On Tuesday 14 January a public meeting was held at Harden Congregational Church to discuss the potential for a community purchase of Goit Stock Wood. At least 50 people attended, including residents from Harden, Bingley, neighbouring villages and some from further afield.
The meeting was opened by Amy Wood, a local resident who organised the meeting. Amy explained the basic context for the meeting:
Goit Stock Wood has been put up for sale by the owners (the same people who own Harden Park Homes site).
It covers 69 acres, and hosts a vast amount of plants and wildlife, and the goit and its waterfalls run right through it
The land is designated as Open Access under the Countryside Rights of Way Act 2000, and as a registered common. Public footpaths cross the land at various points - all of which would need to be respected by any future purchaser, making a commercial sale unlikely
It’s on the market for £195,000 - though has previously been advertised at £350,000
Harden Village Council submitted an Asset of Community Value application to Bradford Council in early December
If it is accepted - and the council have said the process takes about 8 weeks - the community is then given 6 weeks from the notice of sale to submit an expression of interest in purchasing the land. If this is received and accepted, it then extends to a full 6 months to gather the funds and put itself in a position to make the purchase. During this time the land can’t be sold, but the vendor isn’t obliged to accept an offer from the community - it’s more about holding time for a bid to be put together.
Amy went on to explain some of the benefits and potential challenges of a community purchase (covered below), before introducing Francesca Bridgewater, Chair of Menston Area Nature Trust, who recently purchased a woodland called Weston Woods near Otley.
Francesca explained some of their experiences with purchasing their woodland:
The Menston Area Nature Trust was already established as a charity at the time the woods came up for sale. When they found out the woods were being sold, they only had 2 weeks to prepare a bid, due to the way they were being sold as a sealed bid auction.
They purchased the woods as a registered charity, which has the advantage of being able to claim Gift Aid on donations (alternatives would be a Community Interest Company (CIC), which does not have the benefit of claiming Gift Aid).
Because of the short time they had to raise the funds, they focused on using a Crowdfunding campaign and publicised this with the local BBC and Radio Leeds, they set up a website, promoted on social media, contacted local businesses and the local press, etc.
They raised £130,000 in just a few days, and found a philanthropist who was prepared to offer them a loan to allow them to submit an offer for the woods while giving them more time to fundraise to repay the remainder of the loan.
Their offer was accepted around February 2023, and after completing the legal process they finally completed the purchase in December 2023.
Ongoing fundraising (to repay the loan and cover ongoing costs such as maintenance and insurance) has been hard work but they have been very successful, with a scheme where individuals can sponsor a 3x3m What3Words square in the woods, and other fundraising activities. They have also received some relatively large donations from benefactors and have been able to apply for grants for projects such as installing information boards.
They have a ‘Friends of’ group of people who contribute or are involved in tasks such as maintenance and a steering group which oversees the woods and events such as litter picking and community days. They have engaged a local dry stone walling group who will rebuild various walls over time. They have written a woodland management plan which is reviewed by the Forestry Commission and is needed to apply for government grants. There are lots of opportunities for grants to pay for specific projects - but not so many to actually fund the purchase in the first place!
There are various ongoing costs, such as insurance, although this has been relatively modest - although they do not have a watercourse or waterfalls which we have at Goit Stock.
We also heard from John from the Natural World Fund (NWF), which is a community interest company looking to support community purchases of sites like Goit Stock Wood, and also farmland which they can plant with woodland, in order to increase habitats and enhance biodiversity. John said:
NWF had previously looked at Goit Stock when it was previously up for sale, but hadn’t prioritised the project as they were looking at other projects in Yorkshire, Northumberland/County Durham and Cumbria. They would be keen to collaborate on a project at Goit Stock in conjunction with the local community.
NWF is funded by one off and monthly donations, and they have lots of experience applying for grant funding, and are working with some wealthy donors who want to support their work. Their fund is growing and they have several active projects on the go. John said there “is a lot of money available” for ongoing management, biodiversity projects etc.
NWF’s interest in Goit Stock would be to see it preserved but also enhanced, for example the woodland would benefit from some active management to improve biodiversity as it has been very neglected (e.g. removing some canopy to encourage more ground flora and a better variety of species). They would also be interested in eventually the potential purchase of adjacent fields etc. in order to expand the woodland.
