IN response to recent letters published in this column about an application to Malvern Hills Trust for an easement across the common in Chance Lane, we would like to make the following points clear to your readers.

The Malvern Hills Trust is not a planning authority.

In considering any easement application the board is constrained by the provisions of the Malvern Hills Acts and Charity Commission guidance.

As such board members as trustees of a registered charity can only consider the effects of granting such an easement on the land under the jurisdiction of the trust, and on the best way of fulfilling the trust’s objectives.

All members of our board, including those that are directly elected, have to act in the best interests of the aims of the trust. They are not representatives of the electorate in the same sense as local councillors.

DUNCAN BRIDGES

CEO, Malvern Hills Trust