Crowdfunding appeal to preserve green spaces
A CROWDFUNDING campaign has been launched by the National Trust in a bid for the charity to buy green fields and save them from potential development.
A number of plots of land have been donated to the trust over the past 60 years, including the Lihou headland and sections of land across the south coast.
It has tended to wait for sites to be donated or left in wills, rather than go out to purchase.
But it fears the island’s green spaces are under serious threat due to climate change and the housing crisis and so is keen to buy more.
‘Everyone in the island deserves to have a house and the trust agrees that there are sufficient brownfield sites that need to be developed first,’ said National Trust lands manager Mike Brown.
‘We may have to develop green field sites in the future, and we are not anti-development, we are saying “let’s make sure every patch of brownfield is developed to its full potential first”.’
Plots of land continue to be donated, often by those who have inherited the space but no longer live locally. It has made the trust Guernsey’s third largest landholder.
But now it hopes to be more proactive in acquiring land by appealing to the public and local business for support.
‘We know there are a lot of companies in Guernsey who want to show they are environmentally friendly.’
Cooper Brouard is hosting an auction of a number of agricultural plots at the end of August. Mr Brown said the trust would love to acquire the land, if it had the funding.
‘We would love to be able to go and buy them, but we just don’t have the resources,’ he said.
‘There is a lot of talk in the States about loss of green space, and if anybody bought it that wanted to clear it, it would take ages to regrow.
‘That is what the trust is about – we are here to preserve the island’s heritage and environment.’
While donations of land are still encouraged and welcomed, receiving direct funding to purchase green plots would allow it to expand its remit even further and preserve more of the
island’s biodiversity.
‘Guernsey’s green spaces are under serious threat with increased pressure to provide housing, careless removal of trees and hedges, and an inexorable rise in the use of plastic grass all of which are having an impact on the island’s environment,’ the trust said.
‘The climate is changing, only recently we have seen the hottest July day on record. Globally species are being lost at an alarming rate, the use of pesticides are indiscriminately killing pollinators which are our vital food supplies. Our small and beautiful island is not immune to these global forces.’
n To donate via Just Giving, https://bit.ly/3BVulcA
visit https://www.justgiving.com/national-trust-guernsey.
