Surprise £60k donation from secret donor means Knaresborough community project is now debt-free
A surprise £60,000 from an anonymous donor has been hailed as a breakthrough in plans for a new community woodland in land which once formed the ancient Royal Forest of Knaresborough.
The Board of Long Lands Common said the game-changing donation has happened after the generous donor, who wishes to remain anonymous, had taken part in one of the recent guided walks of Knaresborough Forest Park.
The new funding will be used to pay off the bridging loan for the purchase of Knaresborough Forest Park and to fund development of the site.
Geoff Freeston, site lead for Knaresborough Forest Park, could hardly contain his excitement at the news: “This is a complete game-changer for us.
"It means that not only can we pay off our remaining benefactors, we can start actually putting money into the land to make the site safe and start working on it.”
Long Lands Common, a 30-acre site between the Nidderdale Greenway and Bilton Lane, has gone from strength to strength since the land was bought in 2020.
Its founders’ vision is of “an accessible-to-all community owned woodland that will help protect and preserve the greenbelt between Harrogate and Knaresborough for future generations”.
The Long Lands Community is made up of three sites: Long Lands Common itself, Knaresborough Forest Park, and their next project, the Long Lands Community Food Forest.
Part of the aim is to create a green corridor stretching almost continuously from the River Nidd in Knaresborough to the Nidderdale Greenway near Bilton.
The surprise donation means that the volunteers no longer need to spend all their efforts fundraising but can now start planning how to begin work on the land.
A core group is already meeting regularly to carry out urgent jobs such as removing barbed wire and repairing the fencing along the Beryl Burton cycleway.
There have also been some very promising talks with White Rose Forest for parts of the site,
A celebration of becoming debt-free is now planned on the KFP site on Sunday, May 4 to thank donors, lenders, volunteers and supporters.
For more information, visit: https://www.longlandscommon.org/ and https://www.knaresboroughforestpark.org/