Mel Stride MP has leant his support to residents in Bovey Tracey who are trying to buy an area of woodland from the National Trust to prevent it from selling the land to developers. In a letter to the National Trust, Mr Stride urged the charity to give the community more time to raise funds and highlighted local concerns about potentially losing a much-valued area of flora and fauna.
Mr Stride said:
"I have corresponded with local campaigners about the land and have written to the National Trust to ask them for a further extension to allow discussions with the community to continue. I appreciate that the Trust has already given the community an additional 14 months to raise the money to buy the land, but their fundraising efforts will have been hampered by the pandemic and a further extension is really vital."