The Woodlander Initiative: Buyer Beware

Einir Bach*

On the 15 November last year the campaign organisation HOPE not hate revealed that The Woodlander Initiative (TWI) has been buying up plots of land here in Wales.

HOPE Not Hates revelations are a wakeup call to us here in Cymru because it is their mission “to work tirelessly to expose and oppose far-right extremism”.

There’s nothing unusual in organisations based in England buying up land here in Cymru.

Land prices here are typically cheaper here than over the border, and there might be many reasons why we might want to support charitable organisations to buy land here. Establishing ‘whites only enclaves’ probably isn’t the most obvious one.

Far right extremism

Given the steady rise of far right extremism both in the UK and around the world, Hope Not Hates investigation into TWI is something we should take very seriously, especially given how central ‘Blood and Soil’ narratives were to the rise of European fascism during the 1920’s. We have been here before.

According to HOPE not Hate TWI is “a land-buying scheme aimed at far-right activists and conspiracy theorists with links to Patriotic Alternative (PA), the UK’s largest fascist group”. Whilst TWI’s own website states that they are “not a political organisation” the language TWI use on their website is recognisably an alt-right narrative.

HOPE not Hate’s investigation has also revealed that two plots of land TWI recently purchased in Llanfaban Fawr near Builth Wells have been used to run “training camps” for members of Patriotic Alternative. TWIs stated long-term ambition is “of owning land in every county in the UK”. Would you want a PA training site near your community?

Another reason to sit up and take notice is precisely because Hope Not Hates exposé is not of a well-respected widely known community organisation, or one that launched with a widely publicised fanfare. TWI did not exist until very recently, and they have also been very careful to maintain a low profile outside far-right circles.

However, since launching in June 2023, the Woodlander Initiative “…has raised more than £135,500 and purchased two plots of land – each of several acres”. For an organisation that was only 18 months old at the time Hope Not Hate went to press that is a truly startling achievement. They clearly have sufficient appeal to recruit enough members and to generate enough income to start buying up plots of land.

So, what is their appeal?

‘Recreational activities’

According to their own website TWI are working to make land they purchase “accessible to our members” for their benefit “allowing members access to the land for recreational activities like walking, hiking and camping”, and a wide range of purposes; “from conservation of our historic woodland, meadows and pastures”.  

What is more TWI also “…recognises the desire for many people to return to the land, in whatever form this may take, from growing fruit and vegetables, rearing poultry and livestock, to smallholdings and sustainable housing”. It is TWI’s stated aim “…to ensure that this holistic, nature-based way of living, either individually or in larger groups is encouraged and enthusiastically pursued”.

Far right narratives aside, this does sound very appealing.

But that is still not all. TWI is also encouraging its members to start land-based businesses, “either individually or in groups” (something the rest of us might think of as cooperatives), with the opportunity to benefit from “interest free funding on agreed terms” and “free guidance and support from TWI Officers and members”.

Essentially the pooling of collective resources, to support collective endeavour.

And if you’re dissuaded by any creeping doubts that this sounds ‘just a little bit communist’, well at least signing up is easy. You can ‘join the club’ for just £10 a year and ‘become a shareholder’. Even the club’s constitution is refreshingly short and easy to find. And potential members are actively encouraged to read it before joining too.

Support

In fact, far-right leaders in the UK have been so impressed with the Woodlander Initiative that they have given it their full support. Mark Collett the leader of Patriotic Alternative has said: “The Woodlander Trust is a fantastic initiative that allows nationalists to pool their money in order to purchase land and property”.

That winning combination of nationalism and socialism has seen TWI’s membership and investments since launching push the ‘progress so far’ barometer to over 10% of their £1,000,000 fund raising target.

However, it is the way TWI is set-up that might give even the most ardently ‘patriotic’ members sleepless nights.

From a casual reading of the club’s website anyone paying their £10 a month becomes a ‘shareholder’; “To become a shareholder in the Woodlander Initiative, sign up!”. Easy! Not so as the website then goes onto explain the annual membership fee only“helps to pay for the administrative costs of the project (and no more)”.

 Becoming a member simply confers “… the ability to purchase shares and track your holdings”. But shares in what is not clear unless you read the constitution. Here it states that membership confers “eligibility for purchasing shares in THE WOODLANDER INITIATIVE LTD”.

 This is because an unincorporated membership organisation cannot itself buy land, or issue shares. To overcome this the Woodlander Initiative hasn’t adopted one of the charitable, community interest, or community benefit legal structures available but come up with their own novel approach. As such, TWI is not one organisation, but two.

The Woodlander Initiative (TWI) private members club, for those attracted to the idea of buying land for the exclusive use of the ‘British people’, “as a distinct group comprising of the English, Welsh, Scots and Irish”, and The Woodlander Initiative Ltd, a Private Company Limited by shares, which only members can buy shares.

Constitution

Before we go on to look at TWI Ltd in more detail there are several observations about the clubs’ constitution that prospective members may wish to be aware of.

The first is that it is not immediately clear who those running the club are. This matters because the committee hold the power to investigate members conduct, expel members and terminate membership. And termination of membership will result in the ‘forfeit of all privileges of membership’, such as holding shares.

The committee also hold the power to call a General Meeting of the Club without needing to give fourteen days’ notice to members, if “the urgency of the business to be discussed so requires”. This means that the committee can call a meeting at short notice without having to give any notice whatsoever if they choose to.

The committee is also the ‘sole authority’ for the interpretation of the clubs’ rules which are ‘final and binding to the members. So, even though it is the ‘overarching aim’ of TWI “…to take back control of our land, our freedoms and our future”, it is the committee, not its members, who have the power to exert this control.

OK, so you’re happy with all the above and are still thinking of buying shares. What then should know about who has control over how your investments will be managed?

Forestry activities

The Woodlander Initiative Ltd registered as a private company limited by shares (company number 14872595) on the Registrar of Companies for England and Wales on the 16th May 2023, and it is registered under the ‘Sic Code’ 02100 for the purpose of undertaking Silviculture and other forestry activities. Not for buying and selling land.

The company launched with just one director Simon John Birkett and was joined by one other director Joe Knight in August 2023.

Neither of them is listed as holding any other appointments as a director in any other company, and neither ever been struck off and banned from being a company director. That’s the good news.

But, in terms of who has significant control over the company then only one of these directors is listed, Simon John Birkett. Of the 1,000,000 shares created by TWILtd Simon also “holds, directly or indirectly, 75% or more of the shares in the company and 75% or more of the voting rights”. What Simon says, goes.

This ‘person with significant control’ also “has the right, directly or indirectly, to appoint or remove a majority of the board of directors of the company”.

So, if the members of TWI don’t have ultimate control over their own club, and those who go on to buy shares in the company don’t have significant control over the company they’re investing their money in, then what is Simon Birkett’s vision for TWI?

“if we can get an organisation together which is asset rich – owns land, maybe property – we will suddenly, within a very short period of time, become a multi-million pound organisation. That has power […] suddenly we’re not a political organisation, but what we are is “a very powerful organisation that has clout”.

 TWI’s appeal to its members and investors is that TWIs intention is to go way beyond simply securing land for their exclusive use.

In Simon Birketts words it is a ‘possible avenue to power’ for the far right.

But because Simon has put himself in the position of significant control then it is he who has the power to decide what do with investors’ money, including walking away with it if he chooses. Or of using TWI as his own ‘avenue to power’ at the head of “a very powerful organisation that has clout”

This article has been published under a pseudonym to protect the writer.