Our Trustees
Our Trustees
The Trust is governed by a Board of at least seven Trustees; currently there are ten Trustees who oversee the work of a small team of staff based at the Trust’s offices near Down Ampney in the Cotswold Water Park.
Following a lengthy and rigorous recruitment process, seven new Trustees all of whom live within the vicinity of the Cotswold Water Park replaced the existing Board of Trustees in March 2011.
CWP trustees from left to right
Brendan McCarthy, Terry Robinson, John Hayward, Zoe Greenwell, Nick Holliday, Sue Coakley, Simon Pickering, David Roberts, Chris Oldershaw and Managing Director Matthew Millett.
Meet our trustees
Sir David John - Chairman of the Board of Trustees
Sir David John is familiar with the Cotswold Water Park and the area, having had a home in Gloucestershire for the last 20 years. He brings to the Cotswold Water Park Trust a wealth of experience gained in business, government and the not-for-profit sector. In his business career he has held senior positions in the UK and Asia, in Inchcape and Redland, amongst others. He has been Chair of Balfour Beatty plc (2003-2008) and of the BOC Group (1996-2002) and is currently Chair of BSI (the British Standards Institution).
He has also served as a Director of the Development Trust – a charity associated with raising funds for building sheltered housing for severely mentally handicapped people, and was a Member of the UK Development Board of “RYA Sailability” – a charity to encourage disabled people to sail. He was Vice President and Member of the Board, Prince of Wales’ Business Leaders Forum from 1996 to 1999.
Sir David John (Chairman) said “The Cotswold Water Park is an area of endless fascination, rich history and biodiversity and full of potential. Our challenge is to use all our skills, with limited resources, to assist and guide its development, so that what the area becomes is something that local people are proud of and which stands international comparison.”
Sue Coakley
My career with Nationwide Building Society included Regional Manager and Senior Executive roles culminating in Head of Nationwide Direct, then with the National Trust as Assistant Director Central Customer Services.
Taking early retirement has given me the chance to devote more time to my community, as Lechlade Town Councillor and Cotswold District Councillor, along with Secretary of the Lechlade Memorial Hall and Recreation Ground Charity; Trustee of the Lechlade Heritage and Development Trust; Member of Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust Volunteer Management Council and Lechlade & District Lions.
I take an active interest in the countryside leading a programme of Summer Evening Walks to help keep our local footpaths open and encourage residents and visitors to enjoy these lovely routes.
My role as a Trustee is to support the development of the Trust and to help it deliver positive outcomes for both the residents of, and visitors to, the Cotswold Water Park. I believe that we have a real opportunity to shape the future landscape of the Water Park balancing the need for development with conservation, nature and recreation goals.
Zoe Greenwell
As both a resident of Cirencester and a holiday home owner in the Water Park itself, I am passionate about the future of the Cotswold Water Park and the need to maximise its potential for the benefit of wildlife, the community, visitors and future generations.
Having worked in the public and private sector my key expertise is in ensuring value for every pound of income we receive. I will support Trust staff to purchase effectively and utilise resources efficiently to deliver excellence in everything we do.
As an Artist I will also combine my business skills to support and guide the work of the In Our Elements team to deliver exciting projects and installations that stimulate and enhance the environment, but are cost-effective and practical.
John Hayward
I qualified as a chartered surveyor over thirty years ago and my career has been spent advising a wide range of organisations on property matters. I was on the board of the Cotswold Water Park Society when the D. S. Grant frauds were discovered and took a leading role – measured in days spent per week - in helping the senior staff to both stabilise the business and pursue Mr Grant. Accordingly I was asked to become a Trustee to provide continuity as well as the property skills that the Trust’s fragmented landholdings require. I believe very strongly that this remarkable and beautiful area needs a unified cross boundary approach to optimise its continuing evolution in the interests of people, landscape and nature.
Nick Holliday
Nick Holliday is an environmental scientist who has spent the majority of his working life with the former Countryside Commission, then Countryside Agency (where he was Regional Director for the South West) and finally as a Director with the Commission for Rural Communities (now sadly abolished by the current government). Today he sits on the governing boards of the Cotswolds AONB and Exmoor National Park as a Secretary of State appointee . In addition he is a trustee of the Malcolm MacEwen Trust in Exmoor and a member of the Stroud Branch of the CPRE. He lives in the Cotswolds AONB, near Stroud
What Nick brings
With over 30 years of experience in countryside and rural affairs sector Nick brings a wealth of experience from running practical multi million pound programmes, such as Vital Villages and Parish Plans initiatives through to communications and marketing, and more recently governance in the public sector , which is particularly challenging at present. His main interest in the Water Park is in helping the new Trust as a ‘critical friend’ to recover its position and develop a new strategic direction and focus, challenging how it currently works and finding solutions to solve current problems and realise the future opportunities .
