CTC, the UK’s national cyclists’ organisation, has failed in its attempt to become a single unified charity after members refused to vote through necessary changes to its memorandum and articles.

At present CTC operates as two organisations; one body dealing with member services and a separate charity focused on its work promoting cycling and better provisions for cyclists.

The CTC Council had argued that forming one unified charity would improve efficiency and bring “around £100,000 of extra funding” through gift aid.

However, while the nearly 4,000 members participating in the vote agreed the resolution to merge the organisations, only 61 per cent voted in favour of changing the memorandum and articles, short of the 75 per cent required.

Opponents launched website

Since the Council’s intentions were announced there has been opposition among members, who have created a website called Save the CTC.

They argue that the changes would see member benefits become merely discretionary and subject to the financial health of the organisation as a whole.

Furthermore, they argue that in order to claim gift aid on subscriptions, CTC can only spend 25 per cent of that fee on providing benefits, which could potentially lead to the value of member benefits being halved.

CTC Council chair David Robinson said: “CTC is a democracy and just like in an election, sometimes there isn’t a majority and a clear answer.

“Our membership wanted a change and voted for charity status, but we will need to pass a revised set of memorandum and articles before we can proceed to the next stage.

“CTC Council will now reflect on the results, talk to members and consider why changes to the memorandum and articles did not receive 75 per cent of the vote.”