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Groundwork Thames Valley’s
Background in Urban Forestry |
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Groundwork Thames Valley has been
operating for nearly twenty years and during this time has
developed a solid background in environmental regeneration
issues including tree planting and working with
communities. There has been little cause to consolidate
the experiences gained into written strategies or formal
documents until more recently.
In 2003 as an offshoot to the very successful Groundwork
Green Gateway project being carried out in East London,
Groundwork Regional office identified the potential of
developing a similar Urban Forestry scheme in West London.
Funding was granted from the Single Regeneration Budget (SRB)
bid to Groundwork Thames Valley to undertake a feasibility
study looking at the issue of Urban Forestry within the
London Borough of Hounslow (LBH). |
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The LBH was put forward as a study area as it was seen to
have the potential to accommodate a variety of different
approaches to urban forestry. It also presents high levels
of derelict land cover, air and noise pollution from the
roads and airport, which are some of the key issues that
Urban Forestry could possibly help to tackle. In addition
to this key members of the authority showed a keen
interest in exploring the potential of Urban Forestry
within Hounslow as part of a partnership project. |
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The project was split into two stages, the first to
research and report on the subject of urban forestry and
how it might be implemented in LBH and the second to
undertake a physical urban forestry project.From the
outset a steering group was formed in order to create a
balanced and informed view of the project. The group
consisted of CIP, Green Corridor and GWTV and has
continued thought out the original project and into the
new projects.
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The Report:
An online copy of the HUF Feasibility Study is
available to view, download & print, please click
the icon, in summary it contains; |
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• A background to the project.
• Details of the environmental, social and economic
benefits of trees.
• A thorough review of National, Regional and Local
strategies relating to Urban Forestry and a summary of
relevant policy.
• Evaluations of the possible way forward for developing
an Urban Forestry Strategy in LBH. |
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The Physical Project:
After steering group analysis and discussion a site was chosen in the South Central Ward of Hounslow for a physical planting project called The Apex Open Spaces. Groundwork put together two successful community consultations and awareness raising events during the project cycle. The first a ‘Tree dressing day’ was held in December during National tree planting week and the second a ‘Tree planting day’ to generate community involvement and ownership of the proposed tree planting.
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Further to the community aspect of the project Groundwork
was also responsible for letting and managing the
associated tree-planting contract. This consisted of block
whip planting along a busy road, group planting on a
public open space, and avenue planting along a residential
road.
(A SWOT evaluation of the community consultation and
process used will be available at the board meeting.)
What happened next...
The SRB funded project came to an end in March 2005, and
following on from this the Urban forestry theme has been
continued in the form of two further projects. The first
is continuing the partnership working with the LBH/CIP/Green
Corridor, based on the conclusions made within the
original project feasibility study. The second is the SAUL
Urban Forestry Project that this website has been created
for.
Where can we go from here?
Current position:
It is likely that a proportion of the Hounslow Extension
funding will be be made available in 2006-2007 to continue
our involvement in the Hounslow Urban Forestry project.
The money received from the SAUL fund will come to an end
in March 2006, though there is a possibility that an
extension to this project will be made. However, details
of whether this will go ahead will not be available until
springtime next year. |
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The Future - GWTV is well placed
to offer a number of practical services to our partners
and associated agencies in the form of:
1. Facilitating and
co-ordinating and umbrella approach to strategic thinking
concerning urban forestry within our project areas.
2. Providing practical skilled Community, Landscape and
GIS services to community groups, local authorities or
other organisations where required.
More about the SAUL Urban
Forestry Project 05-06
As described in the introduction this project seeks to
undertake research into the benefits of producing a
community driven urban forestry strategy. The research
will assess current levels of understanding and opinions
of urban forestry within the communities of the London
Borough of Hounslow. This will be done on a ward basis and
all information gathered would be fed back into a central
GIS/Website database.
Please click on this link
GIS and
Urban Forestry.pdf
to find out more about the use of GIS in this project.
The project will promote current ‘best practice’ Urban
Forest practices relevant to the project area, and will
also take in to account the policies launched within the
newly published 'London Tree and Woodland Framework Plan'. An electronic
report will be produced summarising the outcomes of the
project and what action points could be undertaken to
achieve maximum benefit to the initial project investment.
We hope that the local authority and delivery partners
will then incorporate information from this report into
future borough strategies.
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In Summary: |
Outputs: |
| AIM: To research the potential benefits of producing a
community driven Urban Forestry Strategy. |
- GIS/WEBSITE with interactive, data collection and
analysis capabilities
- Community consultation events
- Leaflets/questionnaires
- Promotion of LTWF plan
- Electronic Report |
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Objectives:
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Outcomes: |
1. Research current community understanding and
opinions of urban forestry.
2. Discuss and promote current ‘best practice’
examples of urban forestry
3. Evaluate any differences between community
perception and current Urban Forestry policies related
to the project area.
4. To disseminate all information gathered to
all interested or affected parties.
5. To produce an electronic report of the
project findings with recommendations. |
- Community engagement
- Community capacity/ transfer of knowledge
- Generation of informed potential projects – with
good foundations on needs analysis basis
- Stronger links with more Local Authority Officers
- Stronger links with other delivery agents in
Hounslow |
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