Bath law firm Stone King has advised the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) on the charity law aspects of the largest ever transfer of a public body into the charity sector.
Earlier this month responsibility for 2,000 miles of waterways in England and Wales transferred from British Waterways to a new charitable company, Canal & River Trust (CRT).
British Waterways, which was sponsored by Defra, had managed and maintained the majority of canals and a number of rivers and docks in England, Scotland and Wales and cared for numerous listed structures and sites of special scientific interest.
Stone King’s advice to Defra included ensuring that the waterways are protected in the future and settling Defra’s ongoing powers in relation to CRT. It also advised on establishing a trust settlement into which the core canal and waterways network was transferred (with CRT as its sole trustee). This, broadly, prevents CRT selling the waterways infrastructure.
And its advice included settling documentation for grants worth around £1bn over 15 years, including arrangements for a ‘protector’ to monitor how CRT manages its non-trust assets.
Stone King was selected to provide the advice because of its top-rated charity expertise and increasing experience with public/charity sector contracting.
Head of its charity team Jonathan Burchfield, (pictured) called it “a landmark project for the charity sector and one with which our firm is very proud to have been involved”.
