800 people now own wood in Lancaster after quirky buy-out idea pays off

The Friends of Freeman’s Wood needed to raise around £60,000 to buy the 27-acre Freeman's Wood from the current owner, a property developer based abroad.

They want to turn the green space - which borders the Lune Industrial Estate at the end of St George’s Quay - into a resource for local people and protect it from future development.

The Friends group used the concept behind the ‘what3words’ app to divide the land into around 12,000 £5 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.

'Squareholders' who have the app on their phones will be able to find their sponsored squares very easily.

And thanks to this unique scheme, the sale of the land officially went through on Monday, meaning Freeman’s Wood is now safe from development and under the control of the community.

A second phase, to develop and run the land, will now move forward, engaging with specialists who will help to develop a plan and management schedule.

Mandy Bannon, councillor for Marsh ward, said: “This is fantastic news for the future of Freeman’s Wood. It’s been a great community effort. Huge thanks to the hundreds of people who donated money for the squares that enabled us to fund the purchase of the land.”

Former Green city councillor Jon Barry said: "Our vision for Freeman’s Wood is an area to be used by local people that encourages nature and wildlife wherever we can.

"With all the new houses being built in Lancaster, our green spaces are more important than ever. Succeeding with Freeman’s Wood has been half a lifetime of work, but worth it.”

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.

The Friends had previously raised £15,000 for legal fees during their 10-year campaign to save the land.

Freeman's Wood - a short history

Up to the 1960s Freeman’s Wood was used as a dump site by Williamsons linoleum factory.

Between the 1960s and the 1980s it was used for local sport, with both cricket and football pitches.

In the mid-1980s, local people fought off a large residential development on this land and on the adjacent Coronation Field, next to Willow Lane. Since then, Freeman’s Wood has largely been left to go wild.

In late 2011, contractors started to fence Freeman’s Wood and erected large KEEP OUT notices around the borders.

The fencing was eventually stopped after a successful tree preservation order was made to the city council.

It was later discovered to be a move by planning agents Satnam to develop the land.

In a bid to combat the development, the Friends of Freeman’s Wood group submitted three footpath applications and a Town Green application to Lancashire County Council.

Things went quiet until late 2018 when Satnam put in a planning application to build 250 houses on the site.

This encouraged the Friends group to lobby the county council to process the Town Green application.

At this point, the Friends group started raising money to get legal help, using former Lancaster resident Cain Ormondroyd, who is now a London barrister and had successfully represented another group at Moorside Fields - who also gave valuable advice on the Town Green process.

With Cain at the helm, the Friends were successful at the 2019 local inquiry into a Town Green application.

At the inquiry, evidence was presented from 90 local people, with 16 of them appearing as witnesses.

The Friends had to demonstrate that people had used this land for at least 20 years prior to 2011 and that they did this ‘as of right’ – i.e. nobody had tried to stop them.

In addition, local knowledge was used to successfully challenge virtually all the defences made by Satnam.

The Town Green designation means that Freeman’s Wood can be used for ‘lawful sports and pastimes’ by the public and protects it from development.

In early 2022, an agreement was made to buy the land for £50,000 plus legal expenses.

The Friends group were able to raise this money by using the What 3 Words app to notionally divide Freeman’s Wood into 12,000 three by three metre squares and ‘sell’ them to the public for £5 a go.

Nearly 800 people became ‘squareholders’ and the money was raised within a few months.