This week our campaign was featured on the front page of the KM Gazette! You can read a snippet of the article below, and the entire piece here »
A campaign has been launched to protect a “hidden gem” from development after the Ministry of Defence (MOD) put it on the market.
Old Park stretches across an area of woodland, scrub and grassland the size of 143 football pitches on the edge of Canterbury city centre.
Once used by the MOD as an infantry and driver training facility, it is now up for sale with “offers invited”.
But passionate locals are fundraising to purchase the land, which has been advertised with the potential for housing development.
Pat Edwards has been chair of the Friends of Old Park and Chequers Wood since the group’s conception in 2022. She told the Gazette: “It’s a big concern.
“We had hoped that the Ministry of Defence would work with the local authority and ourselves without going to a public sale, which means anybody could buy it for all kinds of purposes.
“[The land] isn’t in the Local Plan and there is no permission on it, but obviously speculators may speculate.”