The Common

Following the purchase of the former RAF Greenham Common Airbase in 1997, 750-acres were immediately transferred to the control of the local council to be restored as common land, with financial support from the Trust.
Greenham Common was reopened with unrestricted public access in 2000, providing a natural resource of national importance.

As well as nearly £1m already donated to West Berkshire Council towards the restoration of the Common, the Trust is also actively working towards a "green" business park, with green transport and commuting and energy efficiency being high on the agenda.

In 2003 the work of Greenham Common Trust was rewarded with The Queen's Award for Enterprise: Sustainable Development. Click to read more.

History

Greenham Common has been, for most of its history, a valuable piece of common land and a shared sustainable resource for local farmers and cottagers. The last 70 years has seen a transformation of the common from being requisitioned for military use in Second World War and used as one of the main tactical bases for the D-Day offensive to being a full scale nuclear airbase during the Cold War in 1980s.

Restoration

Greenham Common Trust actively encourages environmental projects and nature conservation and has donated nearly £1 million towards the restoration work being carried out on Greenham Common.

Handpost Gully

Handpost Gully is a steep wooded gully lying within the southern boundary of New Greenham Park, on the southern edge of Greenham Common, which forms part of the Greenham and Crookham Commons SSSI.

Wildlife

Greenham and Crookham heaths have long been 'common land' - areas of land open to the general public on which people who have 'commoners rights' may graze their animals, take gravel, cut turf and collect firewood.