Transition + Greening Wingrove

[Ben Holden]

5th September (Sunday ) at 2pm till 5pm (venue to be arranged) - mark
the date in your calendars.

Fran, Becky, and myself will be facilitating a workshop on raising
awareness for the Greening Wingrove project (run by the Wingrove Ward
committee and local residents).

They have over 2 dozen people and a bunch of funding to 'Green
Wingrove' in some fashion. The details of what will be planted and
where are still being talked about. I'll post the next Greening
Wingrove meeting date later (it's in Sept some time)

So the resources are there for something to happen (hopefully it'll
involve fruit trees or food in some form) but they could do with some
assistance in gathering more local support as some people are quite
attached to their cars and don't want their parking spaces taken up by
tress, whilst other people are on the fence.

Be great if you can all come along and work with the local residents
to help come up with some fun, engaging ways to gather more local
support.

Will post more details after me, Fran and Becky have met up and had a
more in depth chat about it on Friday.

Any questions, just post em up here or come over for a chat.

Cheers,

Ben

[Ben Holden]

Met up with Fran and Becky for a chat about this. The gist of what we
came up with is in this email I just sent to Nigel Todd:



Hi Nigel,

Had a chat with some other people from Transition about how we might
be of assistance to the Greening Wingrove project. At first I thought
that raising awareness to gather more support was the way to go, but
after thinking more carefully about it that seems premature at this
point as we don't have a clear vision of what we're raising support
for (yet). The meeting in mid September should be a great chance to
figure out which are the best greening wingrove ideas to carry
forward. To compliment that, we thought it could be useful to have an
informal 'visioning' exercise which would invite people to imagine the
kind of place they would like to live in.

We thought a 'Wish Tree' at the Moorside Allotment show would be a
good way of doing this. Invite residents to write down their vision
for a future Wingroveand hang them all up on a tree. We could then
extrapolate recurring ideas and send them to you guys before the next
Greening Wingrove meeting.

There will be a few Transition folk at the allotment show on the 21st
of this month. It would be fantastic if you or someone else from the
Green Wingrove Ward Committee could come along, talk to people about
the project, and perhaps help collect some contact details for
interested folk.

What do you think?

- Ben

[Ben Holden]

Had a chat with pat from Mooreside Allotment and she's invited us to
have a table at the Allotment Show and to get a Wish Tree going!

Details of the Allotment Show are in the 'files' section of our google
group page. Anyone interested in helping us set up should try and get
there for about 10:30am on 21st Aug.

Cheers,

Ben

[Roger Cox]

Lets discuss Greening Wingrove when we meet as Transition West End -
Thursday 16^th September 7pm
38 Moorside South

I agree with what I believe was agreed in the Greening Wingrove / Ward Committee meeting; that the meeting in mid September will be to firm up proposals rather than to make decisions and that everyone effected by what could be radical changes should first be consulted. For example; one of the ideas that came up was digging up the crossroads of Stanton St / Philip St and Stanton St / Croydon Road and replacing them with fenced off areas with grass and flowers. I was expecting to receive minutes from that meeting but haven't done yet.

A council officer mentioned that he intends to have all our cherry trees cut down because they damage buildings, roads and pavements and because some arse is trying to sue them for a cherry falling on his car.

> Date: Thu, 5 Aug 2010 06:57:13 -0700
> Subject: Re: Transition + Greening Wingrove
> From: ben.p....@googlemail.com
> To: transiti...@googlegroups.com

[Roger Cox]

I've been sent the Minutes of the Greening Wingrove / Ward Committee meeting:

Note of meeting held on Wednesday 14 July 2010, 6.00pm,
in the Nunsmoor Centre, Studley Terrace

PRESENT
Irim Ali Wingrove Ward Councillor
Theresa Ball ‘Time Exchange’
Irene Baxter Local resident, Gainsborough Grove
Phil Capon ‘Little Wasters’
Ann Cohen Local resident, Sidney Grove
Rick Cohen Local resident
Liz Crocker ‘Little Wasters’
Kim Dudley Stanhope Street Residents’ Association
Alison Flanagan Wood Arts Development Officer, Libraries, Arts and Lifelong Learning,
Newcastle City Council (NCC)
Alyson Hampshire Chairperson, Nunsmoor Centre
Pat Harding Stanhope Street Residents’ Association
Ben Holden Transition Initiative Newcastle
Nigel Todd (Chair) Wingrove Ward Councillor
Joyce McCarty Wingrove Ward Councillor
Leigh McManus Neighbourhood Inspector, Northumbria Police
Siobhan O’Brien Groundwork
Dorothy Procter (Notes) Elswick and Wingrove Ward Co-ordinator, Community
Engagement and Empowerment Section, NCC
Michael Robinson Tree Officer, Environmental Services, NCC
Roger (first name only given) Local resident
Susan Shaw Elswick and Wingrove Neighbourhood Response Manager,
Environmental Services, NCC
Jan Shimmin Community Engagement Officer, Environmental Services, NCC
Liz Turnbull Manager, Nunsmoor Centre, Children’s Services, NCC
Melanie Wallace Enviro Schools, Environmental Services, NCC

