friends of fairlands farm
London
In 2017, The Comet,, a local newspaper, issued an appeal to find a way to
restore and revive Fairlands Farm - to save it from 'wrack and ruin.' It
reported that the farmhouse had been registered as an Asset of Community Value.
The registration had occurred when a few residents of the local neighbourhood
had noticed dereliction of the site. After making enquires to Stevenage Borough
Council, they sought the help of a local charity based in their area, to prevent
the council from executing their undesirable plan. Leading the residents, the
charity could only ensure the site's registration and, refusing to take advice,
ultimately could not develop a viable proposal for the use of the farm. Although
aware the farmhouse was a Grade II listed building, the group's ambitions
blinded them to its implications. Efforts to sell the site had first been made
around 2008 when the local council sought to raise funds for town-centre
redevelopment. That is really when our story should begin, but until ghosts from
the past came to guide us ten summers later that wasn't known. The town-centre
scheme had barely begun when prospective investors got cold feet due to a global
financial crash, but it gave time to ensure the farmhouse gained its listed
status which was a local historian, Margaret Ashby had first proposed in 2004.
In 2011 further attempts were made to market the farm, but with the listing now
in place the was no party willing to take on the risk. By 2016, lack of
investment left the house unsafe for occupation. After 25 years at the farm, the
trustees of Digswell Arts Trust decided it was time to call it a day and the
artists cleaned their brushes for the last time. With the property unoccupied
for the first time since 1990, the council returned to its plans to sell the
property to a pub or restaurant chain for the third time. Renewed determination
to rid itself of the albatross around its neck, the council commissioned a
condition survey to establish the extent and cost of repairs needed, but the
plans failed to pass under the radar of the ever-watchful residents, and so it
came to our notice. Reading about the plight of the house, Friends of Fairlands
Farm recognised that an organisation dedicated to ensuring respect for the long
heritage of the farm, that its place in the hearts of the people of Stevenage,
would be necessary to commit to and sustain its longevity, and so the CIC was
formed. We hope that the former dairy farm and arts centre will once again
proudly stand central to the whole community of Stevenage and invite you to
support and join Friends of Fairlands Farm on this journey. Read the full story
here.
