Christmas boost for community groups to help biodiversity
Eight charities and community groups will receive funding from our PEBBLE fund this year, for projects to encourage and enhance biodiversity in almost three hectares (equivalent to almost three rugby pitches) and improve communities.
Over £22,000 will be awarded to the projects which focus on community allotments and gardening projects, hedge planting and apiary training.
- Ideal for all ‘Growing Opportunities” project in Smethwick will work with a wide range of groups to enhance their outdoor area and wildlife areas. They will be establishing hedgerow boundaries, establishing native flowers, trees and pollinator borders and making sensory wildlife beds.
- B&DBK Association training Apiary in Burton will create a training apiary, educational facility, wildlife meadow and orchard, where they will engage the local community and existing local bee keepers.
- The Walsall North Allotment Association ‘To Bee or Not To Bee’ project will provide suits and equipment for trainee bee keepers which will in turn will provide new habitats for bees.
- Dorothy Parkes Centre in Smethwick will develop a section of a community allotment into a sensory seating area and a ‘mini-meadow’. The produce from the allotment will benefit the community.
- Uttoxeter Community Garden is taking a neglected area and turning it into an accessible community garden. The PEBBLE fund will help them create a wildflower and a wetland area.
- Lichfield and Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust will create new hedging along the line of the canal which is being restored, to provide new habitats and improve the area for the community.
- Friends of Brunswick Park in Wednesbury will recycle fallen or damaged trees and create bird and bat boxes from the wood. The group will be working with local schools to create the bird and bat boxes before installing them in Brunswick Park.
- The Croxall Lakes Pond Restoration Project by Staffordshire Wildlife Trust will line an old gravel quarry with clay to turn it into a pond in Croxall Lakes nature reserve near Alrewas.
Since the launch of the PEBBLE fund in 2016, 40 hectares (equivalent to 40 rugby pitches) have been improved thanks to these awards.
We’re not just here to provide our customers with high quality water, we want to protect and enhance the environment for current and future generations.
We want to do that by supporting and funding the existing groups, which are already working hard to increase the variety of natural living things and the diversity of the habitats where they live. This is work which not only benefits wildlife, but also enhances local communities and our open spaces.
We were pleased to receive so many applications for our PEBBLE fund this year, the successful projects were chosen by a combination of our staff volunteers across the business and customers on our online community. I’m looking forward to seeing how these projects progress.
Dan Clark, Water Resources and Environment Manager.
Posted: 16 December 2020