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Mar 2023

Last Updated: 06/03/2023

News

Campaign to create Knaresborough Forest Park issues urgent plea for support

by John Plummer

| 07 Mar, 2023

Campaigners bidding to buy land in the former Forest of Knaresborough and protect it from development have issued an urgent plea for support.

The community group Renaissance Knaresborough is leading the campaign, which aims to replicate the successful Long Lands Common initiative that raised £375,000 to buy 30 acres of land near Nidderdale Greenway.

It wants to acquire privately-owned land not currently accessible to the public between Beryl Burton Cycle Way and Harrogate Road and turn it into Knaresborough Forest Park.

The land would be owned by individual shareholders and open to the public for recreation and conservation.

A fundraising campaign launched three months ago has so far generated about £510,000. The sum has been boosted by a large donation from the George A Moore Foundation in Leeds. George Moore, a successful businessman who died in 2016, was born and raised in Knaresborough.

Eight plots of land with a total guide price of £910,000 and covering 85 acres are being advertised and a sale of the land is believed to be imminent.

This has prompted the plea to raise more funds in order to bid to buy as many of the plots as possible.

An email sent to supporters by Renaissance Knaresborough says:

"The project will not only safeguard vital greenbelt land from further urban encroachment but will reinstate the initial part of the ancient Knaresborough Forest, with a long-term vision for it to expand.

"Unfortunately time is of the essence, as we have recently been informed that the closing date for the sale could be in a matter of weeks.

Campaigner Shan Oakes said:

"Renaissance Knaresborough is aiming to buy as much of the land as possible for community forest to connect with Long Lands Common and to deter inappropriate development in this area of natural beauty so close to Knaresborough, Starbeck , Bilton, and Harrogate, but it all depends on what funds we can raise in the time we have available .

"Some of the land is in Starbeck so we are confident that Starbeck residents and businesses will be very keen to support this effort.

"Pledges are coming in thick and fast, so our hopes are high, but the time available to raise the money is possibly very short…we don’t actually know although we are told it could be only a week or so before the sale is concluded."

Anyone wishing to support the campaign can do so here.