FRIENDS of East Wood are delighted to announce that their offer to buy East Wood, Otley - known locally as ‘Weston Woods’- has been accepted, subject to contract.

The woodland will be accessible to the community in perpetuity, held by Menston Area Nature Trust. The woods will officially be held by Menston Area Nature Trust as they are a local charity that was set up to make exactly this kind of purchase for community and wildlife.

A spokesperson for the Friends of East Wood group said: “We have been blown away by the incredible response to our campaign, with more than 1500 people donating and raising close to £140,000 so far. This is just amazing and is a testament to our fabulous community and their connection to this wonderful area of accessible greenspace.”

The group also extends heartfelt thanks to Julia Davies of ‘We Have The Power’ who generously offered a philanthropic loan, to allow them to secure this valuable asset with the best bid they could muster. Land (and especially woodland) often goes for far more than the guide price, but they didn’t want to show their hand too publicly before they threw their cap in the ring. Julia uses her personal funds to enable charitable projects (including land acquisitions for nature restoration) to progress. The group will need to pay Julia back so that she can offer other groups the same financial support.

The collaboration of groups will now continue with the job in hand – fundraising to pay off the loan, VAT and various legal fees, and working to manage the woodland for the community and for nature recovery.

A spokesperson for Friends of East Wood added: “We want to thank every single person who has supported us, donated or shared. It would be wonderful to receive more funding from local or national businesses and organisations too, which will help us to repay the generous loan we received, and to cover the additional costs of VAT and solicitors fees. We can then get on to managing the wood for our community and for wildlife.”

Friends of East Wood are continuing to fundraise through their crowdfunder https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/otley-east-wood-community-buyout

The supporting organisations involved are:

• Otley 2030

• Menston Area Nature Trust

• Wharfedale Naturalists Society

• Wildlife Friendly Otley

• Climate Action Ilkley

• Climate Action Menston

• Yorkshire Rewilding Network

• Protect Earth

• Woodland Savers (pre-launch but supporting)