Residents of the New Forest Village estate in Middleton have taken it upon themselves to form a local community collective in order to improve the New Forest Plantation greenspace (also known as Sharp Lane Plantation) that sits adjacent to the estate.
The primary objective of the Friends of New Forest Plantation is to make it a more welcoming place to walk and enjoy leisure time. Unfortunately after a period of neglect from the council the paths are in desperate need of repair, fencing needs to be stood back up or replaced with sympathetic dead hedging. However, we are aware there is a pot of money that was granted to Leeds City Council from KeepMoat for this specific purpose and the volunteer team will do their best that this is used to the most cost effective advantage for the whole of the community.
The volunteers are now working in conjunction with their local councilors and have came up with an initial list of activities that they wish to achieve which includes
- limiting/blocking access points for off-road motorized vehicles (bikes/quads)
- litter picking (including the pond and beck areas)
- repairing the notice boards with a view to these being replaced over the longer term
- planting of bulbs
- dedicated area for fruiting trees to form a community orchard
Ideally they would like to encourage members of the local community to help them with these tasks and will be posting on the local residential facebook pages of events etc. Alternatively please email: newforestvillage@hotmail.co.uk or take a look at our newly created website: friends-of-new-forest-plantation.yolasite.com
This post was written by Hazel Smith
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