The Mersey Forest to deliver 12km of greened streets in Wirral by 2015

Read all about the tree planting in the Wirral as part of the Local Sustainable Transport Fund.Part funded by the Department of Tranport. Read about the aspirations for an improved Wirral Waters and the green infrastructure around it in our Wirral case study and find out where else The Mersey Forest is planning on planting trees across Merseyside as part of the programme. http://www.merseyforest.org.uk/green_streets_case_study.pdf

The juction of Brassey Street and Laird Street

before planting

The same location after planting making the area more attractive for walking and cycling

Ilchester Park to get Investment in Access, Play and Green Infrastructure

A project to transform Illchester Park in the Wirral into a vibrant and attractive greenspace has been given a funding boost from The Veolia Environmental Trust. Ilchester Park in Birkenhead has been awarded the Community Forest Trust a grant of £67,055 through the Landfill Communities Fund towards developing the park. It is anticipated that the project, which will be delivered by 

The Mersey Forest Team, will lay new paths, plant trees and wildflowers to enhance the park's biodiversity, and install an exciting new play area. Access has been a key issue for the park with limited paths connecting from the main roads and railway station nearby.

New trees will give a greater sense of enclosure to the park whilst maintaining the open aspect that members of the community said they liked about the park. This grant will see more than £100,000 being invested in the park through The Mersey Forest since 2012. 

Speaking about the awarding of the funding, The Mersey Forest Team’s Green Streets
Co-ordinator, Ben Greenaway, said: "This is great news for our project. "The grant is very welcome and we look forward to working with the Trust team to ensure our plans become real and benefit both the community of Birkenhead and its wildlife."

Paul Taylor, executive director of The Veolia Environmental Trust, added: "This grant is a great example of how the Trust and the Landfill Communities Fund makes a real difference to all types of communities across the UK.

Further investment is being made throught the Forestry Commission's Setting The Scene For Growth Programme that The Mersey Forest are utlilising which comes from the Department of Business Innvovation and skills.This will see more than 1200 street and green space trees planted across Bidston and Birkenhead by 2015.

Looking across Illchester Park towards Birkenhead North Railway Station from Stanley Rd

As it appears now               

                                   & visualised with landscaping and trees

Tender for phase two of the programme is let for Wirral Green Streets

Further to extensive work with residents and partners the second phase of street tree planting has been tendered to companies through Cheshire West and Chester Council's CHEST, an on line procurement initiative that allows registered landscape companies to tender for this type of work.The tender will ensure that the programme realises best value for the investment in this part of Wirral and will ensure that the contract is delivered to a high specification.

Work on the tree planting is set to start in January 2014 with over 200 trees planted on Cleveland St, price St, Beaufort Rd,Shore Rd, Tower Rd and parts of Argyll and Hamilton Streets. 

 Some trees like those pictured will be removed and replaced with larger trees with a greater volume of soil in their tree pit which will help the tree realise its potential and be more sustainable in terms of helping Wirral adapt to climate change.Tree typically are 7 degrees celcius cooler under the canopy and filter pollutants out of the air on busy transport routes.

 Trees around Price St and Cleveland St will make by the approaches to and through the area more presentable and more attractive to inward investment. Business areas have increased value where green infrastructure is part of the immediate landscape.

Travel along greened sustainable transport route on you security marked bike

Travel along greened sustainable transport route on you security marked bike.

Come along to your local station to get your bike security marked for free!!

Bike Security Marking Tuesday 10th September 2013 with The British Transport Police will be at the following Liverpool rail stations to mark your bike

In Liverpool

 • Liverpool Lime Street 15:30 - 17:00

 • St Michaels Aigburth 18:00 - 20:00

 In Wirral:

 • Hamilton Square 0800 - 1030

 • Conway Park 1530 - 1800

New footbridge for Birkenhead North Station

SECOND PHASE OF IMPROVEMENT WORK TO BEGIN AT BIRKENHEAD NORTH STATION 'Work on the second phase of improvements at Birkenhead North Station is set to begin this month. Phase one saw the creation of a new 274 space car park with Blue Badge parking, lighting, CCTV coverage, secure fencing and provision of adequate drainage. Phase 2, which is due to be completed by March 2014, will see the installation of a fully accessible pedestrian bridge, equipped with passenger lifts, linking the car park to both platforms. Phase 1 was financed through the European Union’s European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) but the grant funding did not cover the cost of phase 2, which has been funded from a number of sources including rail industry finance, money from the Department for Transport and Merseytravel'. Hopefully the Green Streets project can get some trees along the front of Beaufort Rd to complement these works soon.

