The purpose of the project is to establish the community led delivery of actual improvements to the green spaces and parks in the BNDfC area. The Burngreave Green Audit showed clearly that residents valued their parks and green spaces and wanted them improving.
The principle purposes of the project are:·
To involve the residents of Burngreave in the ‘active’ transformation of their green spaces, gardens and parks
To raise awareness of the benefits of high quality green spaces to all aspects of community life
To design and improve the environment in ways that reduce the opportunity for anti social behaviour and criminal activity
To provide good quality facilities that promote active play, sport and other healthy activities on Burngreaves green spaces and parks
To improve the experience of living in Burngreave
To encourage greater biodiversity in Burngreave
Deliver It Green is funded by Burngreave New Deal for Communities, with match funding from Burngreave Area Panel, Green City Action, Sheffield Homes, Green City Enterprises and the Univestities of Sheffield and Stockholm.
The project is staffed by a team of Green City Stewards that will be added to in September 2007 with the addition of 2 locally recruited Apprentice Stewards. Updated links showing the work of the steward team will appear on this page shortly so you can see what they have been up to in your area.
If you want to join in our activities to create a better Burngreave, ring Garry, Rob or Maria on 2440353 and we will be happy to discuss how you could be involved.
The project itself will constitute three distinct but complimentary strands and they are as follows:
Strand One – The Community Green Spaces Delivery Service will:
·Negotiate permissions from landowners of community green spaces
·Facilitate the formation of friends of groups for neighbourhood green spaces
·Provide support and expert advice to individual residents and groups involved
·Provide access to training where this will empower the individual or group to deliver
·Involve the residents of Burngreave in the active transformation of their neighbourhood green spaces
·Resource individuals and groups who want to deliver the transformation
·Employ a locally recruited delivery team to work alongside volunteers
·Raise awareness of the benefits of high quality green spaces to many aspects of community life
·Design and improve the environment in ways that reduce the opportunity for anti social behaviour and criminal activity
·Provide good quality facilities that promote active play, sport and other healthy activities on Burngreaves green spaces
·Improve the lived environment in Burngreave
·Encourage greater biodiversity in Burngreave
·Bring in capital investment other than that from BNDfC
·To become self sustaining by the end of the project
Strand Two – Residents Gardening Consultation and Advice Service will:
·Respond to requests within 7 working days
·Visit residents homes at a mutually convenient time
·Provide verbal and written advice in response to residents enquiries
·Advise residents on possible ways of improving their gardens within a given budget
·Provide off the worksheets for projects residents may wish to work upon
·Assist in the estimation of materials needed and cost
·Source some materials and make available to residents at affordable rates
·Provide free seeds and plants via our seed exchange
·Provide free trees via our link with the SCC trees for free scheme
·Deliver Introduction to Gardening courses for residents
·Signpost further training opportunities
·Organise support clusters of gardeners
·Administer a buddy system for experienced gardeners to help new gardeners
·Hold plant sales at competitive rates advertised through the Messenger available to all residents
·Take before and after pictures of residents gardens
·Provide follow up service to support residents whilst the need it
·Encourage environmentally sustainable gardening
·Develop clusters of gardeners to provide mutual aid and assistance
·Enlist and direct volunteers to support those who require assistance
·Provide tools via the tool bank to resource residents
·Identify suitable training opportunities for residents who require them
·Organise an open garden day for residents to display their gardens
Strand Three – The OAP Gardening Support Service will:
·Liase with Help the Aged and South Yorkshire Police to create a reassuring identity scheme
·Ensure staff are appropriately qualified and CRB cleared
·respond to requests within 7 working days
·Visit residents homes at a mutually convenient time
·Assess the level of assistance needed
·Help to assess what help is available
·Refer to appropriate partners/agencies if work is outside GCA remit
·Advise residents on possible ways of improving their gardens within a given budget
·Assist in the estimation of materials needed and cost
·Provide small grants to residents based upon the assessments made by GCA staff
·Deliver a work plan and implement agreed level of service
·Source some materials and make available to residents at affordable rates
·Provide free seeds and plants via our seed exchange
·Provide free trees (where appropriate) via our link with the SCC trees for free scheme
·Take before and after pictures of residents gardens
·Provide follow up service to support residents whilst they need it
·Encourage environmentally sustainable gardening
Why not come along and help us to improve our environment for all. We welcome volunteers and have plenty of work to do. Ring Rob or Maria on 2440353 for further information.
DIG TEAM CONTINUES TO DELIVER
The cold wet early spring has hampered our work in the last few months. However, much has still been achieved.
Nottingham Cliffe – Work has continued on this site including young people from the Streetworx and facilitated by our apprentice Nathan. We discovered that the existing bench timber was a high quality hardwood which had been over-painted and decided to renovate this timber instead of re-painting it. The bench slats were removed to our workshop and during wet weather have been stripped, sanded, and treated with teak oil to bring out the best of this wood. The re-sited benches and any damaged or rotten timbers have been replaced with new hardwood. All the metal bench parts have been repaired and repainted to give them a superb appearance.
On the 1st May we are facilitating a team of volunteering and stewards including 14 Home Office workers at Nottingham Cliffe. The volunteers will install the new benches and paving and replace timber to existing benches. Painting play equipment will also be completed, weather permitting.
