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 transfrom 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 May 2025, after many months of due diligence, we have entered into a Funding Agreement and received the first portion of funds from COF.  This money will cover the administrative costs of purchasing the field; including legal fees, a planning consultant and services from Derbyshire Wildlife Trust to draw up a land management plan.  
 

When these preparations are all in place, we will receive the second part of the grant and the purchase will be made. We expect this to happen sometime in the Summer 2025.

 

At this time, POGs Directors will make arrangements with shareholders to refund the loans and close down the company.

 

What's next?

 

Once we own the field we will begin works to make it possible to open Temple Street Field for community access. We will replace fencing, install accessible gates and ensure the land itself is fully insured and safe for access by carrying out some tree works. We hope to hold some small, one-off events later in 2025 that will allow limited access at arranged times. This will conclude Phase One of the process.

 

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Phase Two will look at bringing the management plan we consullted on publically, and then developed with the help of Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, to life. We will begin fundraising again around Summer 2025, to help us fund these developments.​