Planning Application goes in for Rampworx facility in Valley Road Bidston

Exciting news as a planning application has been submitted for a site close to recent tree planting just off Hoylake Rd.The development would be a great boon to local youth who are always looking for things to do.

More details and the site location can be viewed here:
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/plans-revealed-6m-indoor-skatepark-5325666

http://www.wirral.gov.uk/planning/Docs/DMZfiles/19146_1.pdf

ABW architects

Wirral Community news said 'Ambitious designs for a £6m indoor skatepark and sporting village in Wirral have been revealed.

Rampworx has submitted plans to the council for a 5,600 sq m complex on 1.3 hectares of land off Valley Road, Bidston, that would create up to 35 jobs as well as volunteer opportunities.

The charity and social enterprise, which works with young people to provide sporting and learning opportunities, already has a skatepark in Aintree catering for around 1,300 people a week.

Rampworx has been working with Liverpool firm ABW architects on the plans and has now released artist’s impressions of how the state-of-the-art development would look.

As well as the skatepark, it incorporates a climbing wall, workshop and office space, cafe, business start-up units, a music rehearsal room, dance studio and parking.

The complex would also cater for other sports including futsal, gymnastics, roller derby, trampolining and handball.

Work on the Bidston project began in 2007 and the charity has now applied to secure planning approval for the Rampworx Youth Village Wirral development, which will allow the charity to apply for grant funding for the scheme.

Tony Berry, Rampworx development manager, said: “It will be a flagship building for extreme sports, drawing in top-level athletes from all over the world. It’s multi-use and there’s social and educational aspects too. It’s family-based, not just for kids on BMXs and scooters and would be a sporting village for the whole area.

“We’ve had backing from the community, councillors including Bidston Cllr Harry Smith and MPs Frank Field and Angela Eagle. It’s taken six years to get to this point, it’s an excellent idea but that’s all it is at the moment.

“It’s now going to planning and if we get approval we can start looking at applying for funding from the likes of Sport England and the lottery and try to make it a reality.”

Documents lodged with the plans include a feasibility study setting out the need for the facility following a public consultation.'

What you Said about Activity and Tree Planting

74% of respondents to our survey on park improvements and street trees said that street tree planting would encourage them to spend more time walking and cycling when asked at an event in the Wirral.

Consultation Underway For Ilchester Park Improvements

Over the last week leading into our Picnic in Illchester Park The Mersey Forest has been asking your views on potential improvements to Illchester Park near Birkenhead North Railway Station.We'll now look closely at your views and collate them so that we can see what you like , dislike, and want improving in the park so this can inform  any future funding bids made in partnership with Wirral Council and Wirral Partnership Homes.
We know that of the 500 people who attended the event alot of you wanted to let us know your views and we collected them in a variety of ways.Face to face interviews, form filling, sticking labels on photos, making artworks to decorate the park on the day of the picnic and video interviews.We'd like to think that your views count,so we'll be taking particular interest in the views of young people!

Click image to enlarge!

Some of your feedback about the event!

Come along to our Picnic In Illchester Park hosted by The Mersey Forest

To celebrate the planting of up to 400 new street and green space trees and several Gingko and Swamp Cypress trees in Illchester Park, The Mersey Forest is holding a picnic event in the park.

 We want residents to come and sit out on the grass, enjoy the view of the docks and give us their ideas of how the park might look in the future. 

 There will be lots to do, with: a climbing wall, a circus skills tent, african drumming workshop, cycling skills course, rides out to Bidston Moss, facepainting, crafts and much more!!

Join our facebook page! 

Click on image to view large!

How might the park look in the future?

What views might you wish to share with us about your day and the park experience?

Visitors From Forestry Commission and Mersey Travel are Impressed with Delivery to Date

This week Birkenhead and Bidston were visited by both representatives of Mersey Travel,Wirral Council and The Forestry Commission who are supporting the Wirral Green Streets and Green infrastrucutre Programme through until 2015.

The Merseyside Local Sustainable Transport fund will create a minimum of 8km of greened routes, planting over 1000 large street trees in 'green-deprived' areas leading up to the dockland areas of West and East Float in the Mersey Waters Enterprise Zone.

