Land Trust Annual Review 2021: Charitable Delivery - Health

The Land Trust is extremely proud of the work we do across our sites to improve the physical and mental wellbeing of our communities and this is reflected in the activities we deliver on our sites.

When the first lockdown to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic was announced in March 2020 it was a very difficult time for many organisations. Thankfully, although guidance was changing frequently, it quickly became clear that the government was going to prioritise people being able to get out and about for exercise.

The Land Trust therefore took the decision to keep as many of our sites open as possible for our communities to use. We did this knowing there would be significant challenges in doing this, particularly when other landowners were making the decision to close their sites. We therefore saw increased footfall on our spaces, receiving nearly 2.5 million visits for the first time in our history.

These increased visitor numbers made a hugely positive impact on the physical and mental wellbeing of the communities we work with and created significant economic and social value with over £2 million delivered.

There was a significant increase in healthcare cost savings with this rising from £847,879 in 2019-20 to £1,272,555 in 2020-21. There was also an increase in health and wellbeing value rising from £533,652 to £718,944.

Health Site of the Year

Once one of Europe’s most polluted sites, The Avenue Country Park is now an award winning parkland and wildlife reserve. The 90 hectare former Coking Works in North East Derbyshire has benefitted from significant investment by Homes England and its predecessors over the last 20 years, with the site transferring to the Land Trust’s management in 2019.

The Avenue was recognised for this incredible transformation at the Land Trust awards, deservedly picking up Health Site of the Year. The site is always busy with walkers, runners and cyclists regularly using the paths to get some fresh air and exercise, which makes a really positive difference to their physical and mental wellbeing.

A local company, Cannon Events, host regular five kilometre races and longer events, while they also bring their juniors to train on site every week. Wingerworth Junior Sports Association train and play their matches on site with up to 120 young people each week, while Tupton Rugby Club also use a pitch for their juniors.