Read what I wrote. I never suggested that £650,000 had gone missing. I ‘supposed’ that ONE possibility was that the target had been reached. Leaving the possibility of other explanations.

There’s no OPD projects offered at other sites. If anyone has concerns, then use a solicitor — you’re buying land, not joining a friendship club.

A land purchase is supposed to be a legal transaction that is independently checked and verified before completion. Once complete, there shouldn’t need to be an ongoing personal relationship involved at all.

Nobody is required to like the seller personally in order for a legitimate land transaction to take place properly.

If anyone has concerns, then use a solicitor — you’re buying land, not joining a friendship club.

A land purchase is supposed to be a legal transaction that is independently checked and verified before completion. Once complete, there shouldn’t need to be an ongoing personal relationship involved at all.

Nobody is required to like the seller personally in order for a legitimate land transaction to take place properly.

“There was a Crowdfunder appeal in the name of The Edible Forest that claimed to have raised (or been promised) £650,000. But there’s no update after April 2019. Which I suppose might be explained by the appeal having reached its target.”

has directly contributed to years of online slander and false accusations against me.

People now repeatedly claim online that I “stole £650k” from people, despite providing absolutely no evidence whatsoever to support such a serious allegation. Instead, they simply link back to your article and repeat assumptions as if they are established facts.

So I’m asking directly — what actual evidence do you have that £650k was ever received, stolen, or misappropriated by me?

Because making statements that heavily imply criminal wrongdoing, without evidence, has real consequences when others use those claims to spread misinformation online.

I think you may have misunderstood or merged together several different projects and ideas over the years.

Only the very first project had a vegan-focused element attached to it. The land I later purchased in Lampeter had no OPD project attached to it at all and was simply intended to help people interested in farming, growing food, grazing animals, planting trees, — including non-vegans.

My wider view is actually very simple: I want to support increased local food production around existing towns and villages in Wales, regardless of whether someone is vegan, vegetarian, a livestock farmer, a market gardener, or simply someone who wants to steward land responsibly.

I also don’t believe ordinary Welsh farming families are the enemy. In many ways, smaller-scale local food production and land access projects could help strengthen rural resilience and local economies if approached properly.

I can see you have strong views on the subject, and I understand why concerns exist around OPDs, rewilding, outside investment, and cultural displacement. But I think some assumptions are being made about my intentions that don’t really reflect what I’ve actually been trying to build.

There is a significant amount of misinformation in this comment, and there’s no OPD Project which is often claimed.

The land was purchased towards the end of 2023 for approximately £340,000 — not £900,000 as claimed above.

Following the purchase, a considerable amount of interference and false information circulated online, including repeated claims that the land was “landlocked.” During that period, 3 of the 5 existing access points ended up being blocked off, which understandably created confusion for some people viewing the situation from the outside.

The current entrance points sold with the land have documented rights of way in place and are actively in use by current owners.

The reality is that most of the farm consists of high-quality grazing land and beautiful countryside, with only a smaller section being rougher upland grazing as described in the comment above.

It’s an absolutely stunning farm for anyone interested in agriculture, nature restoration, grazing, tree planting, or long-term stewardship of land. Some of the people already involved in the farm are genuinely good people with excellent farming, growing, and environmental ideas.

As with many unusual or ambitious ideas, strong opinions and rumours tend to spread online very quickly — but they rarely tell the full story or the correct one.

Thanks for the update, Derek.

The reform party have a specific view regarding net zero policies as they create more harm than good whe I agree with the principal of personal low impact but the counter productive results intended to achieve that are plain for all to see.
Re One Planet develoments,an inconvenient unmonitored uncontrolledt failure in plain sight—Reform party policy evidence on a plate,POA law overload inevitable as gagging orders intended to suppress culpable failures will attract legal penalties What kind of a country needs laws to enforce transparency and honesty in those claiming to serve the best interest and security of the public. . ,

Maybe a local fellow subscriber with the same issues would like to ‘phone me.