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?
Project Keep FOG is the project we have 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. (In Progress)
Keep FOG – Secure and Pave – is about putting up security fences and gates to keep the new site safe, secure and creating new pathways to allow pedestrian access for all abilities including wheelchair access. (In Progress)
Keep FOG – Move – has two main parts, the first part involves creating the hard standings for buildings, the driveway for vehicle access and making flower beds, vegetable beds and raised beds ready for planting. The second part where we anticipate most involvement from volunteers is 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.
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.
Keep FOG – Grow – is our ‘silver lining’ and so far in this category we are putting every good idea and plan we have that is not a priority for our June deadline – watch this space for our 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 (£45,000 Capital and £65,000 Revenue) this significant grant will cover the main contractor cost on Project Keep FOG – Prepare and provide funds for materials and specialist contractual services during Project Keep FOG – Move
- Angus Council Community Capital Fund – this £35,000 capital grant from the UK Government through the Angus Council Community Capital Fund will largely cover the materials and contractors to support securing our premises and creating disability pathways during Project Keep Fog – Secure and Pave
- 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.
We would also like to thank the following individuals for volunteering their expertise in support of our move:
- David Wren for volunteering his Architect Services to support our planning applications in Project Keep FOG – Plan
Since telling the community about our need to move to save the Forfar Open Garden charity, we have had offers of help and donations from far and wide. We thank all of those who have offered their skills, help or dropped in with materials, plants and donations. Should you like to support us please contact us through the ’Support Us’ tab on this website or just pop into our current garden site.
Thank you.
