Bringing community green space to life

A green area the size of nearly 10 football pitches is being revamped for the benefit of the local community with the help of The Mersey Forest.

The wildlife haven borders the Northwood estate, but with no benches, bins or formal paths - and only one entrance to the site - the area was previously unwelcoming for local people.

All that is now changing thanks to a broad partnership including Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council, The Mersey Forest, Forestry Commission, Northwood Community Allotments, Groundwork Merseyside, Marks and Spencer, the Riverside Group, Merseyside Environmental Advisory Services and BTCV.

Following extensive community consultation regarding the plans for the Northwood site, through leafleting, surveys, a blog and community drop-in events, improvements to the site began.

Thanks to investment through the Newlands programme (a partnership between the Forestry Commission and the Northwest Regional Development Agency), a new entrance was created at the end of Trecastle Road, off Roughwood Drive, and a self-binding gravel path was laid to link the community to the new pond and wetlands area.

Soon, local residents will also have the opportunity to fish and pond dip from a series of bespoke fishing pegs connected to the path by a boardwalk.

In addition, following the success of a pilot children and youth engagement programme, the new site will continue to engage children and young adults through conservation volunteering, ecological surveying and entrance feature design work in liaison with local youth workers. Similarly, a structure for ongoing community engagement is being explored through the development of a 'Friends of the Woods' group.

The new community woodland will have a profound improvement of quality of life for local people as they now have a clean and safe natural environment on their doorstep, whilst extensive community consultation and engagement has meant that the site has been designed and maintained by residents.