Mersey Travel representatives were impressed with the number and scale of the plantings that have occured in such a short timescale and the impact this will have in terms of creating greened routes for walking and cycling as part of sustainable transport options for residents wanting to access training, education and employment.

Keith Jones Forestry Commission Area Director for the North West and West Midlands said 'strategic tree and woodlands creation acts as a ‘spark plug’ to ignite wider growth' after visiting the Wirral Green Streets and Green Infrastructure plantings where 360 trees have been planted this year on Wirral's streets and green spaces across Bidston and Birkenhead.

Jane Hull, principal Advisor for Social Forestry (Place) in Forest Services for the Forestry Commission said 'I cam away with a strong sense of how the investment in green infrastrucuture was not only improving the immediate environment and prospects for the local economy, but crucially helping the confidence of investors in the positive future of Wirral Waters'

   Richard Mawdesley Projects Director for Peel Developments, who own the
   Wirral Waters site is working on a number of bids to attract further investment
   in the areas infrastructure and to attract investors to create jobs, housing and
   an accessible functional dockland area.Further information can be found on the
   Wirral Waters and Mersey Waters websites.

Local Young People Comment on Green Space and the value of Trees

Students from the Princes Trust are honing their digital skills in filming recording and interviewing themselves, each other and local residents with the help of Liz from DigiEnable to find out local views of recent tree planting and the value of trees.

Funded by The Mersey Forest's Wirral Green Streets and Green infrastructure Project, these young people are learning the ropes of social media,and online resources to assist in creating a greener Wirral in areas of greatest need and setting the scene for growth in investment in jobs.

Ed  Pink from FACT in Liverpool who have helped set up the programme said 'given that the students have only had two days of learning new skills this is an excellent first stab at understanding the views of local people and capturing the essence of the place'.

Here the group filmed Illchester Park close to Birkenhead North railway station and park and ride,the focus of a fun day celebration of the first round of plantings in the area on June 15th 2013 from 12 till 4.

Watch this space!

To follow the students work as it develops,go to www.greenstreetswirral.wordpress.com

Smooth Finish for Tree Pits

These tree pit base grilles allow water to permeate to the tree roots from rainfall through resin bound gravel,gravel infill around the tree and a serviceable watering tube, for when the contractor visits the site for maintenance as and when needed during the 5 year maintenance period.Here this tree, a Turkish Hazel is slowly coming into leaf in early May 2013.

New Tree Planting Starts Green Revolution

Here a row of Metasequoia trees go in on Hoylake Rd Bidston Wirral.Over 200 tree pits have now been dug along Wirrals streets.Part of 375 trees being planted this year and over 600 being planted by March 2015 in needy Wirral streets lacking in greenery.From grey to green the project is  greening Wirral and linking people to training and education and employment as it emerges in the nearby Wirral Waters enterprize zone.

    

    Here a new tree is installed with a grille base ready for the surface to be inlaid into the grille.
    Note the watering tube.

     Trees stretching down Hoylake Road from Bidston Village Rd
      See location mapped here:  http://goo.gl/maps/8Z4C0



   Beaufort Rd looking down towards Bidston Moss. Mapped here http://goo.gl/maps/AkSIy

Hoylake Road looking towards Bidston Village Road.Mapped here http://goo.gl/maps/nJm6O

Illchester Park on Stanley Rd looking towards Birkenhead North Station and West Float

Mapped here http://goo.gl/maps/FkiVQ

Laird St shops looking towards Birkenhead Park. Mapped here http://goo.gl/maps/ZUNk9

    

Tree Pits start to go In on Wirral Streets

As the winter weather recedes however briefly this week and for once the sun shines, so it does on the progress of the planting of up to 375 new street and green space trees along Wirral streets in Bidston and St James and Birkenhead south of the Wirral Docks at West and East Float.

We hear from one happy resident commenting on infrastructure funding in the Wirral Globe 

'bloodtub' says... 

 Tue 26 Feb 13"  more trees ,it will look nice"

We hope so! With over 12 different varieties of trees going in there's still more opportunities before March 2015 to choose you shade - not only of cooling effect trees on those hotter summer days but of colourful spring summer and autumn shades.

