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28
Jan
Community aims to raise £300,000 to create Great Ouseburn nature reserve
A local community trust in Great Ouseburn is hoping to buy a plot of land and turn it into a nature reserve.
The Upper Ouse Conservation Trust, a community charity organisation, aims to raise £300,000 by February 28 to buy and repurpose Townend Field.
The 20.4 acre field sits next to Great Ouseburn Community Primary School and is up for sale.
It is one of several lots of the Kirby Hall Estate which currently is listed as a whole for £10.2m.
The estate dates back to the Middle Ages. The huge stately home was demolished in the 1920s, leaving behind only the nursery wing, which is the main house today and the land around it.
Of the eight lots listed for sale, the conservation trust wants to purchase lot 6.
The conservation trust plans to purchase Lot 6
Graeme Jackson, a member of the conservation trust, explained why it wants the land:
Townend Field is currently private land. We want to enable community access here.
It’s such a characterful part of the village. Part of the Ouse runs through it, and it is rich with biodiversity. We want to repurpose it as a nature reserve for the community.
We also want to lease part of it to the nearby school so they can use it as a playing field.
Townend Field backing onto Great Ouseburn Community Primary School
The land is currently listed as a Site of Importance for Nature Conservation and has multiple red listed bird species inhabiting the area. Species include the Curlew, Tree Pipit, Grasshopper Warbler, Woodcock and the Spotted Fly Catcher.
The trust plans to lease half an acre of the land to the school, which will then raise its own funds to finance a playing field for its pupils.
A kilometre of permitted footpaths will be laid down immediately to enable public access to the area.
Volunteers will help to remove invasive species in the area such as the Himalayan Balsam, which prevent native species from growing in wetlands.
The wetlands on the site will also be gradually increased to support a richer biodiversity in the area.
£300,000 will be needed to buy the land, pay the associated costs and put it into initial access. This is a large sum for a local trust to raise.
Both Great Ouseburn and Little Ouseburn Parish Councils have made significant contributions to the trust’s legal fees. It is also being supported by the Natural World Fund.
The trust plans to rent the area to local farmers to engage in traditional agricultural methods.
It is currently accepting donations from the public to help raise the money.
Mr Jackson said he hoped that donations, together with Gift Aid, will provide the trust with enough to buy the plot:
We are only asking for donations to cover the initial cost of the land. Once bought, the maintenance costs will be minimal.
Look at what happened with the Long Lands Common project in Knaresborough. This is a much smaller project, but we believe we can have similar success.
We are not preparing to fail. We can’t fail. Failure is not an option.
The trust hopes it can raise the money, buy the land and have the project completed by May.
People who donate will automatically be granted one share in the land, regardless of the amount they donate.
Mr Jackson said there has been a positive reaction from the community thus far - 130 people turned up to the initial meeting.
The conservation trust told the Stray Ferret that it had a very encouraging response when it asked people how much they might pledge.
The trust's first donor was a pupil at the local primary school. Ethan Rayner donated the entire contents of his piggy bank, £21, to the project.
Ethan Rayner donated all of his piggy bank money (£21) to the Conservation Trust
Chairman of the Conservation Trust David Lloyd said that there was "great enthusiasm to save this crucial piece of green land which is so important both ecologically and culturally."
The Stray Ferret spoke to Ouseburn Green Party Cllr Arnold Warneken, who expressed his support for the project:
I'm totally behind what they're trying to achieve. It's not often an opportunity like this comes up.
It's well known that being in and learning from nature has a huge benefit to our physical and mental wellbeing. Rich biodiversity is also massively beneficial to the environment.
There may be opportunities for residents to establish allotments there if there is the desire to do so from the Conservation Trust. Although, in the grand scheme of things, 20 acres is relatively small, this is a huge opportunity for the community.
The main challenge is the funding. I am looking to help fund this project, but this is subject that the locality budget is still there.
I will do everything in my power to make sure this project succeeds.
The county council's locality budget is set to be revised in February, with a proposal to axe half of the current amount.
The Green Party have objected, stating that this budget is there to "show the community that we care."
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