A BID has been made to buy an outdoor education centre at Mitcheldean for the community.

The Wilderness Centre was sold by Gloucestershire County Council in 2014 but has come back up for sale.

Wylderne Bioregioning, a Community Benefit Society based in the Forest has announced it had secured significant funding and has made a bid to buy the centre from its current owner, Dr. Daniel Sturdy.

The community benefit society was formed in October 2023 after the centre was put up for sale with an asking price of £1.5 million.

Wylderne Bioregioning has put in a bid for the market value of the site, last assessed in February 2023.

The aim is to secure the property for the community by the summer.

“We are grateful to our financial backers and to the Forest of Dean District Council both of whom believe in our vision for the Wilderness,” said Simon Dawson, one of four directors of Wylderne Bioregioning.

“This iconic place which has provided so many children across the Forest and Gloucestershire with their first formative nights away from home for over five decades, we hope will now forever be secure in community hands.”

Wylderne Bioregioning’s plan is to get the deal over the line by July with the help of a Community Share Offer. The target is to raise the final £150,000.

In advance of the formal share offer, Wylderne Bioregioning have put out a call for pledges on their website.

Any money that people pledge before July will be converted to interest-bearing shares as soon as the share offer closes.

Details of the share offer can be found at: www.wylderne.com

The vision for the centre is to become an environmental education centre for the whole community, to learn more about the unique biodiversity of the Forest.

Wylderne Bioregioning says it will enable people to learn the skills that are called for by the green economy and to put the Forest’s potential on the map.