£50,000 upgrade for green spaces
District council aiming to help combat climate change and develop new habitats
SOME green spaces across the Staffordshire Moorlands are set to receive an upgrade following a decision to allocate £50,000 over the next two years.
This follows a decision by council leaders at Staffordshire Moorlands District Council to adopt a new Green Spaces Strategy.
The strategy which is set to be operational for the next 10 years promotes the use of tree planting to combat climate change and promote new habitats; encourage community engagement and ensure green spaces are safe, welcoming, and accessible places.
Currently five areas have been identified and will be developed during the 2024/25 financial year.
However none have been identified in the Cheadle area as many of the sites are managed by the town council.
So far, Biddulph Valley Park, Biddulph; Birchall Playing Fields, Leek; Brough Park, Leek; Halls Road Recreation Ground, Biddulph and Pickwood Recreation Ground, Leek have been selected for development.
In total the authority manages 27 sites in the district.
However this does not include smaller parcels of land. It is hoped that throughout the lifetime of the green spaces strategy all the sites in the district will be developed.
The strategy also meets with two objectives in the corporate plan which are the provision of quality parks and open spaces and meeting the challenges of climate change.
The new green spaces strategy aims that green spaces “will be vibrant, attractive, robust and actively maintained spaces for the whole community to enjoy. and future-proofed to provide climate resilience and biodiversity while supporting health and wellbeing for our communities.” Commenting on the strategy Councillor Matt Swindlehust said: “What this strategy does is it allows us the opportunity to work much more closely with towns and parishes and develop the sort of collegiate working that we want to see develop over the life of this council.
“The strategy will support towns and parishes as well as local community groups in putting together grant applications to develop green spaces within our towns and villages which will contribute to them developing a sense of neighbourhood and raising the profile of those areas.”