Community group buys land to create nature reserve

A community group has bought an area of green belt land to try and protect it from future development.

Long Lands Common raised more than £800,000 from grants and loans to purchase nine fields covering 60 acres between Harrogate, Starbeck and Knaresborough.

The group plans to convert the site, which was once part of the ancient Royal Forest of Knaresborough, from farmland into a community woodland and nature reserve.

Supporters have been asked to buy shares in the project to create the new "Knaresborough Forest Park".

The registered community benefit society decided to buy the fields when they came up for sale.

Geoff Freeston, a member of the group, said the park would not be a dense forest but would be a "wood meadow with a blend of glades and rides and trees".

"We've already started the process of restoring the forest. A few weeks ago we had a ceremonial planting of the first tree, an oak," he added

The society received a grant from the George A Moore Foundation and a loan from an environmental fund, and officially secured the land in August.

A Crowdfunder has been set up to raise the £300,000 needed to repay the loan through the share offer.

Alison Organ from the society said that some supporters had bought shares for their children and grandchildren: "They feel really strongly that it's important to keep this land for posterity and keep it green.

"So many people are concerned about the amount of housing going up and we need new housing, but not on a greenfield site."

Older members of the group said that the opportunity to be a "good ancestor" by protecting the land for future generations had inspired them to become involved.

Eighty-three-year-old Bill Rigby said: "There's a lot of gloom and doom about the future and about the challenges to the environment. People wonder what they can do and this is a perfect example of how individuals and a community can respond to that challenge and get involved in a tangible project."

Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North or tell us a story you think we should be covering here.