Wildlife trust sells woodland 'as resources low'

Merrivale Wood is classed as ancient woodland

A wildlife trust has revealed it is going to sell a woodland to enable it to focus its "limited resources" on larger nature reserves.

Herefordshire Wildlife Trust has confirmed the 4.5-hectare Merrivale Wood, is to be sold as part of a review of the trust's landholdings, which it says will "ensure funds are targeted at conservation and nature recovery priorities".

The trust, which manages nearly 60 sites across the county, said looking after smaller reserves, like the wood outside Ross-on-Wye, had become "very expensive" to maintain.

Now, local residents Jess and Jody Shaw have begun a campaign to keep the woodland open to public access, with the hope of raising the £90,000 to buy it.

They launched a GoFundMe page this week and have so far raised just over £1,100.

The estate agents handling the sale, Sutherlands, said the site would be delisted as a local nature reserve and access would only remain via an existing public footpath.

The trust said it wanted to find a buyer who would ideally maintain the land as a nature reserve.

'Special visitor attraction'

The Shaws said that although hitting the target by the 30 October deadline was "unlikely", they hoped to demonstrate they could "generate funds over a period of time and show them the benefit of maintaining the wood for community use".

Independent town councillor Daniel Lister, who is backing the campaign, said: "It's ambitious, I know, but wouldn't it be great to get it into community ownership and keep the woodland open for everyone to carry on using?

"Under a private sale, they could stop the public walking through it. That would be a devastation."

The trust said it had been in touch with community representatives and welcomed their plans to submit a proposal, which its board would consider.

Merrivale Wood is described by Sutherlands as "hugely popular with the residents of the town" and offering "a fantastic opportunity to make the woodland a special visitor attraction".

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.