Following on from this very interesting article about the battle over Freeman’s Wood in Lancaster and the ongoing progress of enclosure I thought I’d post a short article I wrote about it a few years back.
As the metal railings continue their trail, forming a barrier around Freeman’s Wood in Lancaster, locals are becoming increasingly concerned with the potential loss of this green and free area, enjoyed by many for 50 years or more.
The woodland is owned by a Hong Kong businessman of the (tax-haven) Bermuda-based company The Property Trust, who have, in the last few months, been erecting the fence. Once the fence is completed the currently common area is said to be next in line for housing development. It seems that there are plans to re-develop the whole area around Freeman’s Wood, including Coronation Field behind it.
The land was originally owned by Williamson and used as a tip for factory waste from his linoleum factory, once the largest factory in Europe. It is claimed that in 1905 Williamson donated the land to “the people of Lancaster”. The legalities of the deeds are currently being looked into. Nick Bliss, a worker at the local hospital and close resident to Freeman’s Wood explains how this endowment lead to “the football and cricket facilities [which were present until about ten years ago], and the beauty of the wood for all to use freely”.
Despite this, in 1971 Freeman’s Wood was sold by the Council to a private company and has repeatedly changed hands, in a corporate splurge of pass-the-parcel, before coming to rest in the grasp of The Property Trust. This is a property investment firm who have plans to sell the land to a housing development company, SATNAM, for profit.
With 400 houses planned further down the Quay and another 350 in the Luneside East industrial area it has been questioned whether ‘re-development’, or less euphemistically, ‘destruction’ of Freeman’s Wood, for the purpose of further housing development, is truly necessary.
A Green Party Councillor, Jon Barry, expresses the party’s major opposition to the latter of these projects, noting that “Freeman’s Wood is too important as a recreation and wildlife space to have housing on”. They wish for the land to remain an open and free space, operating “as some sort of sports and country park type area – perhaps with ownership of the ‘community’ and/or the City Council”. Barry summarised the Green Party’s feelings, simply, as “completely opposed to the fence and the denying of local people access to the site”.
After The Property Trust began to put up the fence, the City Council put Tree Preservation Orders (TPOs) on Freeman’s Wood, but the landowners lodged an objection to the TPOs, and so an appeal will be put to a hearing. Despite this current legal protection for the site the developers have continued uprooting trees and digging up waste from the old linoleum factory and dumping it, giving this once beautiful area the appearance of a rubbish tip.
There are also applications to recognise the footpaths as public rights of way. Both of these attempts need support from local residents. Campaigners are urging anyone who wishes to preserve this land to write to the Council explaining their experiences of free use to the woods for many years to support an on-going application for Town Green status.
The land, which is now stuck in a limbo, is the home to many birds and other creatures, including deer. This habitat, vital for animals and a natural playground for children in the local area, is in danger of being permanently ravaged by concrete and tarmac, as is increasingly happening all over Britain as greed for profits outweigh respect for our remaining unspoilt and dwindling woodland. Many have expressed, on a facebook page in support of the woods, their feelings and memories for the woods and back field. Nick Bliss tells of how people have said “their childhood would have been very different without the experience” and expresses his own sentiments, saying “I used to play there nearly thirty years ago, my kids play there now, and I want to do all I can to protect this for the next generation”.
Lost in the Industrial Jungle 