Earlier this year, Keep Splott Tidy, supported by Inksplott and Cardiff Community Housing Association, applied for a Keep Wales Tidy Local Places for Nature Wildlife Project grant to transform a pretty desolate area of Splott into a wildlife haven and…we only went and got it!!!
Imagine this…
The corner of Walker Road and Ordell Street in Splott is a concrete jungle, virtually devoid of nature and a hotspot for bad behaviour and fly tipping. It is a dead space; an unloved spot in an industrial inner-city ward with huge potential for transformation and community engagement.
The site is located on a busy junction which is congested with traffic every morning and evening. Transforming the site into a haven for nature would help improve air quality and provide residents of adjacent social housing complexes, Bowley Court and Selwyn Morris Court, a green and thriving outdoor space to tend and enjoy.
The site is at a crossroads and is traversed by parents and children on their way to Ysgol Glan Morfa and Moorland Primary schools. Instead of a dirty concrete slab with fly-tipped rubbish and evidence of drug use, they could walk through a wildflower garden; pick fruit from trees, spot bugs, birds, bees and other critters and see different flowers grow as the seasons change. We would look to add traditional games such as hopscotch to the space and engage local individuals, groups and businesses in the transformation.
There are few homes for nature in Splott; we are one of the most industrial places in Cardiff with a steelworks and multiple industrial estates on our doorstep, however we have an engaged and thriving community that deserves to enjoy nature.
We have spoken to Cardiff Council about lifting paving slabs to create a wildflower meadow, placing planters around the edges of the site to grow flowers and edibles to be grown and harvested by tenants of local CCHA housing complexes and passers-by, planting more trees and increasing street furniture to develop the site into a more people-friendly, social area. We would like to add bug and bee houses, trellises and plant mosses that would absorb carbon dioxide and increase oxygen levels in a traffic hotspot.
We are delighted to announce that Cardiff Council has signed a licence for the plot of land with Keep Splott Tidy and we can proceed with our plans to transform the space!
The project will offer residents with no green space of their own the ability to grow and benefit from flowers and edibles; providing a common area for socialisation and wellbeing. Long-term plans include the development of a community allotment along the north side of the site, allocated to tenants of social housing complexes, offering food ownership opportunities and improved health.
Children and parents on the school run to local primary schools will benefit from an enhanced and improved journey and the ability for children to learn about wildlife and the natural world.
Sian Edwards, a member of the community and Parent Governor of Ysgol Glan Morfa said;
“As one of many parents that walk my child to school, I would hugely welcome a project to transform the current unused, and often littered, area into a community green space. It would not only encourage more biodiversity and foster community pride and enjoyment of the space across generations, but also help towards reducing carbon emissions along a busy road.”
Our successful application was for the Keep Wales Tidy Wildlife Garden, to ‘transform an unloved area into a garden that will benefit both nature and your community’.
The package will include:
40m2 of wildflower turf
Five native fruit trees
Wildlife friendly tree pack (105 trees)
Habitat boxes and bug hotels
Two benches made of recycled plastic (1.2m wide)
Two raised bed made of wooden sleepers (approximately 2.4m x 10m each)
Native pollinator friendly plants including shrubs, bulbs, and climbing plants.
Trellis
Storage container (1.57m x 1.47m)
Variety of hand tools to install and maintain garden
Books and ID charts for wildlife surveys.
Covid-19 delayed our plans to transform the concrete triangle of doom into a concrete triangle of bloom, but I’m happy to say that we should be back on track soon and that there will be opportunities for residents to get their hands dirty and participate in the transformation (safely – we will be implementing social distancing measures).
Watch this space for more information. In the meantime, it’s a hurrah from me (Lynne), Louise and Peter from KST. We can’t wait to help make Splott that little bit greener!
PS – the Keep Wales Tidy fund is back open for applications (deadline 31st of July) if anyone else in Cardiff is interested in applying: https://www.keepwalestidy.cymru/pages/category/nature
Follow Keep Splott Tidy on Facebook for updates on community litter picks, waste collections, green bag supplies and more: https://www.facebook.com/KeepSplottTidy/