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Update: Heavens Valley sold to the community

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The sale of Thrupp Farm in Stroud to the community is now complete. Solicitors for the seller, Moreton Cullimore, and the buyer, the Heavens Valley Community Benefit Society (HVCBS), exchanged contracts on November 14 and the transaction was completed on Wednesday (November 27).

The £850,000 purchase cost (including legal fees) was funded by £300,000 in donations and share sales and by £550,000 in bridging loans from two committed local people.

All residents and supporters are invited to join the HVCBS team in the valley (https://w3w.co/willing.pegs.winemaker) at 10.30am on Sunday December 8, for a celebration gathering and photoshoot.

The purchase, which was completed 13 months to the day since residents and local councillors first met to discuss rumours that the land was going to be sold, marks the end of the first phase of the campaign to bring the Heavens Valley into community ownership.

The next phase will be to raise a further £550,000 to repay the loans, as technically the lenders will own some of the site until repayments are completed. This phase has already started.

Karen Thomas, one of the HVCBS coordinators, said: “Words cannot express how delighted we are to have accomplished the purchase. Not much more than a year ago we were just a group of local residents meeting in a pub to talk about rumours that the land was going to be sold. Now we are a legally registered Community Benefit Society with charitable status, and have accomplished what was only an aspiration back then.

“We would like to thank Moreton Cullimore for magnanimously agreeing to sell to us when he could have got more money by selling to developers; our lenders, both local residents who have ploughed their personal savings into saving the Heavens; and, of course, every single member of the community who has made donations, whatever the size, or bought shares, or who has helped us in any way.”

Karen emphasises that the fundraising will continue: “We have just two years to repay the bridging loans that have made this achievement possible, and bring the entire site fully into community ownership. Our lenders want this outcome too as they are themselves part of the local community and are not in a position to manage large areas of public land themselves.

“In the new year there will be consultation with the community about how the land will be managed and how people can continue to be involved in the future care of this precious place.”

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