OUR STORY

Bonds Meadow is a three acre area of woodland nestled in the town of Bovey Tracey (adjacent to Bullands field) and owned by The National Trust. The land was donated to the Trust as part of the Parke Estate, in his will, by Major Hole, a local farmer and life-long resident of the town. Once maintained by the Trust this ‘meadow’ has, over the course of the past 12 or so years, been left to rewild and has become a much loved and flourishing area of natural beauty and biodiversity; home to a huge number and variety of pollinating insects and birds and protected species such as the dormouse. Over 700 species of flora and fauna have been recorded on the site, which has also been identified as forming a functional part of the local foraging area and ‘strategic flyway’ used by the native and rare Greater Horseshoe Bat; a priority species in the UK Post-2010 Biodiversity Framework.

Much to the local community's dismay, the National Trust intend to sell Bonds Meadow for residential development, despite being Europe’s largest conservation charity, claiming to “stand up for nature” and “calling for environmental measures to secure the future of our much-loved wildlife, parks, and landscapes”.

The National Trust claim that the monetary value of the land stands in the region of £300,000. Despite numerous attempts to engage with the Trust and work together to protect the future of this habitat, the Save Bonds Meadow community group received notice from the Trust on the 20th May 2021 that we had less than four weeks remaining (15th June 2021) in order to make a ‘full and final offer’ on behalf of the community to secure the land and its future. Sadly, despite raising an incredible £18,000 in just a few short weeks via a crowdfunding campaign and offering an indicative sum of £30,000-£50,000 in order to save the land from development, we were informed on the 18th of June 2021 that the National Trust had accepted a higher bid from a housing developer (Rule Five Land).

OUR MISSION

Our mission is simple. We want to make sure that the area remains a town asset for every one of us to enjoy, forever. We want to make sure that the mature trees that grace the land are not cut down and that the hundreds of species that call this space their home are protected against habitat destruction. We acknowledge the fact that we live in a time of great ecological instability; and that the protection of these wild spaces is of utmost importance. We are “standing up for nature” - just as the National Trust claim to.

We want to negotiate with the National Trust and persuade them to stand by the ecological principles that underpin their cause. We aim to persuade the Trust to reverse their decision to sell this site for development and we appeal to them to work constructively with us in order to protect this precious wild space. We intend to challenge both the principle and process of a conservation charity selling this land for housing development, following no engagement with the local community.