Local communities to vote on grant funding for greenspace projects

North Hertfordshire District Council (NHDC) is currently working with Hertfordshire Council’s Countryside Management Service (CMS) to deliver improvements to Walsworth Common in Hitchin, improving access provision and restoring habitats for the benefit of local wildlife.

CMS has been successful in the first stage of a grant application to the “Bags of Help” initiative, run by Tesco and Groundwork, which awards money raised from the 5p bag levy to environmental and greenspace projects.

Walsworth Common has been shortlisted along with two other projects, to compete for grants of £8,000, £10,000 and £12,000. Between Monday 31 October and Sunday 13 November, shoppers in Tesco stores in Hitchin, Baldock and Royston will be invited to vote for the project they think should receive the top grant.

Customers at Tesco stores will cast their vote using a token given to them at the check-out each time they shop. This is the second round of the national initiative; the first round saw approximately eight million shoppers vote in stores across the country earlier this year, with 1170 community groups being awarded a total of £11.7 million.

The full grant award will fund the following actions at Walsworth Common, all identified in the current management plan for the site:

• Replace a flight of steps with an easy-access ramp, allowing all-abilities access through a key entrance to the site;
• Manufacture and installation of a new interpretation panel, entrance signs and benches;
• Restoration of an overgrown pond to improve habitat and biodiversity;
• Tree works to improve the river corridor along this section of the Purwell (an internationally rare Chalk River habitat)

Councillor Peter Burt, NHDC’s executive member for waste recycling and environment, said: “The size of award our project receives, and subsequently the scale of improvements that can made to Walsworth Common, is dependent upon how many votes are received in Tesco stores. As such, the success of this project is largely in the hands of local communities. We urge everybody to take a moment to cast their vote and give support to their local greenspaces.”