Spital Lane – The corner site between Spital Lane and Spital Street has been given a good make over. Again using a team of volunteers alongside our stewards, three extra heavy standard trees were planted, jump rails installed to deter fly tipping, the desire line path has been improved and a rustic bench installed. The rough ground has been scarified, topsoil added and the whole area sown with grass/wild flower seed mix. The whole project was completed in three days.
OAP’S Gardens – The very popular spring gardening scheme is in full swing. We have worked on 26 gardens so far and have a further 20 or so to do. Nearly all the gardens are ones that we worked on last year. The improvement of the gardens is very evident; consequently we don’t need to spend as much time on each one to bring them back up to scratch.
In Bloom – We are supporting Firshill TARA, Pagehall Community assoc. and Carwood TARA with their hanging basket events this year. Carwood TARA has entered for the Lord Mayors Award and we are planning some significant improvements to Carwood Green garden working with the TARA and Ellesmere Youth Project.
Abbeyfield Park – The strip of land in front of the new cricket facility has once again been prepared and sown with a wildflower mix. This has proved very popular these last couple of years attracting many positive comments. We have also continued to maintain the planting scheme outside the house and this is now looking particularly attractive as the plants begin to reach maturity.
General site tidying, litter picks and partnership working with Sheffield Homes continue on a number of sites around the area.
During autumn 2007 the summer weather finally settled down we have taken advantage of the fine period to undertake three bigger projects as well as continue our regular maintenance and small improvement tasks and continue partnership working with Sheffield Homes. The new staff and apprentices have begun to fit into the team and our energetic way of working. Seven of the eight in the team now hold a basic first aid qualification and four of us hold MIDAS certificates.
Harleston Street / Petre Street playing field – We have re-sited the steel access gate and replaced a section of jump rail on the Lyons Street boundary of the playing field, thoroughly cleared the Harleston St. Roadway / footpath which had become very overgrown along with a major litter and fly tip clearance with Sheffield Homes. See pictures above.
Ella Road Playground – The spray art mural was successfully completed during the first two weeks in August. The DIG team supported Jenny Tibbles, Ellesmere Children’s Project and Shaun Tummings, All Saints Youth Centre in delivering two design workshops and four afternoon workshops to paint a large and brightly coloured mural on the playground walls. About twelve children were involved in the event, some of whom had been engaged in tagging the area. The work was funded from the DIG project. To date the mural has not been defaced. We hope to round this off at half term with a workshop to screen print tee shirts for the participants with an image of the mural.
Denholme Close Open Space – We have extended the footpath we started last year with Greenwatch rangers, including a flight of about thirty steps to connect the path behind Verdon Street flats with the town end of Rock Street. This improves and makes safe a desire line path through the park that previously became slippery and boggy in wet weather. We have also installed two new timber benches in the playground and a third will be installed above the new path with views across the city. See pictures above.
Burngreave Rec – At the request of Parks we have cleared the overgrown paths and steps on this very neglected green space and are negotiating a role in the funded regeneration of this area. In its present state the Rec. is a haven for birds and we hope to ensure that a good balance is maintained between preserving the habitat and improving the space for people.
In December 2007 we organized the brash chipping with Street Force supplying a really big, tractor-powered machine capable of processing up to 20cm. Diameter logs. The chipping took three days to complete with all the team involved as well as the machine driver who joined in the work. The team continued to clear and dispose of the remaining debris by controlled burning. The Rec. looks much better for all this work. With Dave’s input we have started to develop a management plan for the future to improve an already excellent bird and wildlife habitat.
OAP’S Gardens – Julie and Heather completed the autumn round of gardens maintenance, bringing the total number of gardens worked on in the autumn round to 44.
Bulb Planting – We finished this years allocation of bulbs, planting a large number of daffodils and crocuses at Nottingham Street Rec. In total GCA planted 2000 bulbs this year.
Tree Planting – We helped plant 2 trees outside the Vestry Hall and working with volunteers and Burngreave Forest Project planted 23 white mulberry trees along the bank between Grimesthorpe Road and the allotments.
Abbeyfield Park Youth Shelter – Last March the roof was blown off the youth shelter during a gale. Parks and Woodlands agreed to cover the cost of replacement materials and we supplied the labour to re-instate the roof. We did the work just before Christmas. The shelter has been very successful, providing a useful resource for park users and, by attracting youth away from the house entrance, has improved safety of people using the house.
Devon Gardens – We are working with Parks on major improvements to this pocket park, Parks have repaired the boundary fence and renovated the footpaths and we are re-painting the railings, supplying and fitting new benches and litter bins, renewing and replanting three flower beds and renewal pruning and replanting the long shrub border. This project is ongoing.
Harleston Street – We have started a project to improve the wildlife habitat, access and safety of the woodland strip that borders Sutherland Road. We have leafleted the area to inform residents about the work and to encourage volunteers to join in, with one positive response so far. We have also arranged a volunteering / team building event for 18 Home Office workers on the site. Jump rails have been installed on Sutherland Road to prevent fly tipping and two new benches installed on the recovered Harleston Street ‘footpath’.
Staff Training – Staff have now completed the Health and safety course run by SOAR. We have started a routine of in house training ‘Tool Box Talks’ led by Dave to cover tool use, safety, maintenance etc. These sessions will happen regularly on site as need and opportunities arise. Nine staff and volunteers completed the Red Cross first aid at work course this year and now all but one staff have a first aid qualification and Criminal Record Bureau checks were completed for all staff.