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Karen Brown, Nunsmoor Allotment Association
Rita Gray, Manager, Halls of Residence, Newcastle University
Adrian McLoughlin, Climate Change Advisor, Policy Strategy and Communications, NCC
Lee Sayer, Education and Enforcement Team Leader, Environmental Services, NCC

PURPOSE OF THE MEETING
Councillor Todd welcomed everyone to the meeting. He explained that the purpose of the
meeting was to take forward the ‘Greening Wingrove’ initiative, an idea which had been shared
in 2009 and received community support.
The Wingrove ward benefits from some of the largest green spaces in the city, including the
Town Moor, Hunter’s Moor, Nuns Moor, Exhibition Park, and close proximity to Castle Leazes.
However, the streetscape and environmental problems in some parts of the ward, particularly in
the Wingrove and Arthur’s Hill terraces and back lanes, contrast sharply with these green
spaces. Therefore, it is an improvement to the streets and back lanes in the Wingrove ward that
the Greening Wingrove initiative would aim to tackle.

The aim of this initiative would be:
• To encourage local people, community groups, schools and businesses to work in
partnership with the City Council and other agencies to offer a ‘positive future’ for the
Arthur’s Hill and Wingrove terraces;
• To tackle the issue of bleak back lanes, overgrown gardens, and lack of commitment by
some businesses, landlords and tenants to improving their neighbourhoods;
• To encourage interested parties to think wider than immediate local environmental
problems, such as misuse of wheeled bins, by thinking creatively about projects to improve
the streetscape, particularly in the terraces;
• To encourage civic pride, with people working together to create a vision for the area;
• To contribute to community safety.

PRESENTATION
Councillor Todd delivered a short presentation (Appendix 1) showing examples of:
• environmental problems in the ward such as the back lanes in the Arthur’s Hill terraces
(particularly Stanton Street, Tamworth Road and Dilston Road) and Wingrove terraces
(particularly Wingrove Avenue);
• successful improvements including Sidney Grove, Dilston Road and Stanhope Street;
• successful greening projects in other areas including Middlesbrough
(http://communityhorticulture.co.uk/projects/yards/longford_st.htm) and the ‘country lanes’
initiative in Vancouver (http://www.citycaucus.com/2009/06/filmmaker-looks-at-sustainablevancouver)
The importance of local resident and group involvement in improving and sustaining local
environmental projects was acknowledged. Local residents from Arthur’s Hill and Stanhope
Street were congratulated on their achievements in making their local environments cleaner,
greener, safer and much more attractive.

CURRENT PROBLEMS
Back Lanes
• Many maintenance problems in terms of fly-tipping, dropping litter and putting wheeled bins
out on the wrong day;
• If bins are removed from back lanes, then people put out black bags which cause additional
problems;
• If lanes are cleaned up, they can become rat-runs for traffic;
• Difficulty in gating back lanes as many people use them for garaging purposes;
• Research conducted for Gainsborough Grove indicated that it was not feasible to gate the
back lane;
• Few owner-occupiers in the Arthur’s Hill area and many private landlords who don’t take an
interest in the condition of their properties or the impact of neglect on the wider community;
• Very bleak back lanes;
• Need to look at the top of the lanes where there is no greenery or beautification.
Gardens and Streetscape
• Many gardens neglected and overgrown;
• Few owner-occupiers and many private landlords/short-term tenants who do not take an
interest in the condition of their properties or the impact on the wider community;
• Very few people interested in getting involved in cleaning and greening their
neighbourhoods;
• Maintenance in Sidney Grove and Gainsborough Grove is mainly by residents, but
everything else is co-ordinated by the Time Exchange.

Street Cleaning
• Cars parked in back lanes and outside schools/hospitals, make it difficult to clean areas
thoroughly;
• Lack of litter bins at bus-stops and other congregation points e.g. outside schools;
• Some businesses in the area have untidy environmental practices e.g. fruit and vegetable
shop in Stanhope Street.

SOME GREENING IDEAS
Back Lanes
• Make back lanes into ‘urban country lanes’ c.f. Vancouver where the process of greening
led to environmental sustainability;
• Introduce one-way systems into back lanes;
• Introduce gating – remembering that some people use back lanes for garaging purposes;
• Very tall and long walls in the back lanes could be tackled with very striking visual
improvements such as mosaics, murals, planters, banners etc (if there was sufficient
support).

