A CAMPAIGN to raise £120,000 to buy Westfields and other areas of open space in Richmond is to be launched this month.

Details of the project have yet to be revealed, but the town council has won permission to make public the sum needed to secure the sites from Richmondshire District Council.

A public outcry followed the district council's decision to sell the medieval pasture of Westfields, along with Jack King's Wood, land near the swimming pool on the south bank of the River Swale, and fields in Reeth Road and Sleegill.

The town council joined residents to persuade the district authority to sell the sites to a trust, which would manage them for the public.

Coun Stuart Parsons, the mayor, said the town council would work with Richmond Open Spaces Appeal to raise the money over three years. The first fundraiser is a book of poetry by local poet Betty Robertson, available at £3 from Coun Parsons, tel 01748 823456.

Richmond Pride volunteers assess Westfields and the other areas on Sunday, when they meet at the town hall to start their spring clean of the town.

Anyone wishing to volunteer should be at the town hall between 10am and 10.30. Tools and gloves are provided.