What is happening at Forfar Open Garden?
The Forfar Open Garden charity is currently located at 36 Lochside Road however, in December 2023 we were given notice to leave our current site by June 2025 due to our lease expiring.
We are delighted to advise that on 30 January 2025 we secured a new site with an agreement to an initial 15-year lease from Angus Council. The new site will be approx. 400 meters from the current site on Lochside Road and will be our new location from Summer 2025. We will let you know when our new site will be open nearer the time.
All volunteers and visitors will continue be welcome at the Forfar Open Garden at the current site until we transform the new site and open to the public in our new location.
What is Project Keep FOG?
ProjectKeep FOGis the project we established to transform our new site and relocate our much-loved community garden so we can retain our services to the community.
This project has been broken down into smaller manageable chunks to help us plan, manage and fund the site transformation and move.
Keep FOG – Plan – is all about planning, getting the appropriate planning permissions and consents. it involves a component of designing what the new site looks like ie where paths and buildings will be located and securing the funding for the costs to undertake preparation and move activities. (Completed Jan 2025)
Keep FOG – Prepare – is all about preparing the site to be suitable to develop into a new garden. It involves demolishing disused buildings, decontamination including asbestos removal and clearing unwanted waste, materials and weeds from the site. It is then about bringing in the services needed for the site to function such as power, water and drainage. (The utilities Completed May 2026)
Keep FOG – Secure and Pave – is about putting up security fences and gates to keep the new site safe, secure and creating new planning areas and pathways to allow pedestrian access for all abilities including wheelchair access. ( Secure completed in March 2025, Creating beds and pathways is still – In Progress)
Keep FOG – Move – has three main parts, the first part involves creating the hard standings for buildings and the driveway for vehicle access. ( Completed The second part where we needed huge involvement from volunteers was making the move happen. We have 5 buildings, their contents, garden furniture, features and many thousands of shrubs and trees all to move to the new site. The final stage is making flower beds, vegetable beds and raised beds ready for planting. ( In Progress )
Keep FOG – Open– this step is all about opening the new garden, ensuring there is appropriate signage and knowledge in the community about our new location when it is opening and how to get there. ( In Progress )
Keep FOG – Grow – is our ‘silver lining’ and represents the exciting opportunities and projects that our community have asked for in our new garden. The first two projects that we will complete is a Forest School Nature Learning Area with a treehouse at its heart and a flexible Winter workroom to allow our services to continue when the weather is bad during the winter months. Watch this space for further plans to grow our presence and increase our impact to the community at our new site.
New Site for Forfar Open Garden
Since formal notice was given that our existing lease would expire, we have been exploring with Angus Council the possibility of an alternative site. We considered several sites to determine the most appropriate piece of land available. The new site was chosen because it is close to the current garden and is still in a central location.
It will continue to enable many of our volunteers and to visitors walk to our garden. It will be slightly closer to public transport and still have ample parking.
Much planning, surveying and logistical work including formal planning applications to Angus Council for a Demolition Warrant, granted in September 2024 and a Full Planning Application (submitted December 2024) have been completed. 0n 30 January 2025 the new housing committee of Angus Council agreed to grant FOG an initial lease of 15 years for our chosen site. Groundworks to clear the site ahead of demolition started the following day to begin the transformation.
We have a thorough plan to perform the significant works needed to redevelop the site and relocate our existing garden. The task ahead of us is huge but we are confident that the commitment of our existing FOG team ( staff and trustees) and many volunteers we will achieve our aim, to continue to provide the Forfar Open Garden to the local and wider community across Angus.
Grants and Donations
We would like to thank the following parties for their grant funding without which we could not achieve project Keep FOG.
- National Lottery – Community Fund (2024-2026) ( £45,000 Capital and £65,000 Revenue) this significant grant will cover the main contractor cost on Project Keep FOG. Capital project complete March 2025. The revenue element largely covering costs for Project Keep FOG – Move. In Progress.
- Angus Council Community Capital Fund – this Project Keep Fog Secure and Pave has received £35,000 capital grant from the UK Government through the Angus Council Community Capital Fund has largely covered the materials and contractors to support securing our premises and creating disability pathways including our spectacular new gates. Completed March 2025.
- Postcode Lottery (£18,000) has supplemented some core staff and contractors’ costs to allow us to manage the transition while keeping the current garden open. Completed Sept 2025
- Northwood Charitable Trust – this grant funded £5,000 in 2024 and 2025 for our social media set up, new logo and signage as well as community engagement activities. Complete.
- Place Based Investment Programme (PBIP) 2025/26 – this Project Keep FOG and Grow has received £162,581 grant from the Scottish Government with the support from Angus Council Vibrant Community. This project will fund two new facilities for our garden: a new Forest School Nature Learning area and a Winter Workroom. Currently in progress.
We would also like to thank the following individuals and companies for volunteering their expertise in support of our move:
Williamina McLaren Trust for the plants for a flowerbed in new garden
David Wren for volunteering his Architect Services to support our planning applications in Project Keep FOG Plan
Mark Guild of Guild Homesfor their generous donation of 360 tons of topsoil
Ramsey Ladders for ramps to allow disability access to our buildings
Thank you.