The future
We need to get back to doing what the Trust does best, conserving wildlife and helping people to enjoy it. But the new Board, working with the dedicated, competent and enthusiastic staff, is busy bringing the Trust under good management and gradually ridding itself of the financial problems of the former Society. Good governance is the priority, including strict financial control. The Trust is still operating in a recovery phase to bring itself into a stable financial position, whilst at the same time forging ahead on restoring its reputation by still delivering wildlife, educational and recreational benefits for the local community and visitors alike. We now need to look hard at both the scope of the Trust and what it does, but also how it operates and, in consultation with the many interested parties within, and outside of the park, decide whether or not the present operational model we have is a sustainable one that is fit for the future to deliver the strategy/masterplan that exists for the park. If the conclusion is that it isn’t right, then we will need to look at other ways to deliver the strategy .
Brendan McCarthy
After 3 years at the Royal Agricultural College, I trained as a Land Agent and have spent most of my career with the National Trust in 5 different roles, latterly as the Regional Director for Wessex. I consider myself to be a conservationist at heart but really enjoy trying to find the optimum balance between money, the conservation of our environment and people - all of which need to be mutually supportive for success.
These challenges are fully represented at CWPT and we have a lot to do to find that critical balance. Money is desperately needed to secure continuing conservation benefit and there is so much more we can do to involve people in the running of such a wonderful place.
We're fortunate indeed to have this wonderful asset of the Water Park. Securing the future of CWPT so that it can again play a critical role, with other partners, is our immediate and most pressing task.
Chris Oldershaw
A qualified town planner with over 30 years experience in economic development, planning, housing and urban regeneration, working in both the public and private sectors. I have led major regeneration schemes in Merseyside, Tyneside, Wearside and Teesside and successfully attracted over £75m of Government, Lottery and other public sector funds to lever in nearly £1 billion of private investment. Currently employed as Chief Executive of the Gloucester Heritage Urban Regeneration Company Ltd and Marketing Gloucester Ltd. and acting as special adviser to the Forest of Dean Council on their plans to develop a regionally important centre of excellence in sustainability and green tourism. I consider that the Water Park and Cleveland Lakes in particular offer tremendous opportunities to develop their ecological, educational and green tourism credentials and I am keen to offer my planning and marketing skills to help realize this potential.
Simon Pickering
I have been involved in the Water Park since 1989, lobbying, conducting surveys, providing planning advice and acting as expert witness at public inquires. In 1999 I was invited to work for the old Water Park Society which I did until 2008. I agreed to come back as a Trustee of the new Charity in June 2010 to provide consistency and help guide the future. Unless someone develops an alternative to concrete, gravel will be dug.
With appropriate guidance, funding and planning the Cotswold Water Park has potential to become the finest manmade wetland in Europe for people and wildlife. I am willing to try to help the local community build that future.
David Roberts
David is a Chartered Accountant of 41 years’ standing, who after university trained with Price Waterhouse, London. His subsequent career has been mostly in senior finance related roles, including Finance Director, in both the private and public sectors. He was FD of a large private Swindon-based group throughout the 1980s. After a spell as MD of a private group he joined the Meteorological Office in 1995 for four years as FD with the task of putting it on to a full business basis. A three year period as FD of the UK MoD’s military aircraft repair business followed, conducting a very similar role as for the Met Office. Since then he has been a shareholder / director in a private consultancy business and has delivered company turnarounds and other projects.
In volunteer roles, following six years as chairman of the British Gliding Association, David became the current chairman of the Royal Aero Club of the UK. He is also President of Europe Air Sports, representing some½ million air sports pilots across Europe on civil aviation regulatory issues.
Living close to the Water Park, which he values as a local facility, David wants to help in getting the CWPT group back on to a sound and stable footing which will in future allow it to continue delivering the objectives for which it was founded. His experience in corporate governance, strategic planning, financial management and turnarounds is relevant to this task. In the short term his focus is on the maximum recovery of funds for CWPT from those held accountable for the past.
David has lived in Ewen for 34 years, is married with three children and four grandchildren.
Terry Robinson
Terry has nearly 40 years’ experience in countryside conservation and the management of open air recreation. For most of his career he has been a lead authority for the national Government managing programmes for the Countryside Commission and its successor bodies, including Natural England. As a ranger, he has also developed and run country parks similar to the Cotswold Water Park. He has worked in a senior capacity managing teams delivering for nature and people and devising and delivering programmes that have advanced and consolidated practice. He has also held senior posts on the board and on the staff of schools in the UK and abroad. He has lived near Stroud for 33 years. He sees enormous scope for developing the Water Park as an exciting and enterprising attraction using modern management practices fit for the twenty-first century.
