Urban Green Spaces
Our community group was born in 2015 out of desire to enhance the environment of urban green spaces through wildlife gardening and agro-ecological activities. Up until now, we have operated under Treloggan Residents Association as Treloggan Community Action Group and have worked hard to enhance urban green spaces in Treloggan. In that time we have developed Treloggan Doorstep Green, Community Outdoor Classroom with the help of partner organisations including what was then Student Non-native Invasive Species Group (SINNG), Cornwall Reptile and Amphibian Group (CRAG), Cornwall College Newquay and Newquay in Bloom. This little oasis features on the photo above and includes a newly restored pond, dipping platform, protective-wildlife friendly boundary, mobility aid access, meadow, marsh, edible hedges and trees. Back in 2015 this area was a polluted mess and only 3 species were found during our freshwater surveys. Now the area boasts 150 species of plants and animals that local children identified and we continually watch biodiversity grow. As this project has grown, we recognise that the local world outside of Treloggan have also requested our help to improve there green spaces for the benefit of people and wildlife, so we have widened our catchment area to help others where time and resources permit. We hope that this group can help communities to reconnect with nature and the environment through educational and ecological activities on the ground. We hope that this group can continue to enhance community green spaces through wildlife gardening and landscaping and agro-ecological activities to increase biodiversity and protect ecosystem services such as pollination. We hope that we can help in local and national efforts to re-connect habitats fragmented by urbanisation by working with local authorities and landowners to create green corridors. We hope that the communities will partner up with us where they can to achieve our goals of improving the environment in a way that improves the social, physical and mental health and well being of people as well as wildlife. Perhaps this group might even help to reduce loneliness in communities whilst bridging the generational gap? We hope that the next generation will engage in our educational, self-learning activities that we deliver through STEM to encourage such career paths in the future but also to inspire a love of nature and the environment, to mould the next generation of environmental custodians and promote sustainable and regenerative thinking.
