Latest News
All Plans and Sketches are at the botom of this page
MIll Field Project Update November 2024
A couple of updates for you:
1) Allotments - on 1 November NSDC will be at the field doing ground tests for the allotments. This is the first step towards clearance of the area for the allotments and - eventually - us taking them on. Hooray!
2) Tree planting plan - I attach the draft tree planting plan that has been produced for us by Lynn Preece at the Sherwood Forest Trust. Damian and Emily at Springwood Trees in North Clifton have helped with this (they will be helping to do the planting along with our group and other members of the community). The precise locations of trees will be decided by our group when we do the planting and are likely to be a bit more scattered across the south end of the field than shown here - but this indicative plan enables us to calculate tree numbers. If you have any comments on this please send them to me (or speak to me) before the end of Sunday. A government grant (Trees For Climate) will pay for the trees and some management costs in following years to make sure the trees are established.
The big caveat is that this is all subject to agreement of the lease with NSDC. But subject to that happening we should be ready to begin work soon. Stay tuned for further updates.
All the best, Adam
Mill Field Project Update October 2024
Hello Friends of Mill Field
Last week I met Lynn Preece (Sherwood Forest Trust) to discuss the plans for some tree planting at Mill Field. We are following our original proposal which is to do some naturalistic (eg low density) planting towards the back and far side of the field including ten fruit trees in a small community orchard. We will also get young trees to plant a hedge across the site, replacing the current fence. This will also extend down the side. There should be enough trees in our order to fill up the gaps in the hedges too. Lynn is recommending a mix of species typically found in East Midlands eg hawthorn, field maple, birch, 1-2 oaks for the back of the site. You can see the plan in the attached documents (note - the location of the allotments is very approximate).
As far as I am aware we are waiting for the lease to be signed and then once that's happened we'll be able to order the trees and pick a weekend to do the planting. My best guess is that this will be in January although this is dependent on the lease being signed beforehand. I will book another meeting at the hall for us once we have some news re:the lease. In the meantime if you have any questions about the planting please drop me a line.
All best, Adam
Mill Field Project Update July2024
Dennis at Newark & Sherwood District Council (NSDC) has confirmed that the council have the budget to do the final decontamination and land preparation for the allotments.
This should be the final bit of work to enable NSDC to hand the site over to the village for us to begin management.
More information when it becomes available.
Mill Field Project Update January 2024
Handover from NSDC
Last summer heads of terms for a 15 yr lease were agreed with NSDC and the Parish Council for the field to be transferred to the Parish Council to be managed by the Friends of Group. Since then we have been waiting for news from NSDC. In December we heard from NSDC that the delay is because we would like to grow food on part of the field and the decontamination needs to be done to a higher standard before they will transfer the site. This applies to the areas where we would like to have allotments and fruit trees - not the whole site. I met Jak Whitney and Dennis Roxburgh from NSDC at the field in December and showed them the area proposed for allotments. They are proposing to level this area and import some topsoil to ensure it is fit for purpose for allotments. This should reduce the amount of ground prep we need to do. I heard last week that Dennis has submitted a report to NSDC and is now awaiting news on the budget for this work
Historic environment features - the mill
We have heard from NSDC that the location of the mill in the centre of the field is an official feature of historic interest. You can view the record here: https://her.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/Monument/MNT15365 The heritage team at NSDC would like us to preserve the footprint of the mill in our plans. This is likely to mean reshaping the allotment layout to incorporate a circle of ground in the centre of the site where the mill used to be. The NSDC heritage officer would also like to come and take a closer look at the field. I’ll let you know when this happens in case you’d like to come along and join this meeting.
There is a nice illustration of the mill on George Sanderson's 1835 map of Mansfield and the surrounding area (which covers South Clifton). You can access the map via the map/layers feature on the Nottinghamshire Historic Records website: https://her.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/map
Sherwood Forest Trust
The Sherwood Forest Trust have confirmed they can provide the trees for our plans - whips for hedgerow and some trees for planting in small clusters or as individual trees towards the back of the field. These would be for planting over the winter of 24/25. Lynn Preece from the Trust has been very helpful - it is thanks to Lynn that we are now aware of the historic record for the site.
