elgt | Edinburgh & Lothians Greenspace Trust

Wellies in The Woods

Outdoor activities with local families in Edinburgh to help them become more aware of their local environment

We’re proud to be launching our charity partnership with Groundwork and to be doing so in such a hands-on way. Creating this outdoor classroom at Craigmillar Castle Park will make a real impact, helping more children and families benefit from outdoor learning through the Wellies in the Woods programme.Regional managing director for Miller Homes Scotland East, Gary Heaney

Funded by: Miller Homes

Outputs:

Deliver 3 programmes of 8 sessions in Craigmillar, The Inch and Pilton

Outcomes:

Inspire families to engage with local woodlands
Encourage young children (under 5s) to learn about nature through play and storytelling
Increase the confidence of parents to visit local greenspaces with their children

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Leith Parks Greenspace Improvements

Biodiversity improvements

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Funded by: City of Edinburgh Council

Outputs:

Develop plans for 3 park
Install new signage and benches
Plant trees
Deliver planting days with the local community

Outcomes:

Improved biodiverse greenspaces
Improved skills and knowledge of the local community

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West Lothian Wee Forest Biodiversity Corridors

Improve local biodiversity and help tackle the impacts of climate change as well as providing opportunities for people living in local communities to connect with nature.

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Funded by: West Lothian Development Trust, West Lothian Council

Outputs:

Addiewell- Delivery 6 planting sessions with the local nursery and primary schools and 1 with the local community. Planting an area of 30m2 adjacent to the Wee Forest with snowdrops, crocuses, fritillara meleagris bulbs. Plant bulbs and wildflower plants in the woodland area of 95m2 opposite the Wee Forest including snowdrops, blue bells, wood anemone, Cowslip, Primroses and Red Champion. A fence around the planting area would be installed using canes & tape.
Whitburn: Deliver 3 wetland planting sessions which include ground preparation of 167m2 through vegetation removal. Includes Ragged Robin, Cuckoo flower, Meadowsweet, Devils Bit Scabious, Hemp agrimony, Lesser spearwort, Valerian plants.
Boghall: Deliver 3 bulb and 3 wildflower planting sessions with Bath Academy, St Columba RC and Boghall primary schools across 60m2 which include Hedge Bedstraw, Hedge Woundwort and Red Champion plugs.
West Calder: Deliver 2 bulb planting sessions of Wood Anemone and Blue Bells along the Beech Wood with West Calder High School. 1 planting session of wildflower planting on the west side of the Wee Forest over 25m2 involving Common Knapweed, Birds Foot Trefoil, Cowslip, Lady Bedstraw and primroses and Red Champion working with Parkhead Primary school eco group. 2 school sessions planting 210 tree whips on the strip north of Wee Forest. 4 standard Alder trees planted along the path between the schools using contractors.

Outcomes:

Help raise awareness of the key role woodlands play in supporting wildlife and increasing our resilience to climate change.
Help people connect with nature close to home. To give young people the chance to plant and look after their own forest in their own neighbourhood.
Help neighbourhoods become nature-rich and more resilient to climate change.
Provide communities with the opportunity to help tackle the nature and climate emergency and contribute to Scotland’s tree planting targets.

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Inch Park Biodiversity Improvements

Biodiversity improvements

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Funded by: Neighbourhood Ecosystem Fund

Outputs:

Run an conservation sessions with the local community
Facilitate an ecology survey
Support and train key volunteers to be able to lead future conservation sessions with the local community

Outcomes:

Improved biodiverse greenspace over 2.5ha
Improved skills and knowledge of the local community

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Prestonfield Greenspace Improvements

Greenspace improvements to a vacant site

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Funded by: City of Edinburgh Council, Green Action Trust

Outputs:

