Buy your own slice of Lancaster for just £5 and help save city wood

The Friends of Freeman’s Wood (FFW) need to raise around £60,000 to buy the land from the current owner, a property developer based abroad.

The group’s secretary Emily Heath said: “By owning the land as a community, we could make it a much better resource for local people and wildlife.

"We would be able to protect it from development even if planning laws change, and apply for grants to fund improvements that are wanted by local residents.”

The Friends group is using the concept behind the ‘what3words’ app to divide the land into around 12,000 squares, each identified by a unique combination of three words (for example, ///copy.clear.roses is located in the open space in the middle of Freeman’s Wood).

Each square is 3 metres by 3 metres – about the size of a small room. “Square-holders” who have the app on their phones will be able to find their sponsored squares very easily.

Emily said: “We are asking members of the public to sponsor one or more squares. Each square costs £5 – so 20 squares is £100 and an acre costs £2,250. Once all 12,000 squares have been sponsored, there will be enough money to buy the land.”

Squares can be sponsored online at www.lancastergreenspaces.org.uk/freemans-wood-purchase.html or cheques payable to ‘Friends of Freeman’s Wood’ can be sent to the FFW treasurer Simon Thomas at 37 Coverdale Road, Lancaster, LA1 5PY.

A consultation event will be held on Saturday July 16 from 2-5pm in a marquee on Coronation Field.

Committee member Eleanor Levin said: “Please come along on 16th July. The Friends of Freeman's Wood are hoping to talk to people of all ages and backgrounds about what you would like to see happening with Freeman’s Wood over the next 1-10 years.

"We’ll lead guided walks around Freeman’s Wood, and there will be drinks and cakes for sale, with all proceeds going towards the purchase of the land.”

Freeman’s Wood was awarded Town Green status, protecting the land from development, by Lancashire County Council in 2020. This followed a public inquiry in Autumn 2019. FFW previously raised £15,000 for legal fees during its 10-year campaign to save the land.