While Cornwall is rightly famed for the beauty of its natural environment, some open spaces in Cornish towns offer little in the way of wildlife and nature. Now 30 urban green spaces in seven Cornish towns are being transformed with new wildflower meadows, wildlife ponds, trees and orchards, special flowering pollinator shrubs, seating areas and even bug hotels!

The Green Infrastructure for Growth (GI4G) project, funded by the European Union, Cornwall Council and the University of Exeter, is making space for nature in urban parks, recreation grounds, at the edge of sports fields, on roadside verges and closed churchyards in Camborne, Redruth, Hayle, Penzance, Pool, Bude and Saltash.

“We know that the environment plays a key role in people’s health and happiness,” said Karen Hall, GI4G’s Project Officer. “However there is increasing pressure on many green spaces in our towns, which is leading to the loss of wildlife. The aim of our project is to make green spaces that work for people and for nature.”

The £3.5m three year project, which began in 2017, is being led by Cornwall Council’s Natural Environment Service and is part of the authority’s Environmental Growth Strategy. £2.85 million of the total funding has come from the European Regional Development Fund, with the remainder from Cornwall Council (£670,000) and the University of Exeter (£32,000).

The project will see 35 hectares of nature-rich habitat spaces – equivalent to 35 rugby pitches – created in the seven towns. The team have worked closely with local councillors and community groups to select the areas for improvement and to design the plans for enhancing the green spaces. They have also liaised with specialist organisations, including Disability Cornwall, to ensure that the new spaces for nature are accessible to everyone.

Twenty-four schemes have been completed where the creation of new wildflower meadows, wildlife ponds, and the planting of native pollinator shrubs and trees have transformed public spaces. New signs, seats and paths have also been introduced to encourage both adults and children to use their new green spaces.

Working in urban spaces has created some particular challenges for the team. “This is not just a matter of doing up parks,” said Karen. “At Millpond Gardens, for example, the site was next to a historical monument which meant we had to work very closely with Historic England. Other areas are next to Sites of Special Scientific Interest, close to mine shafts and coastal areas. None of them have been straightforward which is what has made this project so fascinating.”

As well as planting wildflower meadows and planting native trees and special pollinating shrubs to create wildlife havens for bees, butterflies, birds and hedgehogs, the team are also removing invasive species such as Japanese knotweed, invasive ivy and rye grass.

One of the key principles of the project is to use native plants, shrubs and trees wherever possible. One of the plants Karen wanted to use was yellow rattle, a semi parasitic grassland plant that suppresses grass growth, allowing a variety of wildflowers to appear and reducing the need for mowing. This, in turn, attracts pollinating insects. Unfortunately Karen could not find any Cornish seeds to sow.

Undaunted the team decided to harvest their own yellow rattle seeds and, with the help of the National Trust, who loaned their brush harvester, the team collected seeds from a meadow in Tehidy Country Park in July. The harvested seeds were then removed to a barn to dry out. Since then the team have also harvested Cornish meadow seed from a hay field at a Cornish farm.  Both seeds are now being sown in the wildflower meadows and along the verges.

All the completed projects have received a huge thumbs up from their local communities, with school children in Redruth helping to create a bug hotel at the green space at Treskerby.  A new innovation is the construction of accessible wooden picnic tables made by a local carpenter.

‘Before’ and ‘after’ surveys are carried out at each project to capture the views of local residents. The local community at Bay View, Hayle, are so delighted with the transformation of their park they have asked for it to be renamed Treveglos Meadows. A special renaming ceremony is due to be held later in the year.

Part of the project involves working with local communities to re-think their use of these spaces so they become community hubs.  “As well as encouraging existing uses such as dog walking and sports, we want to see these spaces used for other activities,” said Karen.  “This could anything from outdoor learning for schools, to natural gyms and exercise classes.

“We want local people to celebrate and enjoy these local spaces and will be working with individual communities to help develop these plans over the coming months.”

Work is continuing on transforming the urban spaces in the remaining five towns, with the project due to be completed in December 2019.