Long Lands Common organisers aim to create food forest on Harrogate green belt

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.

Long Lands Common set to open to public this summer

The committee behind the scheme to buy Long Lands Common has said it hopes to open the site to public access this summer.

The Long Lands Common appeal raised £375,000 to purchase 30 acres of land near Nidderdale Greenway and protect it from development. About 3,000 people bought shares in the land.

Shareholders were due to take ownership of the land yesterday but a delay in legal proceedings means this has been put back until the end of the month.

Despite this, Long Lands Common Ltd, the community benefit society overseeing the project, still expects to welcome visitors this summer, when lockdown restrictions ease.

An access track near the green bridge on the Nidderdale Greenway will be used by visitors. The current access point on Bogs Lane will be restricted to disabled people and maintenance and emergency vehicles.

No permanent paths will be laid this year — the committee has said it wants people to get used to the land and give their opinions before implementing changes.

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Chris Kitson, secretary of Long Lands Common Ltd, said the delay in shareholders taking ownership was “not a drastic setback”, adding:

“We need to make sure all these agreements are in place to make sure we do what we say we will.

“We are extremely pleased with the way things are going. The first aim is to get safe access so people can enjoy the area by the end of spring.”

The future of Long Lands Common, once earmarked for a relief road, finally looks secure for wildlife.

It is first and foremost a nature reserve but the goal is for the public to enjoy it too.

Ideas for the land include a duck pond but shareholders are invited to submit their own proposals.