Edgmond Community Web Site

WELCOME TO THE
EDGMOND ENVIRONMENT GROUP
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The projects below were included in the Parish Plan and indicate the range of opportunities to conserve and improve our local environment:

· To increase Community awareness of the local environment & to initiate surveys of local wildlife and environment and to develop a policy to maintain and increase biodiversity.

· To develop and improve the rights of way network.

· To develop joint activities with local education centres & to form working parties to carry out practical projects.

· To seek formal recognition of the Rock Hole as a Regionally Important Geological Site (RIGS) and initiate other related geological projects.

· To engage with the Shrewsbury & Newport Canals Trust and ensure that environmental considerations are included in their future plans.

· To provide support to those seeking to reduce their home energy usage and the production of carbon dioxide.

In September 2009 an Environment Open Day at the Village Hall helped to demonstrate the range of opportunities available and allowed people to leave their contact details and express an interest in different projects. As a result of this the Environment Group has divided down into four subgroups:

Tree Group

Biodiversity Group

Energy Group

Footpath Group

Archaeology/Geology Group

The Tree Group has evolved into the Edgmond Tree Project - see below for more information on that.

The Biodiversity Group had its first extremely well attended meeting in February 2010 - see below for more information.

The Energy Group is aiming to undertake Household Energy Audits.

The Footpath Group had a bit of a head start and has already started the first project: a Rights of Way survey of the Parish - see below for more information.

The Arch/Geol Group is lacking a leader/coordinator so will have to take a backseat until other projects have been completed.

The Environment Group’s projects depend on the people available and their skills and interest. You might be interested in our local footpaths, birds, geology, botany, insects or energy use/reduction. You might have field survey skills or be good at organising people and events. You might just want to help maintain and improve the local environment. Whether you have a little or lots of time - it doesn’t matter - please consider being part of the Edgmond Environment Group and make a difference to your local environment and community.

For more information contact Paula on 813520 or pauladoherty@tiscali.co.uk

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EDGMOND TREE PROJECT

February 2010


 

The first meeting of the Edgmond Tree Project Group took place on February 4th when 16 people squashed into the Meeting Room at the Village Hall.

The project

A local professional tree nurseryman is donating 1000 native tree species to be planted in a 'nursery plot' adjacent to the green lane from Caynton Old Mill to Tibberton, on land loaned by a local landowner. The trees will grow on in the plot; they will require some pruning attention but little else. After 3 years these trees will be about 3 metre high and will be transplanted as bare-rooted specimens into hedgerows throughout the parish. If carefully handled and properly planted, losses should be minimal. They will require little or no attention in subsequent years. This is a project for the long-term with the aim of 'greening' the Edgmond landscape for the benefit of the next generation.

The practicalities

Some preparation of the nursery site has already taken place and the next job here is fencing. There will be a community day on 21st March to help with the fencing of the site. 'Fencing Sunday' will help to get more people involved and will raise awareness of the project. There will be more information later but the plan at the moment is to meet at Caynton MANOR Farm at 10.30am on the 21st March. Bring hammers, spades and gloves plus tea/coffee and cake!

The next date for your diary is the weekend of 24th/25th April. This will be 'Planting Weekend' when the young trees will be planted in their temporary nursery bed - more details later.

A few members of the Group will make initial contact with the local landowners about getting involved. Planting locations will need to be identified early, plotted on maps and prepared in advance of the actual transplanting. This is where more volunteers can get involved.

The final part of the project will be preparing the final planting sites and organising the working parties to get the trees in their final locations during the autumn of 2013 and spring of 2014. Mechanical help will be available for this.

The people

We want to involve the school and other youth groups early on. We already have volunteers with contacts with the school and with scouts, guides, brownies and Toddler Group. We want to develop an adopt-a-tree scheme and we hope to have an Information Board at the nursery site which will be available as an educational/community resource for group and individual visits. All these ideas need developing.

This is a highly exciting and innovative project. Many of us will not see the benefits in our life-times but we can be proud to leave this sort of legacy to benefit the parish for the next few hundred years. If you would like to get involved PLEASE contact Scott Kirby on skirby@harper-adams.ac.uk

For more information follow this link to the dedicated web pages for the tree project:

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EDGMOND BIO-DIVERSITY GROUP

 February 2010 

To refresh memories the meeting started by covering  the background to the Environmental section of the Parish Plan and moved on to explain how with the volunteered support from the Open Day four Groups had been set up :

1. The Tree Planting Project (Scott Kirby)  

2. Rights of Way (Paula Doherty)

3. Energy (Cath Edwards)

4. Biodiversity (Jim Shaw)

(An Archaeology/Geology Group has been held over pending someone to lead it)

All the Bio-diversity activities detailed within the Parish Plan and subsequently posted at the Open Day were presented in some detail and discussed by all. The list was added to by including new suggestions from the meeting. It was agreed that we had to refine this extensive list to a manageable few. A further vote resulted in the following:

The meeting finished with people joining either a walking tour of the Edgmond Hall grounds or studying tree identification from winter twigs. On the walk we managed to see a number of birds including good views of Raven and Great spotted woodpeckers and also hear them drumming. The tree ID group managed to work through the Key and with the use of hand lenses identified a number of trees from twig specimens.

Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon. The prioritised list from the voting will be followed up; in particular the Habitat Survey and a further meeting arranged to report on progress. Details will be reported on the Parish website.

Anyone interested in joining the group should contact Jim and Anne Shaw on 01952 810491 or through jamesshaw86@btinternet.com .

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The Footpath Group met again on the 14th January to catch up with progress.

We looked at how the Rights of Way audit is progressing: 30 of the 49 rights of way have so far been walked and reports have been sent to T&W. Andrew Careless is the Rights of Way Officer at the Council and he has been very complimentary about the work done. He is using the reports as a basis for setting his maintenance schedule for the year 2010/11. These include: 50 locations where signposts or way markers are required; 5 areas where surface improvements are recommended; 7 issues of clearance; one bridge structure required and 2 stile structures to improve (more of these have been added since he compiled his figures). So – as you can see, this work is already benefiting the parish.

We looked at the excellent Land Ownership map produced by one of our members and acknowledged the large amount of work that has gone into the finished product.

We noted that informal arrangements to change the routes of some paths over 10 years ago have resulted in what is on the ground not agreeing with OS maps. Legal rights of way have been obstructed and alternative unofficial routes have evolved. We looked at 3 such areas where there are significant discrepancies between what’s on the ground and what the maps say and we agreed on some suggestions for changes to existing rights of way. This work is still ongoing and will be presented to the community after further discussions. The aim is to make some permanent and official changes to the rights of way network to benefit all users. Eventually we will all know where we can walk or ride on a well signed and un-obstructed network.  

Andrew has made the point that this ‘model’ for getting the community involved in looking after and improving their rights of way is creating some interest in the Council and that it is a model that he would like to introduce to other rural parishes. We can be proud of the fact that we are leading the way in this. The Parish Council has also praised the work done so far.

As well as considering the needs of the community we also have to consult with other interest-groups. The Ramblers has been contacted and two members have already been out to have a look at some of the ideas. The local representative from the British Horse Society has also been contacted and she will be coming out along with Councillor Tracy Hope in early March.

We have had initial and informal discussions with two landowners so far. There are two others to talk to before the suggestions for change are presented to the wider community for comment.

If anyone would like to join the Footpath Group please contact Paula on 813520 or pauladoherty@tiscali.co.uk

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