BRAND new community outdoor spaces in Burry Port are being created with the help of a new £50,000 nature grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Welsh Government.
The project is amongst the first to have been supported via the new grant programme, Local Places for Nature, which aims to encourage and support community based projects to restore and enhance the natural environment on our doorsteps.
Pembrey and Burry Port Town Council will use the funding towards four projects across the town, at an overall cost of £98,500.
Work will include planting a new community orchard to encourage healthy eating; creating a sensory garden to enable elderly people and those with learning disabilities to better connect with nature; and building a children’s eco park to help youngsters appreciate their natural environment.
The existing allotment at Pembrey Community Growing Space will also be extensively updated, creating new facilities so older and less able members of the community can learn how grow their own food.
All four sites (Pen y Bryn Avenue, Tan y Bryn Park, Burrows Terrace and the Community Growing Space) total 0.78 hectares, and will be linked by a new nature trail so residents can enjoy exploring the town on foot with a dedicated quiet and calm walking route.
Louise Robinson from Pembrey and Burry Port Town Council said: “With our communities recovering from the COVID-19 restrictions, this exciting new project for Pembrey and Burry Port has become a top priority for us.
“We are working extensively with local residents and an army of around 200 volunteers to develop and deliver a project that is for their community, making the most of some currently underused outside spaces to support people’s emotional, social and physical well-being by encouraging wildlife and biodiversity.
“For instance, the new eco park at Burrows Terrace will transform what is currently a locked ex-playground into a space that will enable children to learn and play in a natural setting with wooden play equipment made from local logs, helping them learn to value their natural environment as they grow up. Children from the local school will even help design the play equipment themselves, as well as where to place bird and bat boxes, bug and hedgehog hotels.”
The Local Places for Nature Capital Fund will run until March 2021, and is still accepting applications until October. Grants will range from between £3,000 and £100,000, with the total funding pot available worth £2.3 million. The Fund is made up of £2.1m from Welsh Government and £345k from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Andrew White, Director of The National Lottery Heritage Fund in Wales, said: “We are delighted to be supporting this fantastic project for Burry Port, which will help revitalise and improve existing outdoors spaces as well as create brand new ones.
“The natural environment is one of our greatest assets and our oldest form of heritage, but it is under serious threat. This money from the Welsh Government and National Lottery players will work hard to ensure our important natural heritage is cared for. It will help reconnect people with the natural world on their doorstep as well as protect that environment for years to come.
“The National Lottery Heritage Fund has identified nature and landscapes as a priority in our new Strategic Funding Framework, as we believe that looking after nature and helping people to understand its importance has never been more important.
“With COVID-19, people are more than ever realising the value of having pleasant outdoor spaces to relax, enjoy and exercise in, and many have had the opportunity to appreciate the importance of Wales’s natural environment to our wellbeing.
“I look forward to hearing from more applicants to the Local Places for Nature scheme through to the deadline in October, and to supporting many new projects in the fight against climate change.”
Lesley Griffiths, Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs, said: “We have seen a greater appreciation of nature during the pandemic and the way in which it underpins our health, our economy and our wider wellbeing.
“The Welsh Government is committed to halting and reversing the decline in nature and making sure everyone in Wales can enjoy nature from their doorstep, and the Local places for Nature scheme reflects the determination of organisations and communities in Wales to do more for nature, even in these very difficult times.
“The creation of new spaces for nature through this scheme will provide opportunities for communities to come together, to be inspired and to accelerate the transformational changes needed in our economy and society to respond to the climate emergency and to halt and reverse the decline in biodiversity.”
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