Up Date on Action Plan created at Monthly meeting 26th May 2011
Short Term Actions and Results to date
Action from 26.05.11 - Increase our membership and awareness of the Friends –
Result 21.07.11 - Our membership is steadily increasing we have more than doubled our number since we began in April this year which was only 3 months ago! Hopefully we will attract people when we have our stall at the Pontarddulais Show.
Action 26.05.11 – Kay’s suggestion that it would be good if we could begin to clear the area next to the children’s playground after we finish the area opposite the tennis courts.
Result 21.07.11– We still have to clear the ground opposite the Tennis Courts. We got diverted because of the Himalayan Balsam that appeared to the right of the Children’s Playground – this we seemed to have stopped by catching it before the flower heads seeded. We still need to keep an eye on the area. We are also being careful when we are clearing the ground opposite the tennis courts as we do not want to disturb the ground too much in that area because that is where the bluebells will regenerate next year. This is ongoing.
Action 26.05.11 - All were agreed that it would be good idea to put up bird/bat/owl boxes, and to plant trees shrubs and flowers.
Result 21.07.11 – Thanks to the donation of wood from D. G. Heath Ltd., Mr. Gwyn Lewis, Brenda’s husband, has built 2 Owl Boxes, 4 Blue Tit Boxes, 1 Great Tit Box and 2 Little Owl/Jackdaw/Dove boxes. We are waiting for support from Sean Hathaway of CC Swansea to get these put up in the trees around the park.
Long Term Actions and Results
Action from 26.05.11 - To get rid of the invasive species such as Knotweed and Himalayan Balsam.
Result 21.07.11 – The Himalayan Balsam is easy to pull up by hand and the stalks left on the ground to rot. The Knotweed is harder to get rid of and there is a very large prominent patch of knotweed growing to the right of the park as you come in from Coedbach Road entrance. The advice we were given from the CC Swansea is to concentrate our efforts on small areas that we can tackle for example there is a small area to the left of the Children’s Play Area where we could, with the help of the owner of the properties that back onto the park treat the knotweed and so stop it spreading into the Park. Maybe if we can take care of the small areas perhaps CC Swansea will tackle the larger more prominent problematic areas!
Action from 26.05.11 - To get more seats, bins and maybe some kind of shelter.
Result 21.07.11 - When we submit the bid for the Lottery Awards for All Grant this will include a figure for seats and bins. We needed to get the feedback from the questionnaires first and also we needed quotations from 3 suppliers – hopefully this bid will get submitted in October and we should know the result in the New Year and then if successful this will give us projects to work on for 2012. The Park’s Operations Manager did say that he would get a bin for the Coedbach entrance from Coedbach Road. Adam Mason the Community Parks Development Officer is going to gently remind him. The Parks Operations Manager was unsure regarding a shelter as so many of these in other parks have been the target of really bad vandalism – this is something we need to look into further..
Action 26.05.11 - To get more people caring for the Park Environment and more woodland management.
Result 21.07.2011 – I was speaking to the man who collects the litter from the bins in Coedbach and he said that Coedbach is one of the cleaner parks in the City and County of Swansea and I think that is down to most of us who pick up the litter when we see it and put it in the bins so I think we are doing a great job. Also as we continue to care for the Park I think we are setting a good example and this will attract more people to be mindful of what a wonderful open space we have here and will want to look after it. The Parks Operations Manager has put in a request for the Trees to be looked at but as this is done by another department it is out of his hands as to when this will happen, Adam is keeping track of this and is making enquiries on our behalf.
Action 26.05.11 - Autumn/Spring/Autumn - It was agreed that getting primary school children involved in collecting and planting acorns in pots and nurturing them and then replanting them in the park was a good idea.
Result – 21.07.11 - Delyth Higgins Sustainable Swansea is working with Vyv and Kay to set up a meeting with the local schools to take this project forward. In the mean time we are requesting a free tree pack of 100 trees from the Woodland Trust for the Park, we should know the outcome of this by October.
Action 26.05.11 - To tackle the controversial ex-boating lake area and try and find a satisfactory solution that is acceptable by community at large.
No Result as at 21.07.11 – this is a long term idea that needs community input.
