Temple Street Field

The field off Temple Street (formally known as Coopers Field) is part of the 'green heart' of Padfield. Its size and location is reminiscent of a public common and there are members of the village that remember being able to access the field openly, in the past. In 2020 the field was put up for auction. Concerned that the field may be purchased by housing developers, village residents sprang into action.

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The story so far

 

A significant number of village residents pledged donations or loans to raise enough money to purchase the field at auction, which they did in September 2020. 

 

A single body was required to make the purchase, and so POGs (Padfield Open Green Spaces) was born. The group is made up of 3 directors and all shareholders who donated or loaned money for the purchase. It is a limited company, as this was the quickest kind of organisation to create, and time was of the essence. However, this would only be the beginning. POGs knew that as a limited company they could never apply for the funding required to transform and manage the field for public use and the benefit of nature, as was the desire of a majority of residents. The sole aim of POGs became to buy the field and to then hold onto it until a local charity could be set up to re-purchase the field from POGs on behalf of the village as a whole.

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That charity is us! Padfield Community Spaces was established in 2021 and incorporated in 2022 as a CIO. Our aim is to purchase the field from POGs (at which time the loans made into POGs can be repaid) and turn it into a community green space managed for nature and visitors, and protecting it from development in the future.

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Throughout 2021, we carried out three rounds of public consultation - by leaflet, on Facebook, and in person - to gather the ideas and views of the community for the field's subsequent use and management. We had a broad range of responses, but common themes included prioritising areas for wildlife and allowing for quiet enjoyment of the site, through improved access and provision of seating.

 

Since 2021, we have been working hard making funding bids to cover to cost of the purchase. It hasn't been easy, especially in this economic climate, and discovering that many funding pots don't cover land purchase. However, in 2024 we found the Community Ownership Fund (COF), provided by the UK Government.

 

After a year of determined bid crafting we received the exciting new in December 2024 that we had been successful in obtaining our requested £50k grant from the COF. Click here to read our press release. It made a fantastic end to the year!

 

What's happening now?

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As of November 2025, PCS is now the legal owner of Temple Street Field! Read our Chairperson's full statement.

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Over the next couple of months, works will begin on the field, to make it safe for public use. Until these are completed, access to the site will be on an ad-hoc basis, for PCS co-ordinated activities only. This is only a short term situation, and we look forward to opening the site fully at some point in 2026. 

Preparatory works will include: carrying out an initial site clearance and tree works, replacing the fence-line, installing new accessible gates and benches and planting a new hedgeline.

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We are also beginning to run small, local event on Padfield Park (adjacent to Temple Street Field) and will also be looking for volunteers to help with some of the initial clearance and planting works.

 

What's next?

 

When we have completed the terms of the COF funding bid (also known as Phase One) we will move onto ​Phase Two of our management plan. This was created using the results of public consultations with village residents and has been formalised with the help of Derbyshire Wildlife Trust.

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Phase 2 includes: planting an orchard, which will include plum trees which have a historical link to Padfield, creating accessible paths and starting work on community gardening/flowers beds.

 

We are currently fundraising to help us fund these developments.​