Funders and Supporters
The page has details of Fauna funders, Flora funders, Fairfield Millennium Green and Community Orchard funders, and Aldcliffe Road Triangle funders.
Fauna funders
We are grateful to the following funding bodies and individuals for their support:
- Lancaster City Council: 30-year lease at a ‘peppercorn’ rental.
- Lancashire County Council (Environment Directorate): £17,000. This was a pump-priming grant, which enabled us not only to plan the work but to unlock other grants. The Environment Directorate also gave us expert help with planning and fund-raising through its Community Support service.
- Groundwork Community Spaces (funded by The Big Lottery) £50,000.
- The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). The RSPB’s Farmland Advisory Service gave us expert help in applying to Natural England for Higher Level Stewardship, and it is providing ongoing support for our conservation and habitat restoration work.
- Natural England / DEFRA (Higher Level Stewardship [HLS]): approx £17,000 in payment for capital works; plus £1,585 per year for 10 years, towards the recurrent costs of managing both Fauna and the Orchard.
- Lancaster Girls’ Grammar School, which gave us permission to manage School Pond and its surrounding marshland as part of Fauna, and to run a short section of footpath on a boardwalk bridge across a corner of its land.
- Lancashire Environmental Fund (in association with the Landfill Communities Fund) £30,000.
- The Lancashire Environmental Fund have since given us their Best Practice Award for 2012 in the Natural Environment category.
- The Fairfield Association’s own members and supporters, who contributed well over £15,000 for preparatory costs including design, public consultation, legal and other professional fees, as well as the direct costs of the work.
- We also acknowledge the skilled help of Graeme Skelcher, Ecological Consultant (preliminary surveys and reserve management plan) and Georgina Peacock of Peacock Designs (landscape design and contract management), as well as of our specialist contractors including M D Hanafin & Sons of Milnthorpe.
Flora funders
The strip of over 2 acres which we bought in 2011 was acquired entirely through the generosity of local donors.
In March 2013 we heard that the Fairfield Association had been awarded a grant of £96,700 from the Heritage Lottery fund for the Flora project. ( Below is the press release we put out at the time. ) This award effectively meant that we could go ahead and buy the remainder of the land we had been negotiating for. £80,000 of the total was to be put towards the purchase and, when added to the other money we had raised and the associated gift aid, we now had sufficient funds to complete the purchase of the 26 acres owned by the Harries family and to approach Gleesons for the remaining 6 acres we hoped to buy.
The remaining £16,700 of the Heritage Lottery Fund grant was to help to fund an ambitious multi-generational learning and volunteering programme, helping both young and old to learn about the history and biodiversity of the Flora reserve and to train local volunteers in the skills needed to create habitats to support local flora and attract wildlife.
- In total, donations from individuals and local fund raising have been more than £150,000;
- The Cannon Hill Residents Association have given us more than £5,000;
- E. H. Booth & Co, the supermarket company, have donated £2,000 to us for our work;
- The Duchy of Lancaster contributed £500.
Fairfield Millennium Green and Community Orchard funders
The biggest contributor was Millennium Greens, but Lancaster City Council was also extremely generous. The Council kindly provided the land, which is leased to us for 999 years at £1 a year, and gave us financial support (through their ‘Million for the Millennium’ initiative). The leader of the Council at that time (Stanley Henig) was very supportive personally, helping us to negotiate the original proposal with Millennium Greens.
We also received funding from:
- Bass Charrington
- The British Trust for Conservation Volunteers (BTCV)
- Lancaster BTCV
- The Royal Botanical & Horticultural Society of Manchester and the Northern Counties
- The Ramblers Association
- Personal donations from local people
- The Fairfield Association itself gave significant funds towards the project
Aldcliffe Road Triangle funders
A very big thank-you to all those who have provided funding and free services
List of supporters
Irrigation pump, supply and installation
Diggory is a local plumber and Gas Safe boiler installer.
Raised beds, paths, plants
In 2015 the Government introduced the 5p charge for single-use plastic bags. Shops were asked to donate the proceeds to good causes. We made an application for money from the Tesco/Groundwork scheme. In March 2016 we found we had been awarded £10,000.
This money was used for the materials for the raised beds (seasoned oak, liners, topsoil, trees and plants) and for the paths. All labour was done by ourselves.
Masonry work and materials to towpath wall
bloc – H20 Urban and construction partnership uk ltd
H2O Urban LLP is an equal partnership with The Canal and River Trust (CRT), the result of a 17 year working relationship with CRT’s predecessor British Waterways. H2O develops adjacent to the Canal and River Trust network in the UK. H2O is part of the bloc partnership. Together with Construction Partnership UK Ltd they have developed and built the houses on the other side of the canal from the Triangle over 2015/2016. They were concerned to improve the environment for their houses and generously took it upon themselves to provide manpower and materials to lower the towpath wall of the Triangle.
Solar lighting
United Utilities Community Fund
Where United Utilities have had to do extensive and disruptive infrastructure development work such as in Lancaster, they have sought to sweeten the pill by offering grants to local groups who are working to improve the environment. These may be community, self-help, voluntary groups or local charities.
Gardening tools
Lancashire County Council administered the Green Partnership awards until 1 April 2015 when the scheme changed its name to ‘Lancashire Environmental Fund Green Grants’ and was handed over to the Lancashire Environmental Fund.
Landscape design, bollard supply
Lancaster University’s Wind Turbine Community Benefits Fund
The Community Benefits Fund has been developed in order to share the benefits of Lancaster University Wind Turbine with the local community.
The fund offers grants to local community groups to fund community and environmental projects in Lancaster District (south and east of the River Lune). Currently there is £20,000 available each year.
Notice board supply
Lancaster Green Spaces have two grant schemes for groups seeking to enhance and encourage greater use of public open space.
- Up to £250 can be applied for at any time under the Small Grant scheme.
- The large grant scheme offers grants of up to £1,000. Application deadlines are February 15th and September 15th each year.
Planning application fee, Tree survey
Lancashire County Council have a small environmental and community projects budget to help community groups and organisations across Lancashire. They support projects with realistic goals that:
- encourage a significant amount of local people to shape and look after their local environment
- create or improve green spaces
- bring previously developed land back into public use
Legal and survey fees, workshop renovation
Lancaster City Council Take Pride Community Fund 2012-2013
The Take Pride Community Fund was a one-off pot of funding for use in the Lancaster District. It came from the share of council tax on second homes received by Lancashire County Council. The fund was made available to all organisations in the voluntary, community, faith (VCF) and arts sectors that are based in, or working in, Lancaster District.
DTR provided a full detailed survey of the site which can be seen on the Maps and Plans page.
All those who have given help and advice
Our Parent Organisation
Structural engineers