BHPA Flying Site Purchase Discretionary Trust Fund
Insurance, foot and mouth disease, farm subsidies, and unsympathetic landowners all have the potential to stop our flying. If you have flown the sites that have already been purchased (Long Mynd, Bell Hill, Blorenge, Tinto) you can see that buying sites does help to safeguard our sport.
The main purpose for the setting up of the Trust is to assist local clubs affiliated to the British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association (BHPA) in achieving the preservation of flying rights, by the purchase of sites where necessary. The Trust Fund may also be used to assist with the legal and administrative costs of such assistance.
There are two ways you can make a donation to the BHPA Flying Site Purchase Discretionary Trust Fund:
- By making a one-off donation when you renew your BHPA membership online by indicating the amount you wish to donate in the appropriate field in the online membership renewal form. The amount of your donation will then simply be added to the total amount due.
- By agreeing to make a monthly donation to the BHPA Flying Site Purchase Discretionary Trust Fund by downloading the Site Purchase Fund Form, and returning the completed form to the BHPA office.
How will the money be used?
BHPA Clubs will be the site purchasers. The percentage of the purchase price given to a club will depend upon a variety of factors: the value of the site, the amount of use it gets, the amount of money in the fund, other requests, etc. The principles upon which the Trust will operate are shown below.
- Additions to the Initial Fund, apart from added income, are to be collected on a voluntary basis.
-
All monies are to be used for the purpose only of preserving flying rights, and for the legal and administrative costs associated with this.
-
Applications will only be considered from BHPA affiliated clubs, and must be made in writing, with supporting arguments, to the Trustees.
-
The aim is to provide an amount of between 25% and 75% of the purchase price of any particular site.
-
The Trustees, when considering any application, will take into account the supporting arguments, the funds available, and any other outstanding or imminent requests, and will decide upon the amount of funds to be allocated, if any, to any particular application.
-
Upon receipt of an application for funds the Trustees will confirm their decisions at the next scheduled meeting, or by the agreement of at least three Trustees if the application is urgent.
-
The Trustees can act by a majority.
-
Interest free loans may also be made by the Trustees from the Trust Fund, at the Trustees' discretion, to BHPA affiliated clubs who have not had time to raise funds for sites which become available for purchase at short notice.
-
Any Trust Funds given or lent to BHPA affiliated clubs to assist in the purchase of sites must be repaid to the Trust if the site is subsequently sold. The repaid sum will be either the same percentage value of the sale price as the original grant bore to the purchase price, or the same gross amount as the original grant, whichever is the higher. All such repaid sums will be returned to the Trust Fund.
-
The Sites Officer of the BHPA will review the operation of the fund annually and report activity and recommendations to the Trustees.
-
There should at all times, wherever possible, be at least four Trustees. All proposed future Trustees must first be approved by the BHPA Executive Council, before they are appointed as Trustees. However, Trustees do not themselves have to be members of the BHPA Executive Council.
Last updated: 08 January 2025
