Nature Recovery Project Report

Overview


Following the adoption of its Place Plan in June 2024 Crickhowell Town Council (CTC) has a wealth of evidence about what people want for their town, gathered during the extensive consultation process.  There was emphasis on the environment in terms of creating green spaces, improving existing spaces and increasing biodiversity.  There was also a desire to better connect different areas of town.


CTC applied to the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park’s Nature Recovery Fund for a grant to carry out planting on various sites around Crickhowell and worked with their grant officers and ecologist team to plan what would provide the greatest opportunity for increased biodiversity and enhancing green spaces.


The Nature Recovery Project has involved a lot of planning and hard work by town councillors and a wide range of local groups and volunteers.  We have posted photos and progress reports on our Facebook page since the beginning and hope that the small enhancements will be enjoyed by residents and visitors now and in future years.


Councillors also maintain the troughs around the Lucas Memorial and in various places around town – we are always grateful for help with planting and watering!


Castle Park


Castle Park is an icon of the town, owned and maintained by CTC who work in partnership with Cadw to maintain the castle.  Volunteers had already planted a beautiful rose garden along the Castle Road wall, and they continue to maintain this.  A former wildflower area next to Gabbs wall on the north side had declined so we wanted to rejuvenate this.


We sought consent from Cadw to plant six apple trees in the corner beyond the zip wire, which involved digging test beds to check there were no archaeological features.  Advice on suitable species of tree was given by a local apple grower, which has been invaluable.  We have included three Welsh heritage breeds, sourced from Ian Sturrock & Sons - Welsh fruit trees  and others from Walcot Organic Nursery.


In order to build interest and volunteer capacity we sourced an apple tree course and several councillors and volunteers from the Garden Society travelled to Somerset to spend a fascinating day with Les Davies Orchard Courses - Westcountryman who had a wealth of practical advice, apple lore and anecdotes. Our volunteers then helped to plant the six trees, using the knowledge we had gained.


The trees will take 2-3 years to mature and we need to avoid picking apples until this happens. Notices will give advice on this.

The wildflower beds were then cleared and the nettles removed by our park contractors, RCS Wales Ltd .  With advice from the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park ecologists about the best pollinators and those flowers best for the site we bought a wide range of wildflower plugs, plants and seed from  Celtic Wildflowers .  The National Park also donated some of their own locally harvested seed which we used in Castle Park and the Garn and also donated some to Llangattock Town Council for their planting.  We had a big planting day with help from volunteers from the Garden Society, the town council and most importantly a group of very helpful and enthusiastic children from Crickhowell Primary School, who came with their teacher – they are keen to help to maintain the site in future.


We hope to work more with local young people working towards their DOE awards as they have been instrumental in maintaining the benches in the park and on Beaufort Street, and also planted bulbs in the planters when they were temporarily in the car park.

We hope you have enjoyed the beauty and variety of the wildflower bed over the early summer, but it is certainly feeling the effects of the current drought.  We will be mowing the beds in the early autumn in line with ecological advice and to ensure strong future growth.


We have also made good use of some of the planters that Powys County Council put on the High Street during Covid and moved them to line the fence overlooking the cricket pitch.  Our volunteers have planted a range of low maintenance, good pollinator plants to encourage bees and provide a fragrant and visual display for us all.


Working with the Dragon Hotel, CTC has funded the creation of a permissive path from Castle Park, through the car park and out onto the High Street, opening up the town to residents and visitors.  The usage has been very high to date. Our thanks to Huw Watkins Plant Hire & Groundworks  for carrying out this work.

The Garn


CTC own this little piece of land on the banks of the River Usk below the Bridge End pub car park – accessed by the path to the right of the chapel.  We have planted three more apple trees here, and created a wildflower bed along the wall to increase public enjoyment as well as biodiversity.  The trees are hardy and flood resistant (hopefully!). The flowers have suffered from the drought this summer but will come back next year, and we have more seed to put down in the spring.

Library Garden


We have all enjoyed the lovely garden to the right of the library in Silver Lane, which was created and maintained by local volunteers.  We worked with the Morgan family who own the car park on the other side of the library to clear weeds and plant some fragrant, pollinator plants.  We welcomed help from Crickhowell High School teacher Mark Jones and the Eco-committee in clearing the beds, and from a range of other volunteers for planting.  We also had invaluable advice from local gardening experts!


The drought has affected some of these plants but we have some money remaining in the budget to replace these.

Interpretation


The grant has funded the following interpretation for the project, which set out the details of the project:


·      Information boards on each of the planting sites

·      A town trail leaflet (available from the Crickhowell Resource and Information Centre as well as local businesses, cafes and pubs)

·      Table talkers – small fliers available in local businesses, cafes and pubs

·      Placemats – for local cafes and pubs to use


Some benefits of the project

These include:

• Community groups, town councillors and individual volunteers working together and increased interest in maintaining planters around town

• Involvement of the eco-committees of Crickhowell Primary School and High School in planting wildflowers (and giving them a short talk on the apple trees we have planted) and clearing the library site

• Funding a day course in apple growing for members of Crickhowell Garden Society – this has reaped benefits as the members have now helped plant both trees and wildflowers and are very supportive of the project and future work

• Creation of additional spaces for relaxation and enjoyment in Castle Park and on the Garn

• The project has had ‘spin offs’ in terms of connecting different parts of town, with the Town Council working with the owners of the Dragon Hotel to create a permissive path from their car park through to Castle Park. 

• It has drawn attention to the work of the Town Council and highlighted the Place Plan as a source of inspiration and evidence for the town in order to focus our efforts to apply for funding. 

• In the Place Plan you told us that ‘top park’ (QEII Park) was a high priority for some investment. We have now invited local people to start a ‘Friends of Crickhowell Jubilee Park’ group to consider how the park might be improved. This group is meeting regularly and considering applying for grants to improve facilities there. CTC is in discussion with Powys County Council about a potential transfer of assets to CTC, but the group has permission to apply for grants in the meantime. Three remaining apple trees have also been planted there.

• We have tried to use local suppliers as much as possible and have benefited, for example, from donations of mulch from Langtons Organic Farm in Crickhowell and locally harvested wildflower seed from the National Park.

• With the grant money we have purchased gardening tools, garden waste bags, watering cans and gloves which we are happy to lend to other organisations in Crickhowell – please contact the clerk. We might encourage some help with nature recovery sites in return of course!



We have posted regularly on Facebook:  Crickhowell Town Council, Crickhowell Noticeboard, Crickhowell Clean and Green –– see links below:


·      Announcement of grant https://www.facebook.com/share/p/16Lp9nQKyT/

·      Invitation to plant trees https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18pTXgYY6P/

·      Planting trees Castle Park and the Garn https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18u2xWTa8p/

·      Invitation to plant flowers  https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1BpzncBtUE/

·      Volunteers and Crickhowell Primary School planting wildflowers in Castle Park            https://www.facebook.com/share/p/15QZ2suih5/

·      Garn wildflower planting https://www.facebook.com/share/p/15zHZPrimF/

·      Planting apple trees in Top Park https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Wf5GE9C3V/

·      Press release in local press: Crickhowell secures £11,500 grant to boost local nature recovery | brecon-radnor.co.uk


If you would like to know more about the project or volunteer to help with the continuing care of these green areas, or get involved in the Friends of Crickhowell Jubilee Park please get in touch:  contact@crickhowelltowncouncil.gov.uk