With funding from the Department of Business Innovation and Skills The Mersey Forest is making the best use of the Newlands Project through the stuardship of The Forestry Commission as part of its Setting The Scene For Growth Programme.Linking areas of employment need with areas of upcoming employment whilst encouraging active travel modes through walking and cycling.The Local Sustainable Transport Fund part funded by The Department of Transport is helping get people to work but targeting polution hotspots with improved opportunities for alternative transport through improved bus services and local linking infrastructure like cycle lanes, bike hire and travel plans.The Mersey Forest is using LSTF funds to find out what makes residents more likely to use alternative travel modes to get to areas of Work, Education and Training.

It'snow fun as green space planting gets under way!

Young people from the Princes Trust braved wintery conditions at Birkenhead Park's Boothby Ground to plant small woodland trees to help soak up some of the water on a wet area of the park.
Find out more about the project of make a group request on our Wirral Tree Planting Project page on facebook here: 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/WirralTreeGrowingProject/.

Reducing the cost of maintenance in parks is definately a bonus as budgets are tight this coming year.Making a habitat for wildlife will help small birds and mammals forage and feed.

Where are we working?

The Wirral Green Streets and Green Infrastructure project is working in the following area.This can loosely be defined as the areas of least trees and greatest deprivation around the watery area now known as Wirral Waters.

This area covers some of the Council wards of Birkenhead and Tranmere , Bidston and St James and Seacombe.

Between 2012 and 2015 we want to link local communities with the East and West Float areas with avenues of trees and a network of green spaces planting with a mixture of fruit ornamental and larger leaved trees where appropriate.


Click on the map to enlarge.

Growing Project Goes Live

The Edward Kemp Gardens Wirral Tree Growing Project kicks off this Monday at the community garden on Ashville Rd next to Birkenhead Park.

The Prices Trust will be helping create a permenent tree growing site so that trees can be planted in the community creating more woodlands and copses for members of the public to enjoy.

If you want to get involved with growing trees on the Wirral then follow the project on this blog or contact The Mersey Forest on 01925 816 217 ben@merseyforest.org.uk

https://www.facebook.com/groups/WirralTreeGrowingProject/

The Mersey Forest www.merseyforest.org.uk More From Trees

Local Sustainable Transport Fund Case Studies

Through Merseytravel The Mersey Forest is contributing over 8 kilometres of greened routes  in the Wirral to this  Department of Transport part funded project.

Read our Local Sustainable Transport Fund Case Studies of projects that The Mersey Forest has delivered in Knowsley and St Helens to help promote active modes of travel such as walking and cycling.

Wirral Council will be delivering sustainable walking and cycling routes that link new facilities such as the Bidston and Birkenhead North Park and Ride to Bidston and Birkenhead.The project aims to encourage residents to use low carbon forms of transport such as walking, cycling and joint bus travel to their local places of education, training or work.

Read more about The Mersey Forest's involvement in the project across Merseyside here.
See 'older posts' below for detailed plans of the proposed tree plantings.

Residents Turn Out To Endorse Planting Project

Braving a  winter's dark night residents from affected streets for the Wirral Green Streets street tree planting programme turned out on Tuesday to praise the project as plans were shown of the key streets affected by the programme.

Street tree planting will transform the routes into the borough from the west as the first trench of three years of spending.Aiming to plant around 600 trees and 9000 small woodland native trees in local green spaces.

 On Saturday 12th January residents turned out to see plans of the project.

Plans will be on show all this week next week till the afternoon of the 18th January at  Birkenhead Park Visitors Centre to see a display of the programme.(see plans in blog posts below)

One Wirral resident has e mailed us to say 'this is a brilliant idea and i'm a supporter of trees being planted in these Wirral streets......I look forward to seeing the new planting and watching the trees grow'

The Approvals to Plant trees in the Wirral

Wirral Council approval for the planting can be viewed here:

http://democracy.wirral.gov.uk/documents/s50005306/Tree%20Planting%20and%20Green%20Infrastructure%20Report.pdf

http://democracy.wirral.gov.uk/mgIssueHistoryChronology.aspx?IId=50002710&Opt=2

Wirral Council's cabinet approved the tree planting and future maintenance of the street and green space trees in July 2012.

Trees will be established for 5 years with a  contractor for the project.

Drop in Events and Exhibition

See 'Older Posts' below for more information on this project.
Come along to our Exhibition and drop in consultations in January 2013!!

Where is this? http://goo.gl/maps/Q0SlU

Where is this? http://goo.gl/maps/WFrCf