Local environmental charity, the Fairfield Association, have just bought a strip of land of more than two acres to add to their new 15-acre FAUNA (Fairfield Association Urban Nature Area) nature reserve and seek to buy another. The strip just purchased runs across the area next to FAUNA which the association has been raising money to buy for the last year. For maps and details visit http://www.fairfieldassociation.org/fauna.html
Oliver Fulton, organizer of the FAUNA project said:
“This is wonderful news. The land we have bought is between the field nearest to the nature reserve and the rest of the land being sold, which stretches up from FAUNA to Aldcliffe Road and the canal. The purchase extends our nature reserve, which local people are so committed to, from 15 acres to 17acres. If we manage to acquire the other fields too, Lancaster’s new nature reserve will be 45 acres!”
Andrew Brennand, chair of the association, said:
“On 10 May we stopped declaring publicly how much money we have raised as we do not want to reveal our hand to our competitors in the sealed tender process. But local people have continued to be very generous. The deadline for tenders is 5 September and the more money we can raise in the next couple of weeks the better our chances will be. So if you want to support us in extending the new nature reserve it is NOW OR NEVER”.
Mick Short, the Fields Project organizer, said:
“The more fields we can buy, the more land will be preserved for local people to walk through and enjoy. We really can make this happen if we all work together.”
The initial part of the nature reserve, on land leased to the Fairfield Association for 30 years by Lancaster City Council, will be completed by Christmas this year.
Those wanting to give donations or make pledges should contact Mick Short urgently: Whitegates, Sunnyside Close, Lancaster LA1 5NH; telephone Lancaster 63890; email: m.short@lancaster.ac.uk