WELCOME TO
MONMOUTH
COMMUNITY NATURE SPACES
MonLife Connect would like to update residents and stakeholders on the Community Nature Spaces project. The County Council has been awarded Welsh Govt Local Places for Nature (LP4N) funding* to undertake a Community Nature Spaces project in the Rockfield area. The overall aim of the project is to create spaces for nature and for people on the Rockfield Estate and in other play areas in Monmouth, and to involve local people in the process. The consultants appointed to work on the project are the Pegasus Group.
Project Update
The Community Nature Spaces public consultation was launched on the 22nd February 2021 and by the end of March, we had received over 130 responses.
Thank you for contributing!
Your responses have fed into a study, including concept designs for the sites. Pegasus have now developed detailed designs which try to reflect the responses of the consultation and deliver what the community wants.
The detailed plans show our current aspirations for the sites, subject to further public consultation. Whilst we have secured funding to deliver the Community Nature Spaces, we aren’t able to promise that we will deliver everything shown on the plans with the funds currently available. We will try to seek additional funding where needed to make these community resources the best they can possibly be.
How you can get involved
Please view the detailed design plans by clicking on the links below. We would really appreciate further feedback. If you have any observations or questions, please get in touch.
The main council contacts are:
Mike Moran mikemoran@monmouthshire.gov.uk
and
Kate Stinchcombe katestinchcombe@monmouthshire.gov.uk
or you can use the original website link as follows: Click here
Project Background
Community Nature Spaces could be:
-
community growing spaces
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fruit trees/community orchards
-
re-wilded areas/mini meadows that can also be used for wild play
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flower-rich meadows mounds and slopes
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pollinator planting
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local provenance tree nurseries/tree planting
The Council has appointed Pegasus, a specialist environmental consultancy to help carry out detailed survey of the sites, public consultation, detailed planning and design works. This work will help to enable the delivery of the Community Nature Spaces during the 2021/22 financial year.
One of the lessons that the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdown has taught us is the importance of having a variety of good quality outdoor spaces that are easily accessible by families and individuals, so that they can spend time outdoors experiencing what nature has to offer on our doorstep.
The project is likely to involve transforming some of the smaller, less well-used and poorer quality playgrounds in the local area into Community Nature Spaces. At the same time we will be investing money to expand the larger playground at the central open space next to the Rockfield Community Centre to cater for children of a wider age range and provide more items of accessible play equipment for children and families to enjoy.
In addition to engaging with local residents, we will be involving other stakeholders in the project, including the local county council elected members, Monmouth Town Council, Transition Monmouth, ACE (Action on Climate Emergency), Gwent Wildlife Trust, Rockfield Community Centre, the local schools and NRW (Natural Resources Wales).
*Local Places for Nature funding is administered by the Welsh Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA) on behalf of Welsh Government.
