Organisation
Whitby & Esk Valley Active Travel is registered with the Charity Commission in England & Wales, with charity number 1206506 as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO), starting in 2024.
We have the declared aims of
- facilitating the provision of active travel infrastructure (paths, benches, storage etc), and
- promoting the uptake of active travel
in the Whitby and Esk Valley area (approximately aligning with the Whitby Travel To Work Area, from Staithes in the north down to Ravenscar in the south).
For the first aim, we currently have very little cycle infrastructure together with, in many places, poor quality walking infrastructure, and we will work towards facilitating an extensive active travel network of high quality paths and crossings providing a safe environment for people to walk, wheel and cycle.
For the second aim, walking levels are currently on par with the national average but with much room for improvement, whilst cycling levels are amongst the lowest in the county / country, and we will work towards making these forms of transport as viable choices so that everybody, irrespective of any disabilities, can obtain the many benefits.
You can read more detail on achieving our aspirations on our project plan.
Trustees
The organisation is governed by the following trustees
Ian Suckling (Chair)
Ian has lived and worked in the area for over 30 years as a GP and now active travel campaigner. He is working to see changes to infrastructure locally to give a choice and chance for everyone to cycle and walk and ride in a safer environment than we currently have.
Andy Hatchwell (Secretary)
Andy was a governor of a Whitby primary school for over ten years, and has also been successful on projects in education, with the local authority and the Whitby tourist industry, built on working together. His children were brought up walking and cycling in the area, and he is a keen cyclist.
Andy Jefferson (Treasurer)
Originally from Whitby, after university Andy worked around the country as an IT consultant, returning to the town in 2019. After time as a Sustrans volunteer on the CinderTrack he turned to campaigning to attempt to improve various aspects of life in the town (via Whitby Community Network), included within that active travel, default 20mph and road safety.
Ben Noble
Ben is from the Hawsker area and, after working as a PE Teacher, moved back to Hawsker to run the family holiday business, particularly catering for the disabled. He is passionate about the provision of facilities for everybody to use regardless of abilities.
Trustee Meetings
The trustees aim to meeting every 2 or 3 months as a minimum, and more frequently where decisions are required. We aim to have a transparent structure, with our deliberations visible to the public except where there are commercially sensitive matters being discussed. Agenda and minutes of such trustee meetings are shown below.
| Date | Agenda | Minutes | Additional Info |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20/12/2024 | Agenda | Minutes | |
| 11/12/2024 | Agenda | Minutes | |
| 04/12/2024 | Agenda | Minutes | |
| 29/10/2024 | Agenda | Minutes | |
| 12/06/2024 | Agenda | Minutes | |
| 01/03/2024 | Agenda | Minutes |
Constitution & Policies
You can view our constitution here.
As with most organisations we have several policies defining how we operate.
- Handling of factual data on this website is governed by a Data Transparency Policy.
- Utilisation of social media is governed by a Social Media Policy.
- Storage of users data, including website cookies, is governed by a Privacy Policy.
Accounts
You can view our accounts and annual returns on the Charities Commission website here.
We are not currently VAT registered.
Funding
We have been in receipt of funding, by way of grants, from the following organisations
Normanby Charitable Trust
In addition we are open to donations, using several mechanisms.
Affiliations and Partnerships
As a local charity we cannot do everything ourselves, and we do, on occasion, support the initiatives of other organisations that are trying to achieve similar goals to ours.
Partnered with Cycling UK in the Cycle Advocacy Network to be the local campaign organisation for the Whitby and District area. We would also encourage anybody who cycles to look at their membership programme’s benefits.
We support the 20s Plenty campaign for the improvements it offers in terms of road safety, particularly for pedestrians and people on bikes. It is a key component of safe cycle infrastructure (see LTN 1/20). Note that this does not mean an advocacy for 20mph everywhere, simply in places where people are, such as residential estates, town/village centres, near schools etc.
We support the general ambition of LoveToRide in getting people to use bicycles more, and we promote some of their activities, as they align with our aim of getting more people active.