Harmers Wood is currently both a Charity under the auspices of the Charity Commission and a Limited Company registered at Companies House. This limits liability of the Trustees to the assets of the Company only.
The current document is about 14 pages long and although it has been simplified for everyday use, permanent major changes have to be approved by the Charity Commission.
The limited company aspect of the governance of Harmers Wood refers to Directors and a Company Secretary while the Charity Commission refers to Trustees.
The first page of the constitution states that:
The Friends of Harmers Wood Trust is a Charitable Company Limited by Guarantee run by a board of Directors and Trustees. It goes on to say that one person may be appointed both to the board and elected as an officer to the Trust. Each of our appointed committee members is both a Director of the limited company and a trustee of the registered charity.
Perhaps the most important part is objects for which the company has been established. The objects below are taken directly from the original 14 page constitution:
(1) To promote for the benefit of the public, the conservation, protection and improvement of the Physical and natural environment of Harmers Wood.
(2) To advance the education of the public (about?) the conservation, protection and improvement of the physical and natural environment of Harmers Wood.
In early 2026 the Trustees approved exploration of possible changes to the constitution. They settled upon a change to a Charitable Inorporated Organisation.
A Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) is a legal structure in England and Wales designed specifically for charities, offering corporate status and limited liability for trustees without the need to register with Companies House. Regulated solely by the Charity Commission, CIOs can hold property and employ staff directly but this would not be the Friends of Harmers Wood Trust would aim to do.
To effect this change, the trustees and members of the Friends of Harmers Wood Trust will need to approve the new constitution. To help members and the public know what these different constitutions are, the current constutution and the proposed new constitution can be downloaded below as .pdf files. They are not easy reading but for the sake of full disclosure to anyone interested, they can be compared before the necessary Extraordinary General Meeting.