John and NWF have experience working with organisations such as the Forestry Commission and Natural England, and in applying for funding such as the government funding that is available for environmental improvements, maintaining and managing woodland in a biodiverse and positive way. They could help with tasks such as creating a woodland management plan and risk assessment. They also have experience setting up CICs/Charities and could help us with this.
Numerous local residents also spoke at the meeting, including residents of Harden & Bingley Park Homes, which is set in the woodland (though not covered in the land for sale). There were a mixture of positive comments and some concerns. We have summarised these below.
A community purchase would support the ethos that “the community uses the land, so the community should own the land” and give a sense of ownership to the local community.
If the land is bought by the community, it would secure the future for generations; whereas with a private sale it could change hands more often and we’d have no say in what the purchasers could do with the woods; they could sell them again or try to develop them for commercial purposes such as shooting, commercial camping etc.
A community purchase would allow the woods to be managed in a way that enhances biodiversity. This would also create lots of opportunities to engage the local community in projects and educate young people about the importance of biodiversity, nature, protecting the environment and so on.
The site could be opened up to groups such as schools, Scouts/Guides, walking groups, conservation groups etc to use. These groups may also be engaged to help with maintenance projects such as tree and footpath maintenance, clearing litter, etc.
A community group could engage visitors more with the woodland, helping educate them about the nature there and the importance of looking after it, etc. We could use our website, social media etc to encourage visitors to be responsible with parking, litter etc which have been problems in the past (significantly during the Covid lockdowns).
We could engage local businesses (many of whom have volunteer days etc) to help with maintenance projects.
There have been other successful community purchases in the local area, e.g. Bronte Birthplace - we could speak to them for inspiration and support.
Wilsden Council bought the Bilberry Bank woods recently. We could find out how they funded that and how they handle ongoing costs, etc.
How would we get the funds together for the purchase and for ongoing costs?
How would we know what the ongoing costs would be?
How would we manage the land?
What legal entity would make the purchase? Options could include:
A wealthy individual (seems unlikely!)
One or more of the village councils
A specially created charity or CIC
An existing organisation or charity who work in this area
How would we manage not only the purchase but the ongoing woods in a sustainable way - for example a CIC/Charity would need trustees, who would need to meet regularly, complete paperwork, manage accounts etc. We would need to ensure that this could be sustained for the long run.
Several people said they weren’t sure of the benefit of a community purchase, given the site is a steep sided valley, with public access and rights of way, if the site is not sold or is bought by a private purchaser, would it change anything from what we have now, and if not, why should we put the effort into buying it?
There are concerns about liability, particularly given the beck and waterfalls, which have sadly seen several deaths, most recently in summer 2021.
The residents of the Park Homes site pay a contribution towards maintenance costs, which covers the access road. We would need to verify the responsibility for maintaining the access road and since this is principally used by the Park Homes site, the costs of this should not be borne by the community group.
Do we know if there is a particular reason why the current owners are selling?
There is Japanese Knotweed present on the site, how would this be managed and is this a liability?
As we had a good attendance at the meeting, we have passed the first hurdle and it seems like there is enough potential interest to try to establish some kind of group to move forward with investigating the options for purchasing the wood. So our next step is to identify people who are interested to become members of a project team to carry out activities such as the following. If you would be interested in being a member of this team, please let us know using this form by the end of January.
Tasks for the project team
Continuing to assess the options for purchasing the wood
Reviewing benefits and risks of proceeding, and thoroughly investigating potential costs and liabilities, and after this confirming whether we still want to go ahead
Determining the right legal entity to potentially purchase the wood, and setting this up (possibly including establishing a charity or CIC, being trustees etc)
Identifying sources of funds, and fundraising
Liaising with the selling agent, and potentially negotiating an offer
If the offer is successful, managing the process of completing the purchase
Continuing or establishing a new group to take the project forward once the purchase is completed
We know that not everyone will want to, or be able to, be involved in the project team. There are still other ways you can help - we are sure there will be occasional tasks that some people might be willing to help with, such as fundraising or publicity. Or maybe you just want to be kept up to date with the campaign, by joining our email list. Either way, it would be great if you can show your support using this form. Thank you!