Parks for Nature
After Rochford District Council became committed to Carbon Neutrality by 2030, the Parks for Nature scheme was established to change the way we manage our open spaces, with the environment in mind.
The Council conducted a public consultation on Parks for Nature in 2021 which can be viewed here. The consultation ensured the goals of the project aligned with public views.
Parks for Nature goals include:
- Planting more trees and other vegetation to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
- To have a range of habitats to promote species resilience and biodiversity
- To plant and manage trees to help cool down urban centres, provide shade and capture harmful particles
- To introduce meadows and wetland areas to help address flood risks by storing and slowing down water flow upstream
From the consultation, the Council were able to recognise the opportunity to adopt more environmentally sensitive practices in the Council’s 315 hectares of open space. Since April 2022, the Council has consciously landscaped the District’s green spaces. These practices benefit the District by reducing carbon dioxide emissions, reducing effects of extreme weather events, and developing more resilient habitats to help sustain wildlife. These sustainable management approaches will allow the Council to continue to deliver the benefits to health, wellbeing, recreation and social bonds.
See our Parks for Nature plans, linked below:
Ashingdon – King George’s Field
While the first field is retained as recreational use with formal grass, Parks for Nature enhances the second field by creating a mixture of meadow, woodland and wetland areas. The meadow and woodland areas have begun to establish, while the wetland area is set to be created in future.
Brocksford Avenue Open Space
The open space has been designed for amenity use. A meadow area has been created adjacent to the tree line on the northern edge. Some standard trees are to be planted to create shaded areas for the public, along with providing habitat for nature.
Fairview Playing Fields
The open space’s northern edge has been planted with a small woodland and area of meadow as part of Parks for Nature. The remainder of the open space will be maintained as formal grass.
Ferndale Road Open Space
The open space will establish into meadow, with a perimeter pathway route created for recreational use.
Great Wakering Recreation Ground
The open space has been re-designed to balance areas for nature with areas for recreation. The eastern side of the park has a mixture of woodland and meadow areas, while the western side remains predominantly formal grass, excluding a woodland copse which is located on the southern edge.
Grove Woods Recreation Ground
The open space’s eastern field has been transformed into a meadow area. The meadow has desire pathways around its perimeter and through the middle so that people are able to enjoy the habitat and wildlife it sustains.
Hullbridge Recreation Ground
The Parks for Nature design retains much of the current formal grass, except for an area on the northern edge which is now a dedicated mixture of meadow and woodland. The woodland areas are located in the corners adjacent to the river, while the meadow will connect these two woodland copses. Desire lines have been established so that the public are able to enjoy the area.
Turret House Open Space
The open space’s most southernly field has been re-designed as part of Parks for Nature. A small section of the main southern field has been allowed to transform to meadow, replicating the habitats in the adjoining fields within the open space. A large proportion of the field has remained as formal grass to ensure recreational use of the open space continues.
Woodlands Open Space
The open space has had the southernly half of the field dedicated to meadow as part of Parks for Nature, as the meadow runs adjacent to the boundary tree line it will create an edge habitat for wildlife.
Biodiverse Grassland and Meadow Areas
Grassland and meadow areas are of high value to biodiversity because of their relaxed mowing habits. This allows flowering plants to compete with grasses. It also allows all vegetation to grow higher and reach maturity.
This provides a range of vegetation structures (e.g. rosettes, stems, leaves, flowers, seed heads) which can support high diversity and high overall numbers of invertebrate. This in turn supports species of birds and mammals. These vegetation structures are achieved by:
- Ensuring long grass and meadows are available to wildlife.
- Allowing an area to develop into scrub (e.g. brambles, shrubs and tree seedlings).
Trees and Woodland Planting
The “Biodiversity in Urban Gardens” (BUGS) research project studied urban gardens to work out which aspects of a garden made the biggest impact on biodiversity. It showed that trees made the biggest positive impact on both the number of species and the number of individual organisms present in a garden. The positive effect of trees on biodiversity applies to all green spaces.
Trees have an important role to play in meeting climate change commitments and there is a global need to increase the amount of tree cover. To meet national targets, the Council is committed to tree planting:
- In suitable locations, with suitable species
- Shelter belts / fringe planting in parks
- Banked areas on verges & parks
Ponds and Wetlands
Some public parks and other green spaces have ponds or lakes within them. Predicted changes in rainfall patterns will mean that ponds may dry out partially or in full when hot, dry weather persists. They may also flood more frequently in wetter periods.
This means there is a greater need for new ponds and wetland areas to add to sustainable local drainage and widen the species of flora and fauna. There is also more need to collect and keep winter rainfall for use at other times of year.
As climate change puts more pressure on biodiversity there will be more need for ponds and associated wetlands to build local habitat networks. Well-designed ponds and wetlands are excellent for biodiversity in parks.
Wet woodlands can happen on poorly drained or seasonally wet soils, often on flood plains. They tend to be dominated by alder, birch, and willow trees. Wet woodlands are excellent for biodiversity as they can support a range of species which depend on wet or seasonally wet conditions.
Any comments please send to CustomerServices@Rochford.gov.uk