CAMPAIGNERS who tried to buy up a patch of ancient woodland in Ross-on-Wye have said their crowdfunding bid has been unsuccessful.

Merrivale Wood Conservation Group had tried to raise £100,000 online in a matter of days to buy the wood from Herefordshire Wildlife Trust, which previously stated it wanted to focus its limited resources on larger and better-connected sites.

The group’s founders Jess and Jody Shaw said “We have been told by Herefordshire Wildlife Trust that we were not successful in purchasing the woods, but that it will go to a local owner who we hope to work with going forward.

“We had a phone call from the trust and despite this disappointing news, we have been informed the buyer is local and shares our values of conservation and community, demonstrated through existing projects they are involved with.

“We understand they are keen to retain the site as a nature reserve and there may be some opportunities for collaboration with our Merrivale Wood Conservation Group. We will be talking with them in due course, and we will provide more information when we have had those discussions.

“We thank all of you for your incredible support throughout October in this very rapid campaign that brought so many of us together.

“We have read so many amazing stories that have touched our hearts and the amount of money raised in such a short space of time has really shown how much the wood means to us all.

“An extra debt of gratitude goes to our small team of superstars that worked hard to spread the message, generate interest, make sure we would be a viable organisation and fill in all the paperwork namely Daniel Lister; Barry Davies; Marsaili and Leo Heatley and Rob and Rebecca Gibbs.”

The campaigners have stated that all donations will be returned having activated the ‘refund’ button at Go Fund Me.

Meanwhile the campaigners said that the recently formed Merrivale Wood Conservation Group will remain as a Community Interested Company for the moment, keeping its fingers on the pulse, providing updates to followers as things move forward and hopefully shaping community engagement with the wood.

Herefordshire Wildlife Trust had set October 30 as the deadline for bids. The campaigners had requested that the trust gives the company an additional six months to raise sufficient funds to meet the purchase price.

The company also suggested two further options in that the ownership of Merrivale Woods remains with the trust with the company taking over its maintenance and support; the second that the trust donates the site to the conservation group.

The trust explained on its original notice, posted in June last year, that the decision to sell Merrivale Woods, which extends in total to around 11.21 acres, had been made following a review of its landholdings and ensure that the trust’s limited resources were targeted at conservation and nature recovery across Herefordshire.

The sales particulars warned that the Local Nature Reserve designation will likely be removed as part of the sale.