An urgent £50,000 fundraising appeal has been launched to save Gorse Hill City Farm.
The farm in Anstey Lane needs to raise the cash by the end of March next year to stave off closure after massive cuts to the council subsidy it receives.
A few years ago Leicester City Council was paying about £60,000 per year to help with the farm’s running costs – paying staff and feeding more than 100 animals including ducks, pigs, sheep, donkeys and cattle.
However, that grant has been slashed in recent years and is now about £30,000 a year - reducing to zero from April 2021.
By then the farm needs to be fully self-sufficient – but it needs to get through this financial year first.
Trustee Dave Payn said: “There’s not enough cash to keep us going and we need £50,000 for between now and April.
“If we don’t raise it we’ll end up closing.
“We have five full-time staff and 10 part-time but we’re limited in the further cuts we can make to staff because the animals need feeding every day.”
The farm’s annual running costs are between £160,000 and £180,000 and this financial year only about a sixth of that is being covered by the reduced council grant.
With the summer now over, the farm, which recently started charging £3 per adult entry, cannot bank on having many more busy days – especially if the weather is not good during the October half-term.
As well as appealing for donations online with the Save Our Farm campaign, the farm is doing all it can to boost its income, already having taken over the cafe from an external contractor and invested £10,000 in the kitchen to attract more people.
'Kids aren't always interested in animals'
Alongside his optimism for the future, Dave is also very aware that seeing animals on a farm is not always a huge attraction for children these days.
He said: “In this modern world the kids are on their mobile phones and aren’t always interested in animals, which is why we’re trying to break out and be more than just a farm – using the cafe to raise more revenue.
“We already have people who just come to the cafe in the daytime to drink coffee and work on their laptops without going out into the farm.
“We’ve started doing corporate team-building days and we’ve had two so far – they pay to come here and we also get some free labour, which is good for us. There are also Groupon teas we do, which bring in new people.
“We’re trying so many new measures including children’s parties, baby showers and Sunday dinners, too.”
One-off council grants will be available
The city council is prepared to keep helping the farm make improvements with one-off grants.
Dave said: “We’ve been talking to the city mayor Sir Peter Soulsby about the future and I appreciate the situation the council is in – even libraries aren’t being funded these days.
“There’s a capital funding pot the city council has that they will let us bid for money from for one-off things and we’re hoping to use that money for projects including new electric doors and a better access road with more parking.”
'We can't continue to pay in the face of cuts'
Sir Peter said the farm – which is a registered charity – could not be supported in the same way now the city council’s money from the government had been reduced by £150 million a year.
He said: “It’s a fact of life that our budget has been cut and organisations have got to find differing ways to be sustainable.
“Councils can’t continue to pay the running costs in the face of the cuts we’ve had.
“What we’re trying to do is help them become self-sufficient.
“We’re keen to hear proposals for how we can help them raise their own income and get more visitors there.”
He said that the farm suffered from having a “low profile” on Anstey Lane and that more could be done to attract visitors.
“I think a lot of people don’t know they’re there,” he said.
Things to do in the rain in Leicester
“It’s a wonderful set-up where adults and children can enjoy mixing with animals and I’m very much up for hearing more proposals for how we can help them.”
To donate to the Save Our Farm appeal - with either a one-off or a monthly donation - visit www.gorsehillcityfarm.org.uk
