'Race against time' for brilliant Harrogate volunteers to secure Long Lands Common funding
The financial clock is counting down rapidly for the amazing volunteers behind Harrogate and Knaresborough’s first-ever community-owned woodland to protect the green belt.
Until this year the Long Lands Community had 30 acres of land in common ownership - Long Lands Common, a community woodland nature reserve located between Harrogate and Knaresborough bought in 2021 with the proceeds of a 2020 Community Shares offer that raised an incredible £400,000.
In July 2024 - with the aid of a £410,000 grant from the George A Moore Foundation, additional donations of £100,000 and a £300,000 philanthropic loan from ‘We Have The Power’ - they are purchasing 60 more acres of green belt land to create Knaresborough Forest Park and the Long Lands Community Food Forest.
A community benefit society, the Long Lands Common team now have to start paying interest on the loan from November 5.
Membership secretary Alison Organ said: "While we were able to buy the land in early August, we now find ourselves in a race against time to raise the necessary funds to repay the bridging loans by November 5, before interest starts accruing.
“We’d much rather investors’ money go towards the heart of the project than towards interest payments."
As a result, the hard-working volunteers are issuing an urgent appeal to support Long Lands Common by buying shares or send a donation, so that more money can be kept in the coffers to spend on the three sites: Long Lands Common, the Long Lands Community Food Forest, and Knaresborough Forest Park.
To buy shares, visit : https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/long-lands-community/
For information, visit: https://knaresboroughforestpark.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Crowdfunder-Explained.pdf
The Long Lands Community needs to raise £300,000 in donations and community shares sales to pay off the bridging loan from ‘We Have The Power’ as soon as possible.
If the full sum is not raised, they risk having to resell some of the land in order to pay off the loan.
It could then potentially be purchased by developers or other buyers with less interest in protecting the natural world, putting the bio-diversity of this precious area next to the Nidd Gorge more at risk.