You Really Appreciate Places Like This, They Help You Get Out Of The House And Enjoy Being Outdoors.

 

Better Together Community Support Group for Stoke-on-Trent and NuL have taken over the garden at St Werburgh’s School in Clayton [1].

 

The Seabridge Lane site is home to a wildlife garden and a plot for growing vegetables. Better Together have ambitious plans to develop it as a community garden and as a site for hosting some of their regular groups.

 

Mrs Wilson, headteacher at St Werburgh’s described the work done to bring the garden back into use as “absolutely fantastic” and that it would be “something everyone will now be able to enjoy”.

 

Jo Gideon, MP for Stoke-on-Trent Central and a patron of Better Together said that a community garden was a “fantastic idea”, adding that gardening is an activity that shows “countless benefits to both physical and mental health, with the added benefit of providing you with fresh produce to put on your plate”.

 

The garden will be part of their A-Maize-Ing-Grow project, which encourages people to take part in activities where they can learn about and engage with nature in ways that benefit their wellbeing [2].

 

Better Together CEO Birgit Alport said the aim was to “bring the community together” and “help people to cook from scratch and save money. Adding that “we also want to educate people about sustainability and not wasting food”.

 

Many of the plants and materials used in the garden have been donated by local businesses including Morrison’s supermarket.

 

Gemma Morris, a Community Champion based at the Morrison’s store in Newcastle said, “as a community retailer we are happy to support this project and the work Better Together do to stop food going to waste”. It was, she said, also “important for kids to learn that food comes from somewhere other than a shop”.

 

Using nature to help people cope with the stresses of everyday is an important part of the A-Maize-Ing-Grow project, particularly now when, Birgit said, it can be a “struggle to make ends meet”.

 

Dan, one of the Better Together volunteers who has worked on the garden said he felt it will be a “wonderful place” that will help people to feel calm.

 

Once the garden is open, he will be part of the team that will maintain it, something he said he was happy to do because “Birgit and her team were there for me when I was in a bad place”, now he wants to “give something back”.

 

Drue, another Better Together volunteer said, “you really appreciate places like this, they help you to get out of the house”, adding that she finds working in the garden “relaxing” and it is an opportunity to “meet nice people and enjoy the outdoors”

 

The garden will be formally opened by Stoke Central MP Jo Gideon on Saturday 25^th June.

 

We All Need To Work Together To Protect Nature.

 

Members of North Staffs Pensioners Convention met in the Mitchell Arts Centre in Hanley for a public meeting to discuss environmental issues.

 

Green Party councillor for the Stafford war of Doxey and Castletown Tony Pearce was one of three speakers invited to address the meeting. Also on the platform were former Stoke-on-Trent councillor and member of the Save Berryhill Fields Action Group, and Dr Mick Salt of the Stop the Stink Scientific Advisory Group.

 

Tony Pearce spoke about how he had grown up in Stoke-on-Trent and been active in local politics from an early age, before working in education and then as a full time official for the National Union of Teachers.

 

He held elected positions on Stoke-on-Trent City Council and Staffordshire County Council for Labour before becoming disillusioned with the party’s policies, including its response to the threat posed by climate change.

 

The Green Party offered a more viable alternative with its understanding, he said, that the drive for endless growth is the cause of many of the problems we face and commitment to social justice. In 2019 he won his current seat for the party and since then has worked to make protecting the environment a priority for the county council.

 

He has tabled motions calling for the declaration of a climate emergency, single use plastics and helped to set up a Climate Change Panel to involve the community in decision making on environmental issues.

 

The important thing was, he said, for everyone to realize they had a role to play in working to protect nature.

 

Dr Mick Salt, a founding member of the Stop the Stink Scientific Advisory Group spoke about the ongoing campaign with Red Industries over the ‘stink’ from Walley’s Quarry.

 

The impact of pollution from the site, caused it has been claimed, by the illegal dumping of hazardous waste at the site can be seen in the 22,239 complaints received about the ‘stink’ by Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council in 2021 alone. A further 43,263 complaints were received by the Environment Agency and pollution from the site was described by the Appeal Court decision following the case presented by the family of Matthew Richards as posing a ‘real and immediate’ risk to public health.

 

Despite repeatedly issuing enforcement notices, Dr Salt said, the Environment Agency had failed to follow through when it came to ensuring Red Industries too the required action. He also spoke about the intimidating methods used by Red Industries to inhibit protest by members of the community, including taking out an injunction banning protesters from outside the gates to the quarry.

 

Barry Stockley spoke about the struggle to protect Berryhill Fields, which began in the 1980’s when it was proposed as the site for an opencast coalmine. Residents and the council fought successfully against British Coal to prevent this, eventually winning their case in 1994. He described this as being “one of the most satisfying” days in his career as a councillor.

 

The proposed Local Plan, originally to be created by Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle-under-Lyme councils as a joint exercise, saw the site come under threat again in 2017. This time as the site for 1306 houses, if this has gone ahead it would have destroyed a habitat that is home to 167 species of birds and to rare brown hares and great crested newts.

 

The proposed Local Plan collapsed following a disagreement between the two councils and there was, he said, a strong possibility that the land would not now be developed, but the threat remains in place.

 

Responding to a question from the floor about the often-confusing rules around recycling Dr Salt said there was a need for a consistent and clear nation wide set of guidelines. Also responding to a question about recycling Tony Pearce said that the deal requiring the County Council to pay for a fixed quantity of waste to be burnt, regardless of the amount sent to the incinerator, removed the incentive for more to be done to encourage recycling.

 

Questions were also asked about the lack of funding for the Environment Agency and other bodies, the need for hydrogen powered busses to replace the polluting diesel ones used by First and the impact of lack of access to green spaces on local children.