Safer Communities
• From a community safety perspective, take the earliest opportunity to design out crime by
involving Northumbria Police Crime Prevention Officer and the City Council officer with
specialist skills on Designing Out Crime, Joanna Ward;
• Investigate whether certain parts of streets could be gated (but the Greening Wingrove
campaign was not a campaign for gating);
• Look at enforcement in the area to deal with environmental crime and anti-social habits;
• Identify culprits to discourage copycat behaviours.

Local Businesses
• Look to support ‘tidy business’ standards and consider possible rewards and incentives for
recycling and taking bins in;
• Look at imaginative schemes such as using vegetable waste from shops to make compost;
• Get businesses on board to hear what is being said and to make suggestions. Analyse the
Manchester in Bloom initiative that is closely linked to businesses.

Across the Ward
• Add greenery for birds and wildlife;
• Install poles to allow growth of greenery vertically;
• Add more hanging baskets and arrange watering maintenance through the City Council;
• Install bins at bus-stops, outside schools, at the back gate of the Hospital, at Wingrove
Avenue shops, and in Wingrove Gardens;
• Encourage ‘In Bloom’ competitions e.g. small yard/space, planter and/or best new garden –
work with schools;
• Look at ‘eco neighbourhoods’ schemes.

Specific Areas
• Gainsborough Grove – plant trees along Hospital wall;
• Gainsborough Grove – build on the ‘Imagine a Garden’ initiative and develop a community
garden;
• Framlington Place – concentrate on the front of the street;
• Crossley Terrace, where it cuts across Sidney Grove – add to existing foliage and explore
improvements to road/pavement surface and streetscape (but also involving residents in
planning an exemplar ‘pilot’);
• Callerton Place – develop new gardens;
• Fencing and trees at the crossroads of Hadrian Road and Wingrove Road need attention;
• Support Friends of Nunsmoor gardening project – fruit shrubs, growing vegetables, raised
beds, community orchard, children learning about environmental issues via the arts, 3D
mural to improve the appearance of the lock-up.

Get the Community Involved
• Encourage community involvement in the Greening Wingrove initiative;
• Coax residents to look after greenery in the area and consider rewarding people for getting
involved and making a difference to their environment;
• Look at awareness, education and campaigns with residents;
• Get more children and young people involved;
• Make known more widely the City Council officers who deal with cleaning and greening
issues e.g. Tree Officer, Mike Robinson;
• Publicise that if a child is born in Newcastle, they can get a free tree;
• Volunteer Service has a pool of volunteers who are always interested in gardening;
• Seek to bring together a coalition of Council services and voluntary groups to identify ways
of accessing additional resources (e.g. funding, labour).

Set up a Greening Wingrove Forum
• Define the partnership – Councillors; interested residents; community and voluntary groups;
City Council officers and other agencies like the Police, Groundwork and Home Housing
Group; schools; private landlords; businesses;
• Start small with bite-size projects e.g. top ten projects.

SUPPORT FOR GREENING WINGROVE
The meeting agreed that there was a definite enthusiasm to take the Greening Wingrove
initiative forward.
Wingrove, Greening Wingrove, Meeting 14.7.10 5

ACTION
The following action was agreed:
1. A note of this meeting would be completed and distributed by the Wingrove Ward
Co-ordinator.
2. A Greening Wingrove Forum would be established to meet bi-monthly in the Nunsmoor
Centre.
3. The membership of the Greening Wingrove Forum would include Wingrove councillors; local
residents and representatives from community and voluntary groups in the ward; City
Council officers; representatives from Northumbria Police, Private Rented Sector, Home
Housing Group and Groundwork; local schools and businesses.
4. The next meeting would be held in mid-September.
5. At the next meeting, the top ten greening targets for the ward will be prioritised and their
feasibility examined. Wider community soundings on those priorities will then be invited.
6. Before the meeting in September, the three Ward Committee budgets (Grant Aid, Ward
Support and Ward Capital) will be scrutinised and decisions made by the Wingrove
councillors with regard to criteria to support the Greening Wingrove initiative. The process
of identifying other funding options will also begin.
7. Greening Wingrove will be publicised by Transition Initiative Newcastle (a greening event),
Time Exchange (next newsletter) and Nunsmoor Centre (Family Fun Fridays).

ENDS

In Action Point 7 we are asked to promote Greening Wingrove; we'll need to discuss whether we want to do that and anything else.
We can discuss this when we meet as Transition West End -

Thursday 16^th September 7pm
38 Moorside South

---

From: cox...@hotmail.com
To: transiti...@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: Transition + Greening Wingrove
Date: Thu, 5 Aug 2010 17:31:20 +0000