Long Lands Common

Long Lands Common was the first piece of land to be brought into community ownership through Long Lands Community. The 30-acre former farmland lies on the eastern side of Bilton, bordering a section of the Nidderdale Greenway within Nidd Gorge. The main reason for securing this land was to prevent a proposed bypass that would have cut through the valley.

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Between 2016 and 2019 the founding members of the organisation dedicated their efforts to campaigning against the Inner Northern Relief Road proposal. Had it gone ahead the road would have destroyed the tranquillity of Nidd Gorge, damaged one of the area’s richest biodiversity sites at Bilton Fields and weakened the green belt that protects Harrogate and Knaresborough from urban sprawl.

 

This was the third time since 1986 that local communities had to rally together to defend Nidd Gorge and the green belt from the same threat. Every decade the idea of the road has resurfaced, each time bringing renewed pressure for development and risking the loss of the landscapes that define our towns.

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It was once common land, open for everyone to use, before becoming enclosed within Bilton Park, a hunting chase in the Royal Forest of Knaresborough, and later private farmland after the Act of Enclosure in 1770, exactly 250 years ago. By bringing this land back into community hands and restoring it as a common for the benefit of all, the community has sent a powerful message to politicians and developers that this land belongs to everyone - people, wildlife and future generations - and will remain that way forever.

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Long Lands Common sits directly in the path of that road. Its community ownership ensures that the land will remain protected and managed for nature and people, not for profit, standing as a lasting symbol of what can be achieved when a community comes together to safeguard its future.