Greenspace Network in Inverclyde
The Sustainable Action Grant of £20,000, £15,000 and £15,000 for the financial years 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08 respectively for Lower Clyde Greenspace's Community Greenspace Network project in Inverclyde aimed to enhance sustainability and environmental justice for disadvantaged communities, establishing a network of neighbourhood parks and greenspaces.
This aimed to improve quality of life - meeting the needs and aspirations of the local communities - targeting mostly, though not exclusively, areas of multiple deprivation. It involved identification of new potential, but also concentrated on supporting existing local nature reserves, through increasing community involvement in their management.
The intention was to address a lack of community environmental activity in Inverclyde, but also harness known existing enthusiasm in Helensburgh - considering scope for areas such as allotments, civic spaces, community gardens, facilities for young people, green corridors and green networks, natural/ semi-natural greenspace such as woodland, and streetscapes.
Year 1 of the project was an audit, with community consultation, with practical action following in years 2 and 3. This complemented work by BTCV in community delivery and action. Work started with a range of community groups, with initial volunteer days in areas of poor environmental provision - the intention being implementation via a volunteering framework.
The audit was completed and provided a clear link between community desires and aspirations and existing agency and service policies. A ranking system identified the sites most appropriate for greenspace action as part of a Community Greenspace Network.. A combination of workshops, on-street surveys and photographic "competitions" were the selected methods of community consultation. A stakeholder working group, including agencies representing communities, was set up to decide action.
There was a Community Activity Day in Grieve Road, Greenock. Using an existing community centre, located adjacent to a locally important greenspace, this offered the local neighbourhood the chance either to become involved in site improvements as volunteers or to take part in indoor activities, such as bird box making and bird feeder making, and gave the opportunity to increase awareness of environmental issues. The activity helped the creation of a local Steering Group, comprising agencies, local authority and community, to concern itself with future improvements of this site.
Young people from Youth Connections - a local organisation concerned with the needs of local young people - came as staff for the day. This site was also the location for a national pilot exercise in Placemaking, an innovative approach to public space being championed by Greenspace Scotland, and the activity day helped to support and inform this approach.
There were Volunteer Training Days at Wemyss Bay Woodlands, an area of mature woodland, with a high degree of community support and input, mostly involving the cutting and removal of invasive rhododendron. The project helped make the woodlands safer to allow continued recreational use and neighbourhood volunteer activity, and links were established with the Volunteer Centre and St Columba's Secondary School.
The Healthy Walking Postcard Project combined the talents of local students with the need locally to promote walking as part of a healthy lifestyle. The scheme offered a design task to media and design students at James Watt College in Greenock, and promoted walking as part of a healthy lifestyle, highlighting accessible urban walks as suggested by a local health walk group.
An Inverclyde School Grounds Programme, offering funding to individual schools based on their applications, assisted 16 schools, successfully targeting funding to improve their environment. Biodiversity Posters were distributed through local schools and libraries. This highlighted the valuable biodiversity resource within the urban and urban fringe areas, and was done in partnership with the Council Biodiversity Officer.
The Larkfield Schools Environmental Art Project encouraged young people in a deprived neighbourhood in Greenock to be involved in their environment using art as a medium. As well as supporting environmental education generally, it also involved pupils directly in designing a mural within a key local greenspace undergoing a £100,000 improvement. This aimed to foster a sense of belonging for the greenspace with local young people and hence secure the long term viability of the improvements. A local school for special needs children approached Lower Clyde Greenspace to seek funding towards the design of a wildlife garden in their school. A scheme was developed to design a garden linking implementation with neighbourhood level training and voluntary needs.
Lower Clyde Greenspace offered some "Wee Green Grants" of £500 to community groups to carry out voluntary work within their community which would benefit the overall greenspace and biodiversity value of their neighbourhood. By 2008 8 grants had been distributed, funding work including clean-ups, wildlife gardens, equipment to encourage children to get involved in gardening, a compost area and planting herbs in window boxes.
There was a National Certificate level course on drystone dykeing offered free of charge to residents of Inverclyde during the summer of 2007 - enthusiastically received, the places filled quickly. This increased the level of environmental skills within the community.
A Grass Verge Survey investigated and mapped the biodiversity value and potential of grass verges within Inverclyde, and encouraged changes in management regimes. As well as being a valuable habitat, a biodiversity-rich grass verge also represents a transit corridor for wildlife, and is usually visually appealing also.
A Green Network Study sought to identify a network of key greenspaces within Inverclyde, focussing on a strategic level, to complement the neighbourhood level Greenspace Audit carried out in the first year.
Contact
Charlie Cairns
Lower Clyde Greenspace
6 Cathcart Square
Greenock. PA15 1LS
Tel: 01475 712464
E-mail: charlie.cairns@inverclyde.gov.uk