Castle Woods, Helensburgh – Great News – but we need your help!

After many years of hard work Helensburgh Community Woodlands Group and the owners of Castle Woods have entered a binding agreement on the sale of Castle Woods.   We are incredibly grateful to the Scottish Land Fund for their award of 95% of the purchase funds and to the WM Mann Foundation for their support and generosity in helping us complete the purchase.

We now urgently need your help and support to raise the rest of the funds required to complete Phase 1 of the project – the restoration and protection of the woodland.

This includes carrying out tree safety works and crucially the improvement of water management in the woodland. Tree roots have become unstable due to waterlogging.  We need expert help to define and implement a solution to this.

In addition we will organize community events to remove the fly-tipping and rubbish that is widespread, and to start removing the invasive rhododendron and laurel that are preventing natural regrowth of the woodland floor.

We estimate the total cost of Phase 1 to be £154,000.   With £117,128 already committed by the Scottish Land Fund we are well on the way but we need help from the public and from charitable funders to get us there.   Public donation is incredibly important because it further demonstrates public support and it gives confidence to charitable organisation’s that their money will deliver benefits to the community – it can have a snowball effect, so please help us if you can.  Any amount no matter how small is very much appreciated and incredibly helpful.

Phase 2 will involve transformation of the woodland to support public access in a sensitive and sustainable way and to improve the bio-diversity in this small but precious natural asset.  Our goal is to install an all-abilities pathway that will allow wheelchair use to ensure everyone in the community can enjoy the woodland and benefit from it.

It will also involve trying to enable an “outdoor classroom” environment for education and play for local primary and nursery schools.  Castle Woods is relatively flat and is in the heart of our residential community so it is ideal for these uses.

We hope you can support us, and sincere thanks from all in our local community for any help you can give.

PLEASE USE THE PAYPAL DONATE BUTTON AT THE TOP OF THE RIGHT-HAND COLUMN IF YOU CAN HELP US. Or please SEND A CHEQUE made out to Helensburgh Community Woodlands Group, C/O 12 Duchess Park Helensburgh G84

Cumberland Avenue – Campaign News

We were unsuccessful with our application to the Scottish Government for a compulsory purchase of the small woodland at Cumberland Avenue.  We applied under Part 3A of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 as we feel the land has been badly neglected and public ownership of the land by the local community would ensure the future of this valued greenspace.

Unfortunately we are not in a position to be able to appeal the decision. We still maintain a Community Interest (Right To Buy) which ensures we have first right of refusal over the land. We hope that the owners will now take steps to implement a robust management plan that improves the condition of the woodland and helps it become the bio-diverse habitat it should be.  We would certainly support them with that.