Can you support the community purchase of 8 acres of ancient woodland?

This Nature Week Community Organisation Tir Pontypridd is seeking to raise the
remaining funds needed for the community purchase of 8 acres of ancient woodland
on the outskirts of Treforest, Pontypridd in just one week!
“The deadline to submit the informal tenders is 12noon on Tues 14th July, so this last
week of fundraising will be crucial”, said Financial Director Angela Karadog.
“We’ve raised almost half of the £40,000 fundraising target, with some of our own
savings raised via membership subscriptions, several significant donations pledged
by local residents, and our Crowdfunder campaign”, she explained.

‘Barry Mountain’ as an inheritance for future generations
At a community meeting in Treforest Community Centre last week, members of Tir
Pontypridd met with members of the local community to discuss the community
purchase of the ancient woodland, known to many residents as ‘Barry Mountain’.
Older residents recalled playing in their local woods as children and explained how
the old Barry Line railway use to run past many people’s houses, the woods behind
becoming known for the railway built to transport coal from mines in the Rhondda to
Barry Docks.
The coal mines have closed, and the railway line went with Dr Beechings’ closures.
But the woodland endures, surviving the demand for timber supplies during World
War II, which saw part of the woods nearby felled, and another used as shooting
range.
And surviving the industrial toxic legacy that has blighted some of the other areas
nearby. Such as Maendy Quarry, where Monsanto dumped PCB’s in the 1950s,
which has passed this smaller area of woodland, known to history as Craig-Y-Fforest, mercifully unscathed.
Community members expressed their support for Tir Pontypridd’s intention to
purchase the woodlands and expressed their desire to conserve the heritage and
ecology of the woodlands as an inheritance for future generations.
Older residents are hopeful that children will play there again, and the Boys and
Girls Club of Wales, who relocated their officers to the nearby Treforest Boys and
Girls Club recently, are keen to access the woodlands with young people.
Helping people to reconnect with Nature
“We’re very lucky where we live”, said Ken Moon, Chair of Tir Pontypridd.
“People think of the Valleys as a post-industrial landscape where poverty is endemic.
But we also live in an area that is rapidly rewilding,” explained Ken.
“Nature is literally on our doorstep. But our access to nature is becoming more
restricted. Every time land changes hands, the keep-out signs are usually the first
thing to go up. We aim to change that by putting the decision-making into the hands
of our communities”.

A Community Benefit Society, Tir Pontypridd Cymdeithas Cyfyngedig, was set up by
residents of Pontypridd fed up of seeing land being lost to the very local communities
who care so deeply about the places where they live.
“If we want people to care more about nature and biodiversity, we need to provide
people with the opportunities to reconnect and work with the land around where they
live. Not watch Nature supports our wellbeing, and we can support nature better, but
only if we can become a part of nature once again”, said Ken.
As a membership organisation, Tir Pontypridd has been slowly raising funds to
purchase land in and around their town through membership subscriptions. The land
Tir Pontypridd purchases will be for the benefit of their community’s wellbeing AND
nature.

“We don’t see community and nature as being mutually exclusive. We think it’s
essential that if we’re to improve outcomes for nature and biodiversity, then we also
need to improve wellbeing outcomes for our local communities. Buying land is how
we aim to do that.
The majority of those who have been supporting the campaign live locally and is an
indication of how much people who live in the area care about their local landscape.
A landscape which is changing once again as society transitions to Net Zero.
But unlike external investors, Tir Pontypridd works with residents to secure and look
after the land they purchase. Sharing knowledge, expertise, decision-making, and
resources to care for the landscape around them together, as a community asset.
One week to secure an ancient woodland.

The deadline to submit the informal tenders is 12noon on Tues 14th July, so this last
week of fundraising will be crucial is the community are to go ahead with their
attempt to purchase these 8 acres of ancient woodland.
“We need to raise £40,000 by next Monday evening, otherwise we won’t be able to
go ahead with the purchase,” said Angela. “We’ve set the bar high to cover the initial
purchase costs, agents’ fees, legal fees, and to install the fencing required by the
seller”.

Additional funds will also be needed to help with ongoing maintenance costs, to
improve community access and to cover liabilities such as tree fall and fly-tipping.
If you’d like to support the campaign to purchase the woodlands, then you can donate
to the Crowdfunder appeal here: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/tir-pontypridd
If you’d like to get more involved in the work of Tir Pontypridd as a shareholding
member, then you can join Tir Pontypridd via www.tirpontypridd.org
“A community that owns its own land holds the keys for determining its own future.
Tir Pontypridd aims to be the first town in Cymru to own its own future. This
woodland is the first step in our journey to owning our own future”, said Ken.