Friends of Bolehill Wood

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Friends of Bolehill Wood

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Formed in January 2021, we are a group of residents working to protect Bolehill Wood

07/10/2026

Hi folks,

A quick update from our committee meeting on Monday - items discussed included our new co-chairs, Matt and Iain; dog waste; and having information boards in the woods.

On the last point, this followed a conversation at the AGM, where we discussed the possibility of installing signage in the woodland area, similar to those at Graves Park.

Regrettably, Sheffield City Council has informed us that planning permission would be required, and that such signage could be classified as advertising, with an associated fee of £160, just for an initial review of the proposal.

Consequently, we wondered whether any local residents bordering the woodland would be open to having an information board about the area displayed on their property.

We are currently gathering information on the potential costs involved, but the initiative will only proceed if suitable locations for these boards can be identified.

If you are willing to consider this, please let us know, and we will be happy to discuss the next steps.

Here’s a pic of the boards in Graves Park, as an example.

Thank you!

05/09/2026

There's been a lot of new views to our page recently. Things are fairly quiet in regards to the woods at the moment but our WhatsApp groups are still quite active and we still share concerns and updates via those. Here are some photos I took of our beautiful woods in spring.

13/03/2026

Sheffield City Council has displays covering details of the Sheffield Local Plan on show at the Moor Market, Crystal Peaks and Thorncliffe Health and Leisure Centre, until 26th March.

Although Bolehill Wood has protection under the draft Local Plan, we are concerned that green belt land elsewhere in the city is threatened by the proposals. Public consultation is open until the 14th April. For more info, see the Save Sheffield's Green Belt website.

The Sheffield Local Plan exhibition is running until 26 March.

It shows how the Plan aims to guide new homes, support jobs and investment, and help Sheffield grow in a well‑planned and sustainable way.

The displays also feature information about the current consultation on key changes to the Plan.

You can visit the exhibition at the Moor Market, Crystal Peaks Shopping Centre, and Thorncliffe Health and Leisure Centre. It is unstaffed and open to view during each venue’s normal opening hours.

For more details about the Plan, visit https://www.sheffield.gov.uk/planning-development/sheffield-local-plan

27/02/2024

04/01/2024

Happy New Year all! It’s been an eventful few weeks, but we’re relieved that Bolehill Wood has now been recognised as ancient woodland, and that Sheffield City Council have confirmed in writing that it both wishes to protect the woodland from development and has the ability to do so.

Thanks to David Bocking of It's Looking A Bit Black Over Bill's Mother's for covering the latest updates on our efforts to secure the future of Bolehill Wood.

The relaxed rolling news service for full members.

04/12/2023

😨After two failed attempts to buy part of the woodland, and despite much trepidation, we are now hoping we have enough fight left in us to go for 3rd time lucky attempt!!💪

💰AMGR, owners of the upper part of Bolehill Wood, intend to sell, opening an opportunity for us to make another offer, against claims of offers over £75,000 (which is slightly less £/area the buyer of the lower wood paid) 💰

🏦We currently have £23,000, and feel it’s worth having another shot to secure that part of Bolehill Wood into community ownership (and hence protection in perpetuity).👨‍👩‍👦

👂We are keen to hear your views on this and plan to reopen the donation form shortly - We will send a link when that is open.🪙🪙

💰We’ve had offers of interest free loans, but ongoing fundraising would be essential. Anyone who can help with fundraising in any capacity, please can you complete this short form to let us know what commitment you can offer:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScxaurOSr8STRQdP4gE1MsIyR2AxDnVtRKKHdjKG2WXOJw7NQ/viewform

🙏We’d also be very keen to hear from anyone who has experience of professional land buying, selling and / or negotiations who might be able to help us out🙏

😊Thank you for any help you can offer to this campaign.👍

FOBW Committee

If we use loans from community members to help buy part of Bolehill Wood, we will need to fundraise on a regular basis to pay back the loans over several years

30/09/2023

🌿Sad news, fundraising and call to action 30/09 🌿

😞 Woodland owner Martin Hague has decided to sell the wood to another buyer. We are devastated.

🍄 The initial asking price was £85k. We offered £86k, and were refused. To stay in the running, the seller asked for another offer over £120k.

😱This increase was a shock. We talked to our closest supporters and decided that trying to save the wood was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

😍Amazingly, with £48k in pledges and donations plus financial backing, we put in a competitive offer well above £100k. Thanks to all our supporters for your help with this.

😓 Sadly, our offer and the case we made for community benefit, was not persuasive.

🔔 We will be processing refunds for all donors according to your wishes in the donation form. Please bear with us! We intend to process all refunds by w/c 13th November.

🔮 The future is not yet written! We will keep campaigning to protect the woods from development. And *if* the current sale falls through, we will try again to purchase.

👉 We need your help! (1) Do you know who the buyer is? Let us know as we'd love to talk to them. (2) Do you know anyone at Natural England? We want to speed up our application to register Bolehill as Ancient Woodland.

💚 Sign up to our e-newsletter to stay updated with our campaign http://eepurl.com/hOjrZ1

💪 With gratitude and in hope, Friends Of Bolehill Wood

21/09/2023

🎉 We’re in the Sheffield Telegraph!
📸 If you get chance to pick up a copy, you’ll see there’s a two-page spread with photos of the woodland.
🙏 Huge thanks to David Bocking who has written the piece, in support of our efforts to buy the part of Bolehill Wood that is currently up for sale.
📰 Great to see our campaign making headlines!

Address

Bole Hill
Sheffield
S88QE

Website

http://www.friendsofbolehillwood.org/

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