The team behind Long Lands Common is set to unveil plans to create a food forest on Harrogate’s green belt.
Long Lands Common is Harrogate and Knaresborough’s first community owned woodland and nature reserve.
It was established after around 3,000 people bought shares in Long Lands Common Ltd and raised almost £400,000 to purchase 30 acres of land near Nidderdale Greenway at the end of 2020.
Now organisers want to spend the small amount of surplus money they raised to buy an extra four acres of Harrogate green belt and plant a forest that would be a source of local food.
The company, which is a community benefits society, is to hold its AGM on Saturday, June 25, when the proposal will be put to shareholders for approval.
Secretary of Long Lands Common Ltd, Chris Kitson, told the Stray Ferret :
“The aim is to expand Long Lands Common, bring more green belt into local ownership and produce food for the local community.
We need a more sustainable world and a more localised, resilient economy.
Never in my life have I seen so much insecurity. We need to return to a more sustainable way of producing local food for local people.”
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What is a food forest?
Kate Wilkinson is a horticulturalist who specialises in permaculture design and is advising the Long Lands Common team.
She says at one point the ancient forest of Knaresborough would have been a food forest — local people would have had the right to forage for naturally grown food such as mushrooms and blackberries.
She said the concept is the same when you create a modern food forest:
” A food forest is based on observing natural ecosystems. Trees are planted with scrubs underneath that copy natural systems . The plants are perennials and stay there for years enabling invertebrates, animals and birds to thrive.
“It’s aim is to be a social project too – the forest is accessible to everyone. People can forage with permission and feel that they belong there. The forest is owned by the people”.
The Annual General Meeting will start at 11am at Long Lands Common where the committee is also organising a picnic day.
