COMMERCIAL farming at the HQ of the county’s leading wildlife conservation charity will stop as it is no longer financially viable, it has been announced.

Essex Wildlife Trust told members at its annual general meeting on Abbotts Hall Farm would cease operating as a working farm in the near future.

The 700-acre coastal site, situated on the Blackwater Estuary at Great Wigborough, is also home to the charity’s headquarters which the trust says will remain after the farm stops operating.

A spokesman for Essex Wildlife Trust said the organisation was in the very early stages of drawing up plans for the future of Abbotts Hall Farm.

“Essex Wildlife Trust has given careful consideration to its continued management of Abbotts Hall Farm as a commercial entity,” he said.

“As a charity the trust has concluded commercial farming on the existing scale is no longer financially viable.

“The land-holding will remain under Essex Wildlife Trust management and will continue to be the headquarters for Essex Wildlife Trust.

“Over the coming months the trust will be exploring a range of exciting opportunities to maximise the conservation value of the land and ensuring the site delivers for both people and wildlife in Essex.”

The charity could not reveal a timeframe for when commercial operations at the farm will stop.

Essex Wildlife Trust bought Abbotts Hall Farm 20 years ago before launching one of the most ambitious fundraising appeals in its history to pay for conservation work at the site.

New lakes, hedgerows, woodland and more were created in a bid to boost wildlife in the area.

The charity also worked with the Environment Agency to rebuild the farm’s coastal defences and re-grow new marshes on the land.

Abbotts Hall Farm is now known as a internationally important area for nature.