In early November 2020 we were told that the Cootes Greens and other grassed areas, including many verges in our community were being sold at auction on December 10th by Davis Estates who have owned the land since the houses were built in the Cootes Farm area in the 1940s and 1950s. We immediately formed a plan to try and buy the land. Thanks to the outstanding community spirit and generosity of so many residents I’m delighted to tell you WE WON! It was very nerve wracking, especially the last 5 minutes of the 2-hour auction heartfelt thanks to Martin Boffey who was in the “hot seat” with a cool head. We paid £33,250 but it belongs to us all forever.
We completed the purchase of our little piece of England on January 29th 2021. The land has been registered in the name of Cootes Farm Community Limited (“CFCL”) - a company limited by guarantee that we set up for this purpose - and have at last got a CFCL bank account open. All of which was far from easy during a pandemic! Pleased to report we have had a good response from folk wishing to join CFCL as directors. Going forward we will explore registering it as a charity or converting it into a Community Interest Company.
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