£1m fund launched to protect Gloucestershire green spaces — SkimNews
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- Summerfield Charitable Trust launched the £1m fund alongside the Gloucestershire Nature and Climate Fund and Gloucestershire Local Nature Partnership to help groups compete with private buyers at the point of sale.
- Diane Hill, chair of the Gloucestershire Nature and Climate Fund, said communities "desperately want to protect" local sites but "simply don't have the time or resources" to move fast against private bidders.
- Rodborough Fields Preservation Group raised £200,000 via Crowdfunding to buy nine acres but lost a rival bid on a further 30 acres to an unknown party this summer, according to chair John Bloxsom.
- Daisybank CIC director Angela France said the Cheltenham group has organized litter picking, butterfly counts and an ecological survey since buying their field, with a community event set for 24 October.
- David Owen, chair of trustees at the Summerfield Charitable Trust, said the fund aims to create "a lasting legacy for nature, communities and future generations across Gloucestershire."
Why it matters: The fund targets a specific failure mode already documented in the source: the Rodborough Fields group crowdfunded £200,000 to save nine acres, then lost a competing bid on 30 more to an unknown buyer — proof that good intentions fail without capital that can move at private-sale speed. Prior wins at Daisybank, Lott Meadow, Southcourt Green and Juniper Hill Field show community ownership works once groups can close fast enough.
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