving natural world. Our Vision is to help create an ecologically healthy and sustainable countryside in the hills of the Marches, to inspire both residents and visitors.

We seek to achieve our objectives by:

  • Protecting, conserving, restoring and enhancing the environment through the purchase, lease and management of land and buildings, to be held in perpetuity, for local communities to enjoy;
  • The advancement of education, actively encouraging community involvement in sustaining and enhancing landscapes, and by supporting rural livelihoods and communities;
  • Promoting the bio-diversity of the land through its sustainable management, and habitat restoration/creation, to enhance wildlife populations and by acquiring valuable wildlife sites;
  • Acting as a hub to share information, advice, skills and expertise for those seeking to preserve land;
  • Conserving and protecting sites of historic interest on land that we manage or own.

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Governance of the Trust

The Trust shall have a Board which will consist of between five and twelve members (including co-optees), who shall direct the affairs of the Trust in accordance with its objects and rules, and ensure that its functions are properly performed. Amongst its functions it shall:

  • Set and ensure compliance with the values, vision, mission and strategic objectives of the Trust, ensuring its long term success;
  • Satisfy itself as to the integrity of financial information, approving each year’s budget and business plan and annual accounts prior to publication;
  • Establish and oversee a risk management framework in order to safeguard the assets of the Trust;
  • Take appropriate advice;
  • Satisfy itself that the Trust’s affairs are conducted in accordance with generally accepted standards of performance and propriety;
  • Establish and operate a performance appraisal system for the Board, the chair and individual Board Members.

In addition, the Board shall meet at least three times a year, with a minimum quorum of three (but the Board may determine a higher number, or impose additional requirements).

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Obligations and standards of conduct expected of Board Members

  • Treat fellow Board members and Trust members with courtesy and respect;
  • Make every effort to attend Board meetings; (Board members who have absented themselves from three consecutive meetings in one twelve month period without special leave of absence will lose their place on the Board);
  • ‘Do their homework’ by reading all the papers and reports before meetings;
  • Ask questions whenever they feel clarification is needed;
  • Declare any conflict of interest;
  • Seek external advice if they genuinely feel it might be required;
  • Within a month of election or appointment to the Board, to sign a statement confirming that they will meet their obligations to the Board and the Trust.

As the Trust develops and grows, alongside its activities, and ownership of land and buildings, so will its responsibilities and potential liabilities. It is therefore anticipated that the skill set of the Board will change over time, as will the approach taken to the recruiting, and specifying what skills and experience will be looked for. Our aim now is to recruit our first Board with a spread of skills to include:

  • Dealing with the Rural Payments Agency
  • Preparation of land conservation management plans
  • Bookkeeping and accountancy
  • Fundraising and communications 
  • Data management and data protection
  • Working with and managing volunteers

The Trust anticipates that it may need to hire in other skills from time to time – possibly from the membership / support network.

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Current vacancies

Our aim now is to recruit our first Board with a spread of skills to include:

  • Dealing with the Rural Payments Agency
  • Preparation of land conservation management plans
  • Bookkeeping and accountancy
  • Fundraising and communications 
  • Data management and data protection
  • Working with and managing volunteers

The Trust anticipates that it may need to hire in other skills from time to time – possibly from the membership / support network.

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Procedure for electing new Board Members

The Board’s selection criteria will be based upon their being satisfied that the prospective candidates:

  • Have the relevant skills and experience required to best achieve the objectives of the Trust;
  • Will observe the obligations and standards of conduct expected of them as Board members.

The closing date for applications is Friday 1st of January 2021, and the list of candidates will be on the website from Monday 11th January.

If more than 10 candidates are put forward, a vote of hands will take place at the General Meeting. If less than 10, all will be voted on en bloc.

Applicants:

  • Must submit written statement setting out their full name and the reasons for their suitability to be a Board member;
  • May be called for interview as part of the selection process.

Members then vote on the election of the chosen candidates at the AGM. Board members are elected for a term of three years.

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Induction of new Board members

New Board members will be given:

  • A copy of the Trust’s rules
  • The latest annual report and accounts
  • Minutes of the two most recent Board meetings
  • A copy of the Charity Commission guidance ‘The essential trustee, what you need to know’
  • Any other key documents

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Policy for admitting new members, and their obligations to the Trust

  • Middle Marches welcomes all new members who subscribe to and support the Objectives of the Trust;
  • All members agree to be bound by the obligations on them as set out in the rules of the Trust;
  • When acting as members they shall act, at all times, in the interests of the Trust and for the benefit of the community, as guardians of the objects of the Trust;
  • New shareholder members will be asked to submit a short statement setting out their reasons for applying, before their membership is approved and their share certificate issued.

Our rules state:

‘An applicant for any share shall apply in writing to the CLT’s registered office, setting out their reasons for applying in accordance with the CLT’s policies, and pay the sum required to purchase a share or shares (which shall be returned to them if the application is not approved)’.

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Have a question? Get in touch

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