Town Trail - Clearing up by the Skatepark

 We had another successful morning on Monday, despite the rain showers. The Town Council had asked us to do some work on the Town Trail near the skate park to tidy up the area and let in more light.

We recognised that this was not a good area to create a 'dead hedge' and were delighted to be joined by some of the Balfour Beatty team with their chipper. All the brash was chipped and spread, and we also removed 5 bags of litter.

Under one of the trees it looked like someone had started a composting area. We've cleared this and ask people not to do that as we want to encourage the return of wild flowers.

The first of our photos

shows a 'before' shot, and the rest are during the work and afterwards.

We'll be taking a break now till after Christmas. Then we'll be back to continue work on the stretch of the Trail between Bye Street and Woodleigh Road. 

If you'd like to join us do email on sustainableledbury@gmail.com (contact form in the sidebar, for convenience) 

Town Trail - Balfour Beatty join in.

 We had another good session on the Town Trail on Monday morning - see the before and after photos. We had some extra help from three wonderful Balfour Beatty volunteers and we hope they'll be able to join us again in the new year.

 Balfour Beatty encourage all their employees to do some voluntary work every year and we are delighted that they chose to work with us.

For the first time we had to think seriously about ivy growing up trees. Ivy has many benefits for wildlife, but if there is too much of it on a tree, it can cause the tree problems. We try to get the balance right - cutting back enough so that the tree thrives, but leaving enough to support wildlife.

We also found a tree that needs some serious attention and have reported this to the council.

The team is growing - see the group photo. I'm so relieved that I'm the one taking the photos! New volunteers are always welcome. If we continue to make good progress, it won't be long before we can think about planting woodland flowers and shrubs.

Council considers ambitious new recycling and waste plans - Herefordshire recycling and waste collections may change for a greener future

Changes to the way Herefordshire Council provide the county’s recycling and waste collection and waste disposal services are set to be considered at a cabinet meeting to be held next week (Thursday 25 November).

With tough new environmental standards on the horizon, keeping things as they are now is not an option for them, after they received over 3600 responses to a consultation earlier in the year. In response, 86 per cent said ‘more needs to be done to reduce rubbish and increase recycling’; while 60 per cent acceed ‘the need to change the current rubbish and recycling system’. Over half (56 per cent) of residents favour a separate food waste collection.

If agreed, from late 2023, the changes will see a new weekly food waste collection service and a fortnightly seasonal garden waste collection service. Currently 40 per cent of the contents of the county’s residual waste bins could be recycled and residents have told us more needs to be done.

Read more about this on the Council website here

 https://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/news/article/1259/council-considers-ambitious-new-recycling-and-waste-plans

Town Trail, ground reappears!

On our second session working on the Town Trail, we were pleased to see that temporary barriers were in place by the broken fencing. Our clearing work will make it easier for the repairs to be carried out.

We worked up the slope to the road but have left some brambles along the top edge.

Hopefully this will discourage litter - we collected another two bags full.

Our next session is on Monday 22nd November from 10. 30 a.m. If you'd like to come and help, please contact us on sustainableledbury@gmail.com

If you're out walking that way, do stop for a chat and let us know if you have any memories of the Trail and how it used to be.

Town Trail - conservation work begins.

Supporters of Sustainable Ledbury have recently spent a couple of mornings cutting back an overgrown area of the Town Trail, near Bye Street/Bridge Street.

The 'brash' is being left as 'dead hedges'. This will maintain the natural cycle of material rotting back into the ground and provide habitat for insects and invertebrates. 

The team have so far removed 2 bags of litter per session. This work is a first step in the plan to increase the range of woodland plants in the area, making it more attractive for the town and providing greater biodiversity for wildlife.

Next Repair Cafe Ledbury date Sat 6th Nov 2021

The next Repair Cafe Ledbury will be held in the Burgage Hall on Sat 6th Nov from 10 am until 12 pm.

As before it will run as a "drop off and collect " service, which requires pre booking.

Book your place for repairs to portable household items of a mechanical, electrical or electronic nature, also sharpening and basic jewelry repairs. Sorry, no textile repairs at the moment.

For more information and to book items in, see the Repair Cafe Ledbury website

Town Trail project has go ahead!

Sustainable Ledbury Town Trail project now has the go ahead to do some conservation work on the Town Trail.

Where to start? We're spoilt for choice but we've decided to begin with the area just of Bye Street/Lower Road where the path slopes down to the trail. It's very overgrown and we're pretty sure there are some shrubs under there somewhere!

The photos show what we're talking about. We'll be there on the mornings of 25th October, 8th November, 22nd November and 6th December, from 10.30 a.m. If you'd like to help, please contact us on sustainableledbury@gmail.com If you're passing, do stop and say hello.

Waste Reduction Project seeks volunteers

 

Sustainable Ledbury is delighted to announce an exciting new collaboration with Ledbury Town Council and Garden Organic to help reduce the region's waste. The new campaign is looking to recruit volunteers from Ledbury and its surrounding area with a passion for reducing food waste, a love of composting and a determination to reduce, reuse and recycle as much as possible to share their skills and knowledge with others.

Volunteers will be provided with free training and resources on food waste reduction, composting and recycling in particular, but will also be made aware of other sustainable waste methods, such as Repair Cafes and real nappies.

 Volunteers do not need to have had any prior experience of waste or public engagement and only need to commit to a minimum of 30 hours of volunteering over the year. The only requirements are that individuals live in, or near, Ledbury, are comfortable talking to people, and are passionate about supporting their community to reduce the impact that poorly disposed waste has on our environment. 