Engagement with the local community and key local stakeholders, including Cameron House to help produce a design.
Run an engagement programme of volunteer activities with the local community / core group to deliver elements of the design. These activities include open days in the garden to engage the local community and local school, orchard tree planting, gardening workshops, grow your own food workshops, skill sharing workshops.
Delivery of community gardening activities, including growing and gardening sessions in the community garden for people with little or no experience of gardening. These sessions will include all the fundamentals in getting a community growing space up and running with the use of raised beds, preparing the ground for planting, growing a variety of produce – salad leaves, strawberries, tomatoes, fruit trees, fruit bushes, harvesting the produce and showing how the food that has been harvested can in turn be used.
Project manage construction works of capital items, to be delivered by contractors i.e. new gates, access improvements, through a competitive tendering process which includes quality and price.
Support and train key volunteers to be able to lead future growing and planting sessions and activities with the local community.
Provide tools and materials for the local group to use as part of making it a more sustainable project going forward.
Fundraising for additional grant income to deliver elements of the design. i.e. orchard. Assist a constituted core group with smaller fundraising applications.

Outcomes:

An engaged local community in the development of a unused greenspace
Improved biodiverse greenspace
Improved skills and knowledge of the local community
Create a group that would be constituted and be able to lease the space from the Council in due course.

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Huntershall Park Improvements

Improved access and amenity of a park to enable people of all abilities to be more active.

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Funded by: Paths for All, City of Edinburgh Council, Transport Scotland, SEStrans

Outputs:

Created a 495m section of new path beside the burn
Installed 5 new signs

Outcomes:

enable people of all abilities to use the path.
provide a safe surface all year round.
encourage people to be more active.
improve access to greenspaces

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Keddie Gardens Play Park

Play area improvements to increase the use of local parks

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We are delighted to have worked with the City Council and Edinburgh & Lothians Greenspace Trust to make this project a reality for the local community, and it’s great to see it now open and available for use. Thank you to everyone who has worked so hard on this project Cheryl Raynor, FCC Communities Foundation Grant Manager

Funded by: City of Edinburgh Council, FCC Communities Fund

Outputs:

8 new pieces of play equipment including a play unit for toddlers and an assault course for older children.
A new safer surface

Outcomes:

Increased use of outdoor play
Improved appearance of the local greenspace
Less antisocial behaviour

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George V Park Improvements

Improved access to active travel routes and greenspaces

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These welcome improvements help create a safe and climate resilient route through George V Park, where all path users can walk, wheel and cycle with ease. This traffic-free section of the NCN 75 is a crucial link in central Edinburgh and will empower local people to enjoy the Park and use the National Cycle Network. Emilia Hanna, Head of Programme for the National Cycle Network at Sustrans Scotland

Funded by: Sustrans

Outputs:

200m2 of a new surface
4 new trees

Outcomes:

Improved accessibility to active travel routes
Improved appearance to greenspaces

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Pilrig Park Millennium Community Woodland

Woodland enhancement activities to improve the Pilrig Park Millennium Community Woodland for the community and for nature

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Funded by: City of Edinburgh Council

Outputs:

Woodland management workshops
Tools and equipment for woodland management
1250 native woodland bulbs planted
Corporate volunteering opportunities

Outcomes:

Bring the local community together through engagement sessions
More accessible greenspace by opening up paths and points of interest
More biodiverse habitats for local wildlife
Create a safer and welcoming environment to encourage greater use
Increase knowledge and confidence to enable the local community to look after its greenspace in the longer term

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RESTORE THE BURN

An exciting blue-green regeneration project aiming to restore the Burdiehouse / Niddrie / Brunstane Burn and surrounding habitats

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Funded by: SEPA - Water Environment Fund

Outcomes:

Improved ecological status of the waterbody from Moderate Ecological Potential (MEP) to GOOD Ecological Potential (GEP) for physical condition.
New, enhanced, and better-connected habitats with improved wildlife and biodiversity along the river corridor and surrounding greenspace.
An improved Active Travel Network along the burn.
There are beautiful, uplifting and valued spaces along the burn, that people and communities take pride in.
Improve mental and physical health amongst local communities, residents and visitors.
Seek to achieve Net Zero gains with the creation and enhancement of wetted woodland, wetland and enhanced carbon capture.
Communities, infrastructure, and property along the Burdiehouse & Niddrie Burn are more resilient to climate change.

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