Old Park is due to be sold by the MoD: please take urgent action to help save it

Dear supporters,

We hope this finds you well.

Your previous support for saving Old Park and Chequers Wood meant a great deal: your signature on our Change.org petition in 2021 helped to overthrow the deeply unpopular, and now-rejected, Eastern Bypass. Unfortunately, Old Park has finally been put on the market by the MoD, putting the site at risk of development and total loss. Our window for action is short so we would like reach out once again to ask for your help.

We have three immediate tasks outlined below. If you can help with any of these, we would be most grateful:

1. Getting Old Park declared as an Asset of Community Value (ACV). If we can prove that the site is used by the community for lawful recreational purposes, we have a good chance of having the site designated as an ACV. This status will give us at least six months to raise funds to help buy the site as we hope to partner with other groups. If you visit Old Park for recreational purposes and have done so in the last five years, please send us a short email (a paragraph is enough) telling us how you use the site and why it is important to you. Please see the attached map, area 4, for reference. If you can add any dates and photographs to your statement, all the better. We need to prove that people use the network of footpaths and open spaces and not just the two Public Rights of Way marked in red on the map. All evidence since 2020 is valid. Please send your statement to: oldpark@gn.apc.org by Monday 10 March.
2. Support with fundraising. In addition to submitting evidence statements, we are asking people to (i) spread the word about our campaign and fundraising appeal to buy and manage the land, (ii) share any fundraising ideas you might have, and (iii) make a donation. Our initial target is £100,000. For more information and the link to donate, please visit and share our website: https://canterburyoldpark.org.uk/donate/. 
3. Attend the Friends of Old Park AGM. You are warmly invited to attend our AGM and campaign launch on Monday 3 March at 7pm. The evening will bring supporters together to formally launch the campaign, with the chance to hear more about the extraordinary archaeology of Old Park. Further details on the AGM can be found at: https://canterburyoldpark.org.uk/our-events/.

Finally, the latest news article on the campaign, recently published in the Kentish Gazette, can be found here. 

Thank you,

The Friends of Old Park