Chris RandLocal residents have joined the City Council in an example of what local councillor Sam Davies describes as “the kind of collaboration between residents and the Council which I’d like to see replicated all over Queen Edith’s and the wider city.”
In the final week the plan is to tackle the giant bramble heap just on the corner with Nightingale Avenue. Local resident Imogen Knight told us before this last session: “There is a lilac tree and something else lovely in there that we need to liberate as they are both disappearing. One resident is donating a rowan tree from her garden which Ed Nugent from the City Council thinks would be brilliant placed on the corner. Then we could invite the National Grid people to come and repair their markers.
“The second session that took place on Saturday was brilliant and we achieved so much between us all – it was so great to see everyone, and I was really happy that you are all happy with the work we have done between us so far. It will be up to us to keep an eye on the ivy on the trees going forwards, and where we have self-seeded trees coming up in our gardens, these need to be planted into a space to help recover some of the screen, diversity and colour of this green lung!
“Below I am copying the list of the plant species that were put in, as if anyone is motivated to purchase anything and contribute it, anything on this list is pre-approved as being appropriate (leylandii and so on not being great).
- Acer Campestre (field maple)
- Carpinus betulus (hornbeam)
- Corylus avellana (common hazel)
- Crataegus monogyna (common hawthorn)
- Ligustrum vulgare (wild privet)
- Prunus spinosa (blackthorn/sloe)
- Prunus domestica subsp. insititia (Damson)
- Taxus Baccata (Yew)
- Ilex (Holly)
- Choysia
“Also, as we have started by using the cuttings or clearing that we did, creating with them a ‘fence’ along the road side is really good for deterring people walking through, it provides a habitat for small creatures and gives something for the ground ivy (that we should keep) to clamber up but which it won’t kill off! So if you do have larger cuttings or branches coming out of your gardens which won’t fit into the green bin, please do feel free to weave them into or continue on the ‘hedge line’ that we started.
“I think you’d all like to join me in thanking the lovely people from Red Cross Lane who brought tea and chocolates on Saturday – so kind, and so appreciated. Mostly I’d like to thank Ed for being so great at his job, and for helping us so much, giving us confidence and so on.”
