£1m fund helps Gloucestershire groups buy green spaces — SkimNews
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- Summerfield Charitable Trust established a £1m fund to help community groups buy and safeguard local woodlands and wildlife sites when they come up for sale, as part of a new initiative with the Gloucestershire Nature and Climate Fund and the Gloucestershire Local Nature Partnership.
- Diane Hill, chair of the Gloucestershire Nature and Climate Fund, said communities across the county lack the time and resources to compete with private buyers, and the fund will provide money plus legal and ecological expertise so groups can act quickly.
- Rodborough Fields and Frome Banks Preservation Group bought nine acres of woodland near Stroud through a £200,000 crowdfunding campaign, but the future of a further 30 acres is uncertain after their latest bid was rejected in favour of an unknown rival party this summer.
- Angela France of Daisybank CIC, which saved a Cheltenham field from development last year, said the group has since organised litter picking, butterfly counts and an ecological survey, and is hosting a community event on 24 October to plan the site's future.
- The fund is also designed to contribute to nature recovery county-wide and address unequal access to nature, with other recent community-led efforts cited including Lott Meadow, Southcourt Green, Juniper Hill Field and Heavens Valley.
- David Owen, chair of trustees at the Summerfield Charitable Trust, said the investment has the potential to create a lasting legacy for nature, communities and future generations across Gloucestershire.
Why it matters: Hill framed the fund as filling a specific gap: willing community groups consistently lose land to faster-moving private buyers, as just happened at Rodborough Fields where 30 acres went to an unknown bidder despite a successful £200,000 community crowdfund for an adjacent nine acres. The £1m gives Gloucestershire groups both capital and expert support to compete the moment threatened sites hit the market.
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