Otley: £100k crowdfunder bid to buy East Wood for community

The area of land near Otley is called East Wood and is known locally as Weston Woods

Wildlife campaigners in West Yorkshire hope to buy an area of woodland which they fear could otherwise be sold for pheasant shooting or to provide timber.

East Wood, on the edge of Weston, near Otley, is being marketed as an "amenity woodland" with "timber potential" and has a guide price of £100,000.

A crowdfunder has just been launched to buy the 20-acre wood, with the deadline to raise funds just over a week away.

Supporters said they hoped it could be preserved as a "community woodland".

Estate agent Dacre, Son and Hartley, in charge of the native woodland's sale, said the property would go to "best and final offers" on Tuesday 14 February.

A statement on the crowdfunding page said: "We are a collaboration of local community and nature groups, supported by national organisations who are working together to seize this rare opportunity to purchase and manage East Wood with, and for, the community, as well as for wildlife."

Organisers said they were working with The Woodland Trust to create a management plan for the land, known locally as Weston Woods.

"Locals walk through it, but don't have the right to roam, unlike the visiting deer, tawny owls and woodpeckers, or resident kites, rooks, goldcrests, tree creepers and warblers," they said.

"It's already rich in biodiversity, which can be enhanced. Or not, depending on who gets hold of it…Our hope and plan is that it becomes 'East Wood Community Woodland'."

The native woodland is home to sycamore, oak and birch trees

According to the website, several community and environmental groups were involved in the crowdfunding effort, including Menston Area Nature Trust, Otley 2030, Wharfedale Naturalists, Wildlife Friendly Otley, Climate Action Menston, Climate Action Ilkley, Addingham Environment Group, Yorkshire Rewilding Network and Protect Earth.

Ian Brand, from Wharfedale Naturalists, said: "This is truly a wonderful opportunity to buy and manage a beautiful local woodland, not just for now, but for future generations.

"Local community ownership and control will allow us to maintain access for everyone, while managing East Wood in a way to increase its biodiversity and richness."

A spokeswoman for Dacre, Son and Hartley said: "The property is situated to the north of Weston Lane on the edge of the picturesque village of Weston which is on the outskirts of Otley and it is approximately 12 miles north east of Leeds.

"East Wood is a mixed deciduous woodland which is made up predominantly of mature and some restocked species, including sycamore, oak and birch, offering some timber potential with an understorey of bluebells, wild garlic and other flowering species providing a blaze of colour in the spring months."

The land also includes a public footpath and Yorkshire Water has a right of access along the track to a pump house it owns.