If you have an interest in reducing, reusing, recycling and composting, and enjoy sharing your knowledge with others, this is the volunteering opportunity for you! If you would like to know more about volunteering for this campaign, please contact Sarah Blenkinsop by email at sustainableledbury@gmail.com or, alternatively, you can send your details in a sealed envelope addressed to Sustainable Ledbury to the Ledbury Town Council office on Church Street.

Repair Cafe Ledbury Autumn dates

 

The Repair Cafe team are continuing to monitor the situation and have devised a mechanism for running the repair service in The Burgage Hall during the continuing Covid-19 pandemic.  This is a somewhat modified version of the original idea but allows us to carry out many repairs.  we have already run successful events in June and July under this regime.

The key points to note are:

Only our volunteers will be in the hall – no general public access although, subject to the agreement of the Customer and Repairer we may in exceptional circumstances permit entry to a Customer to explain a particularly difficult or complex repair issue.

• Items MUST be booked in advance.
• Items for repair to be left at the reception desk at the Church Lane entrance.
• Repaired items to be collected at the rear entrance up the alleyway from High Street.
• Only items that can be safely sanitised can be considered so no textile repairs.
• We cannot provide refreshments.
• 
  

For more information see the Repair Cafe Ledbury website 

Town Trail Project

Ledbury’s Town Trail has a long history. Starting out in 1847 as part of the Hereford and Gloucester Canal, in 1873 it was acquired by Great Western Railway. By 1885 it was part of the Ledbury to Gloucester branch line and remained so until its closure in 1964. In 1997 the old railway line was upgraded to the Town Trail.

 Now classified as an ‘open space’ it has been sorely in need of some care for several years. It had long been an ambition of some of our supporters to carry out some conservation work on the Trail and maintain it as an asset for the town. With the forming of Sustainable Ledbury in July 2019 came the opportunity to plan to do something about this. A number of supporters formed a project group and by Spring 2020 had carried out a partial survey of the Trail. From this they drew up a proposed maintenance plan and went to the Town Council. The land is owned by Herefordshire Council and the next step was to request a Licence to Cultivate. This ensures that the conservation work can be carried out legally.

Progress was disrupted by the Covid pandemic but eventually, in Spring 2021, members of the project group walked the Trail with representatives of the Town Council and Herefordshire Council. This was a major step forward and gave the opportunity to define the extent and limitations of the work that our volunteers can carry out. By the autumn Sustainable Ledbury had formal agreement that we could start on the agreed work. In October 2021 we did just that.

 It will take some time to clear some of the undergrowth, check what woodlands plants have survived being smothered and start some replanting where necessary. At the same time we need to thin some of the tree saplings, leaving some to take over from trees that are aging. The aim is to both increase biodiversity, improving the habitat for wildlife, and make the Trail more of an asset for the town. Initial response from residents has been very positive.

It's very overgrown!

Waste Reduction Project

We were very pleased when Ledbury Town Council decided to set up a Climate Change Working Party. This gives an opportunity to consider action that can help and include the whole town. Where to start? The law on waste management is changing, making it a good time to consider a project on this.

Some of our supporters had been involved in the waste reduction Master Composters and Love Food Hate Waste  campaigns, run jointly by Herefordshire Council, Worcestershire Council and Garden Organic. Sadly, Herefordshire pulled out of this some years ago. It was a natural step to consult with Garden Organic to see if we could set up something on a smaller scale for Ledbury. Through the Working Party, the Council supported this and commissioned Garden Organic to train some volunteers on a range of things that can be done to reduce waste.

Sustainable Ledbury is delighted to have taken on the responsibility to manage this project. A group of our supporters have signed up for the training which will take place in early 2022. From then on they will be able to attend events to raise awareness and give advice on how to reduce our waste. This will include information on reducing food waste (and saving money!), recycling, and composting.

If you have an interest in reducing, reusing, recycling and composting, and enjoy sharing your knowledge with others, this is the volunteering opportunity for you! If you would like to know more about volunteering for this campaign, please contact Sarah Blenkinsop by email at sustainableledbury@gmail.com or, alternatively, you can send your details in a sealed envelope addressed to Sustainable Ledbury to the Ledbury Town Council office on Church Street.

Plastic Free Ledbury

 

This project has two elements which aims to support both the traders and the residents of Ledbury and the surrounding villages.

We want to raise awareness of how we can all reduce the use of plastics in our daily lives and also how plastics effects both traders and residents.

We started by asking Traders if they would consider moving away from their current packaging to a more sustainable packing. Some of them already had started to make the switch, but quite often as an independent trader, buying small volumes of sustainable packaging was cost prohibitive. There was support for the creation of a “hub” where traders could draw down the packaging, they required that had been purchased in bulk, so reducing their costs. 

Our conversations identified that many traders were already using sustainable packaging, but a greater problem was disposing of their trade waste in a sustainable way. Prior to the pandemic lockdowns, Sustainable Ledbury had met with Ledbury Traders Association about seeking to use alternative recycle waste removal options. This work was suspended during lockdown and now needs to be restarted, particularly, in light of the new Waste Strategy from Herefordshire Council.

The above research highlighted that residents didn’t know what things were and weren’t recyclable and that labelling was confusion. The project team came up with the idea of holding a “Gardener’s Question Time” style event bringing together the public, traders large and small, those in the plastic business and the councils. Again, lockdown meant that this could not happen, and the team are now considering an event in the open, in the spring of 2022.

Anybody wishing to get involved in the project should email sustainableledbury@gmail.com