Malvern Hills Trust is a charity regulated by statute and can only change its governing Acts by way of a Private Bill. The Malvern Hills Trust deposited a Parliamentary Bill on 27 November, which is the only day of the year that ‘Private Bills’ can be deposited. A Private Bill is one which affects only a limited area or an organisation.
10 years of hard and focused work was undertaken on identifying the problems with the Trust’s outdated legislation and identifying the best solutions. The Trust conducted a public consultation on its proposed governance changes in summer 2024. Results of this and a myth-busting page are available at https://www.malvernhills.org.uk/
Much of the Bill restates the Trust’s existing powers and duties. The Bill contains additional powers to help the Trust manage the land under its care but there are no new provisions that will restrict access to the Hills and Commons.
Progress
Now called The Malvern Hills Bill, it passed its first hurdle at the examiners’ hearing on 18 December, at which the Trust had to prove Parliamentary standing orders had been complied with. The Bill has been allocated to the Lords and the period during which objections to the Bill could be lodged (called “petitions”) ran to 6 February. 50 petitions were received. There was encouragement from local people opposed to the Bill to encourage others to object.
The Trust’s Parliamentary Agent is working through the petitions to check whether those who have petitioned have a right to do so according to Parliament’s rules, common themes and for any significant issues that have been raised. The ongoing focus now will be on the second reading of the Bill and preparing for a select committee hearing in due course.
The Trust is very pleased with the progress made to date and most grateful for the input of numerous individuals and representatives of organisations who have met with its’ Chair and staff over the winter. As a result of these helpful discussions the Trust is likely to offer up a number of amendments in due course to improve the Bill.
The Trust is urging anyone with questions on or concerns about the content of the Bill to come in to talk to Trust staff to see whether these can be resolved without incurring additional costs. Contact info@malvernhills.org.uk
John Michael, Chair said:
‘We always expect to have a diversity of opinion on our Board when considering important matters – indeed, as our Board meeting minutes show, we welcome robust and rigorous debate.
However, trustees also have a legal duty to act collectively – while there may be differences of opinion, trustees must take collective responsibility for a decision once it has been voted on.
This duty is not specific to the Malvern Hills Trust – every trustee at every registered charity must observe this principle. The regulator of charities in England and Wales, The Charity Commission, makes very clear that if a trustee no longer wishes to support decisions made by trustees as a whole, they should consider their position as a trustee.
In October 2024, the Board voted by a clear majority to submit the Bill to Parliament. The Bill was subject to a full public consultation before it was lodged in Parliament, and every trustee had the opportunity to contribute to the debate on the contents of the Bill at the many meetings we held in the run up to this meeting.
We strongly believe it is important that people engage with the parliamentary process. We are glad to see some petitions have been very constructive, focusing on how we strengthen the safeguards in the Bill – we welcome this scrutiny, and will be considering whether further improvements can be made to improve the Bill.
But it was disappointing to see five of our twenty-two trustees decided to submit petitions to Parliament against the Bill. While we respect their right to petition as individuals, petitioning against a decision made by the very Board they sit on clearly raises a conflict of interest with their duty of collective responsibility. The Trust is not disciplining these trustees, simply applying its rules to manage such conflicts.
The future of the Malvern Hills is far too important to let sloganeering and baseless accusations go unchallenged, and it is sad to see campaigners be so careless as to repeat falsehoods about the Bill that have already been addressed quite comprehensively.
For example, campaigners have alleged yet again that the Bill will deny levy-payers representation. Not only is this not true – our governing acts have never stated that our elected trustees are representatives of levy-payers – but the Bill will actually introduce a new provision that commits the charity for the first time in its history to nominate trustees to act as a point of contact with levy-payers in all of our parishes.
The Bill makes no changes to our power to levy. This power was first granted by Parliament in the first Malvern Hills Act. We are not unique in this respect.
We take our duties to the hills and commons very seriously, and we will continue to work hard to improve the Bill as it moves through Parliament.
In the meantime, I extended an offer to speak in person with petitioners and campaigners and the offer remains open should they wish to engage in a mature and constructive dialogue.’