Campaigners are celebrating after smashing through the £70k target they set to enable them to buy the much-loved patch of wild nature in Holgate.
“This is huge,” said Jo Patton of the Friends of Severus Hill.
“It’s a real statement: the community coming together and saying ‘yes, we want Severus Hill’.”
Much of the money raised has come from comparatively small donations from a large number of people, Jo said – proving how much the hill means to local people.
“We’ve had more than 1,000 donations,” he said.
The Friends had set themselves the target of raising £70k by the end of May.
And they’ve burst through that – at time of writing, almost £76,000 had been donated.
The Friends are in the process of applying for charitable status. Once they get that, they’ll also be able to claim gift aid on donations, Jo said, so that the money already raised will be worth almost £90,000.
READ MORE:
– Campaign to save Holgate’s Severus Hill intensifies
– Plans to sell much-loved green space in York are put on hold
– Concerns as ‘valuable’ nature site in York goes up for sale
But while jubilant, they still aren’t counting their chickens.
The asking price for Severus Hill is almost £170,000.
The Friends have said all along that as much as £100,000 of that could come from grant applications or donations from business.
But, just like when you buy a house, until the ink on the exchange of contracts is dry, they are taking nothing for granted.
Until then, the more funds that can be raised from the community, the better, Jo said.
So the fundraising continues.
“If we can close that funding gap as much as possible, it makes it easier for donors to say ‘yes’,” Jo said.
“And if we managed to raise all the money from the community, we could ask donors if they would think of contributing to the running costs.”
The hill in Holgate– which is owned by Keyland, a sister company of Yorkshire Water – has been fenced off for more than 30 years.
In that time it has been reclaimed by nature, so that what was once a patch of ugly scrubland dominated by a water tower has turned into a green oasis of trees, plants and wildlife.
The Friends want to buy it to ensure that it can never be built upon.
They have been given until the end of June to put forward a realistic bid for the land.
If they do succeed in buying the hill, they say they would then keep it as a wild corner of York.
It will not be a public park, they stress – access will be limited to occasional visits by school groups, environmentalists or conservation groups.
Severus Hill has become a haven for wildlife – including foxes (Image: Friends of Severus Hill) But it would be there in the heart of the community – a wild green lung adding to the biodiversity and natural beauty of York.
And its amazing history would also be preserved.
The Friends say the hill has its roots in the last ice age – and has connections to Roman emperor, the World War II blitz, and Victorian-era excursions.
“The hill is believed to have been named by the Victorians,” a short history put together by the Friends says.
“The legend goes that the Roman emperor Septimius Severus, who died in York in 211 AD, may have been cremated in huge funeral pyre there.”
To donate to the campaign to Save Severus Hill, visit crowdfunder.co.uk/p/severushill
The Friends are also staging a series of events in support of their campaign– details on the group’s Facebook page.
