Green fields move is well timed

Launching its first crowdfunding campaign to enable the Trust to buy fields in Talbot Valley, which will be preserved as nature intended, will also send a message to the community that this is what the National Trust is about, not just saying the right thing, but demonstrating action over the issues it cares about.

It’s a well-timed message, that will play well to a community still angry about the recent States’ decision to explore building key worker homes on a green field in the grounds of the hospital.

The Trust says it is concerned about building, but also the loss of natural hedgerows and the spread of plastic grass, though the island faces a bigger and broader debate on its green spaces through the next iteration of the Island Development Plan, which one suspects will attract much more detailed public attention next time around.

But in the meantime, the Trust is likely to steal a march in the protection of green spaces. If crowdfunding goes well, it says, it may be the first of many times it will actively look for opportunities to secure and protect land, rather than waiting for legacies to be bequeathed.

It’s an appeal which chimes with the times, and it will also spark more debate in how islanders want to see development progressed, and decide the future of our green spaces.