HOPE not hate can reveal the location of plots of land in Wales owned by the Woodlander Initiative, a land-buying scheme with links to Patriotic Alternative, the UK’s largest fascist group.
The Woodlander Initiative (TWI) is a land-buying scheme aimed at far-right activists and conspiracy theorists.
Since launching in June 2023, the project has raised more than £135,500 and purchased two plots — each of several acres — close to the village of Llanafan Fawr, Builth Wells, mid Wales. TWI has the long-term ambition of owning land in every county in the UK, and members are currently aiming to buy a plot near Alston, Cumbria.
While TWI claims that it is “not a political organisation”, the Llanafan Fawr plots have been used by Patriotic Alternative (PA), the UK’s largest fascist group.
The scheme is spearheaded by Simon Birkett (AKA Woodlander), a tattoo artist with a past in the National Front, the British National Party (BNP) and the Conservative Party. From his “off-grid” cabin near Warminster, Wiltshire, Birkett has built an online following among the far right via his YouTube and Telegram channels and guest appearances on various fascist streams.
Birkett has been involved in PA since early 2020 and addressed the group’s annual conference last month. In his speech, he dismissed the viability of electoral politics for the far right and advocated the building of a “parallel society”, citing Orania, a whites-only town in South Africa, as an example.
In a recent article for TWI members, Birkett invoked the “Great Replacement” among a number of other conspiracy theories, claiming that “those in power” are “intentionally replac[ing] one population with another” and that “White Europeans are being out bred” by migrants. He concluded: “we have to be the ones that create an elite, a vanguard, an alternative group who will actively do what’s best for us”.
Birkett has elsewhere described TWI as “a possible avenue to power” and stated:
“if we can get an organisation together which is asset rich – owns land, maybe property – we will suddenly, within a very short period of time, become a multi-million pound organisation. That has power […] suddenly we’re not a political organisation, but what we are is a very powerful organisation that has clout”
Simon Birkett, 18 May 2024
However, aspects of TWI lack clarity. For instance, while members are invited to “purchase shares” of The Woodlander Initiative Ltd company, at present Birkett is the sole individual listed as a “persons with significant control” on Companies House, suggesting that he effectively controls the company and so too its assets. The other listed director, alongside Birkett, is Joe Knight (AKA Wessex Nomad), an online content creator from Weston-super-Mare, Somerset.
Purchasing land and property is a long-standing aspiration for many on the far right, who desire a space in which they can host events with fewer risks or, more ambitiously, to withdraw into “whites only” enclaves. There have been previous such attempts in the UK by members of Combat 18, the BNP, National Action and other groups, all of which have ended in failure.
Now, frustrated with electoral politics, sections of the UK’s fascist fringe are again turning inward. Within PA, there is considerable interest in land and property acquisition as a means of establishing “white heartlands” and the organisation regards TWI as a model. For example, PA leader Mark Collett wrote recently in the fascist magazine Heritage & Destiny:
“The Woodlander Trust is a fantastic initiative that allows nationalists to pool their money in order to purchase land and property, so now we have places to meet, camp and socialise. This is a long term plan that will hopefully catch on and turn into the establishment of indigenous heartlands; places for our people.”
Mark Collett, Heritage & Destiny magazine
While TWI is not an official PA project, Birkett and Collett have voiced an intention for their organisations to “work together”. One active member of both groups is David Miles (AKA the English Wanderer), an activist from Birmingham who was present at the Southport riot this July.
On 2-3 November, ten PA activists camped at the TWI’s land in Llanafan Fawr. PA encourages such activities in pursuit of its central goal – establishing cohesive far-right communities across the UK. It is unclear whether TWI members and shareholders were consulted about the use of the land for this purpose.
Birkett also offers advice to other TWI members seeking their own group land purchases. Members are attempting to purchase a plot of land two miles northwest of Alston, Cumbria – an opportunity that Birkett advertised in PA’s official chat group. A regional TWI group in the South West is also aiming to purchase land together.
HOPE not hate will explore historic attempts from UK fascists to establish “white only” communities in a series of upcoming articles.
HOPE not hate can reveal the location of plots of land in Wales owned by the Woodlander Initiative, a land-buying scheme with links to Patriotic…
