De Vitre Community Gardens, Lancaster
Latest news
For the garden layout and management plans, click here
August 2018 - The lease has now been signed by the NHS, starting Sept 1st. Busy organising public liability insurance, and a celebratory event for local residents on the field - this will be 10-12am on Saturday Sept 29th. We plan to lay out the paths and also mark where the trees will go. Plus tea and cakes of course!
July 2018 - Robin Eyre's layout and management plan have been accepted by the NHS. They have now instructed their solicitor s to enter into the lease which we agreed the wording of last year. We have asked two contractors to quote for putting in paths and we are aiming for work to start on site by October
May 2018 - The NHS have given us in-principle approval for our garden plans. Robin Eyre is now working up detailed plans and a management plan, once the NHS approve these we will enter into the lease. We are hoping that groundwork contractors can install the paths etc in September
February 2018 - We are working with Robin Eyre on a new design which will satisfy the NHS requirement that no large trees are to be established on the site. Robin is an experiened Permaculture designer and runs the Fork2Fork project. This requirement we only discovered when we submitted our garden design for approval in December 2017.
Friends of De Vitre Community Garden
Local residents have formed a Friends group which will be helping us establish and maintain the community garden. Meanwhile the NLCLT is firming up the lease agreements with Lancashire Care NHS Trust.
Community green space on Ashton Road, Lancaster. February 2014
The North Lancashire Community Land Trust (NLCLT) is currently facilitating the creation of a community growing facility on the field on Ashton Road, opposite De Vitre Cottages, which is owned by Lancashire Care NHS Trust (See map).
In May 2014, local residents expressed an interest to County Councillor Gina Dowding ( who is also a Director of the NLCLT) in creating a community green space on this field which sits between the NHS day centre and the back gardens of the Highgrove residential estate, was unused and is mowed 2-3 times a year. It was not clear who actually owned the land. County Councillor Gina Dowding subsequently found out that Lancashire Care NHS Trust owns the land.
The NLCLT asked the NHS trust if they would make the space available for the local community. In November 2013, directors of NLCLT met with senior NHS staff and an ‘in principle’ agreement was made to lease the land to the NLCLT for a 25 year period to enable the development of a ‘green’ or community growing space.
Lancashire Care NHS Trust plans
Separate to this idea, The NHS Trust is submitting a planning application to convert part of its land at the front of the Day centre building to an overspill car park. The plan for the field will be submitted at the same time although the projects are separate.
With regard to the Lease of the field the NHS Trust staff and clinicians are extremely positive about the development as they see this fits in with their mission of creating healthy environments not just for their clients but for the local community. They have expressed an interest in developing the model elsewhere in Lancashire.
Consultation
The NHS and the NLCLT held a consultation event in December, which was preceded by local ward councillors leafleting residents in the neighbouring area to explain the process with a consultation survey, asking for preferences of what type of community space should be created. The suggested options provided were:
- Individual growing areas- mini allotments
- An area for planting fruit trees and bushes
- An area with benches to sit and relax
- A space for NHS staff and patients to use to grow things
About 22 people returned a consultation form, and about 25 people came to the evening consultation event. The local community were overwhelmingly in favour of developing the space and the majority wanted to develop a community orchard type of space along similar lines to the well established Fairfield community orchard in Castle ward.
Latest news
For the garden layout and management plans, click here
August 2018 - The lease has now been signed by the NHS, starting Sept 1st. Busy organising public liability insurance, and a celebratory event for local residents on the field - this will be 10-12am on Saturday Sept 29th. We plan to lay out the paths and also mark where the trees will go. Plus tea and cakes of course!
July 2018 - Robin Eyre's layout and management plan have been accepted by the NHS. They have now instructed their solicitor s to enter into the lease which we agreed the wording of last year. We have asked two contractors to quote for putting in paths and we are aiming for work to start on site by October
May 2018 - The NHS have given us in-principle approval for our garden plans. Robin Eyre is now working up detailed plans and a management plan, once the NHS approve these we will enter into the lease. We are hoping that groundwork contractors can install the paths etc in September
February 2018 - We are working with Robin Eyre on a new design which will satisfy the NHS requirement that no large trees are to be established on the site. Robin is an experiened Permaculture designer and runs the Fork2Fork project. This requirement we only discovered when we submitted our garden design for approval in December 2017.
Friends of De Vitre Community Garden
Local residents have formed a Friends group which will be helping us establish and maintain the community garden. Meanwhile the NLCLT is firming up the lease agreements with Lancashire Care NHS Trust.
Community green space on Ashton Road, Lancaster. February 2014
The North Lancashire Community Land Trust (NLCLT) is currently facilitating the creation of a community growing facility on the field on Ashton Road, opposite De Vitre Cottages, which is owned by Lancashire Care NHS Trust (See map).
In May 2014, local residents expressed an interest to County Councillor Gina Dowding ( who is also a Director of the NLCLT) in creating a community green space on this field which sits between the NHS day centre and the back gardens of the Highgrove residential estate, was unused and is mowed 2-3 times a year. It was not clear who actually owned the land. County Councillor Gina Dowding subsequently found out that Lancashire Care NHS Trust owns the land.
The NLCLT asked the NHS trust if they would make the space available for the local community. In November 2013, directors of NLCLT met with senior NHS staff and an ‘in principle’ agreement was made to lease the land to the NLCLT for a 25 year period to enable the development of a ‘green’ or community growing space.
Lancashire Care NHS Trust plans
Separate to this idea, The NHS Trust is submitting a planning application to convert part of its land at the front of the Day centre building to an overspill car park. The plan for the field will be submitted at the same time although the projects are separate.
With regard to the Lease of the field the NHS Trust staff and clinicians are extremely positive about the development as they see this fits in with their mission of creating healthy environments not just for their clients but for the local community. They have expressed an interest in developing the model elsewhere in Lancashire.
Consultation
The NHS and the NLCLT held a consultation event in December, which was preceded by local ward councillors leafleting residents in the neighbouring area to explain the process with a consultation survey, asking for preferences of what type of community space should be created. The suggested options provided were:
- Individual growing areas- mini allotments
- An area for planting fruit trees and bushes
- An area with benches to sit and relax
- A space for NHS staff and patients to use to grow things
About 22 people returned a consultation form, and about 25 people came to the evening consultation event. The local community were overwhelmingly in favour of developing the space and the majority wanted to develop a community orchard type of space along similar lines to the well established Fairfield community orchard in Castle ward.
