Bid to turn the Salisbury Broken Bridges land into nature reserve

A former farm could be turned into a nature reserve if a public appeal for funds is successful.

Broken Bridges Nature Reserve Ltd (BBNR), a not-for-profit organisation, has three months to raise £250,000 to buy the 33-acre site in Salisbury.

The land, known locally as Broken Bridges, comprises the former Fitzgerald Farm, close to the Churchfields industrial estate.

Jeremy Nettle, chairman of the BBNR, said it was an “exciting opportunity” to restore the land, boost biodiversity and improve access to the site.

The land, which is part of the River Avon Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), is owned by a private trust, which now wants to sell it.

Based between Bemerton and Harnham, the land was registered as an Asset of Community Value (ACV) by Wiltshire Council in January after an application was backed by 220 people.

If an asset is listed and then put up for sale, communities are given six months to make an offer to buy it.

Mr Nettle added that the clock was now ticking to bring the land into community ownership.

“What people want to see is for local people to give money, then they (environmental grant-making bodies) will match the funding,” he said.

“Once we own the land, it’s pretty obvious from all the applications we’ve made that there will be funding for biodiversity conservation.”