Charity Committee minutes

Decided · A decision has been taken.

The Charity Committee met on 7 January 2026. p1

The committee approved the minutes of the meeting held on 15 December 2025 as a true record. p3

The committee unanimously agreed to appoint a new Protector of the Hastings and St Leonards Foreshore Charitable Trust, with effect from 30 March 2026, for a period of three years, and thanked the outgoing Protector for his dedicated service. p4

The committee unanimously agreed the current financial position of the Foreshore Trust for 2025/26, which forecasts an overall deficit of £78,123 for the year. p5

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• p1Charity Committee — minutes of the meeting on 07/01/2026
• p326. Minutes of previous Charity Committee RESOLVED – that the minutes of the meetings held on 15 th December 2025 be approved as a true record.
• p427. Appointment of the Protector The Chief Legal Officer presented the report. The current Protector will be stepping down on 27th of March this year. A recruitment process has taken place to appoint a new protector. David Rogers will become the new Protector as of 30th of March 2026 for a period of three years. The Chair and committee gave thanks to James Cook for his dedicated service. RESOLVED (Unanimously) 1. Appoint David Rogers with effect from 30th March 2026 for a period of three years 2. Acknowledge and thank James Cook for his commitment and dedicated service to the Foreshore Trust during his term of office. Reasons On 13 January 2011, the Charity Commission for England and Wales approved Hastings Borough Council as trustee for the Hastings and St Leonards Foreshore Charitable Trust. The scheme required that the trustee must appoint a Protector of the charity “whose fiduciary duty will be to ensure the integrity of the administration of the charity, and who must report to the Charity Commission any matter which he has reasonable cause to believe is likely to be relevant for the purposes of the exercise by the Commission of any of its functions”.
• p528. Foreshore Trust Finance Report The Finance Business Partner introduced the report. The summary monitoring report shows an overall forecast deficit of £78,123 for the 2025/26 financial year. This deficit includes the payment of projected grants totalling £273,319 and depreciation of £88,225. Without these two deductions the forecast would show a surplus of £283,421. The Finance Business Partner gave a detailed breakdown of the overall forecast for the year. This included Car Park income with a positive variance of almost £100,000 due to the increased visitors to Rock A Nore and Pelham car park. Foreshore management income shows a positive variance of £23,500 due to new rental income streams, rental reviews, bulky waste income and recovery of water charges. Investment income shows a negative variance because of declining interest rates. Moving down to expenditure, the variances were addressed in further detail. Finally, it was explained why the early part of the year shows a strong surplus and the latter part of the year shows a deficit. This is due to Management recharges from Hastings Borough Council that are calculated and applied only at year-end, creating the appearance of a large cost in the final months. There were no questions. RESOLVED (Unanimously) 1. To agree the current financial position for 2025/26 Reasons The Council has the responsibility for the proper management of the financial affairs of the Trust. In doing so it complies with Accounting Codes of Practice and the high standards required for the accounting of public money.