30 May 2007

Multi million pound regeneration scheme has recycling ethic at its core

A NEW community woodland starting to take shape in Merseyside is a triumph for recycling, according to those behind the project.

Bidston Moss is being transformed as part of a multi-million pound land regeneration scheme, Newlands, which aims to bring brownfield sites back into use as green spaces and help the economic and environmental regeneration of the Northwest region. Newlands is a partnership project funded by the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) and managed and delivered by the Forestry Commission and other partners.

More than £2.7m has been committed to the revamp of the Wirral site by the NWDA and partners including Biffaward, an environment fund that is paying for new sporting and recreational facilities at the site.
Groundwork Wirral is also running a three-year programme of community events to help maintain and improve the site while encouraging local use.

The Wirral site’s reinvention as a community woodland is being helped by a pioneering commitment to recycling – pathways, fishing lodge boardwalks and even the soil which covers the site have all come from recycled materials.

10,000 tonnes of 160-year-old silt dredged from lakes in Wirral’s Birkenhead Park has been recycled for use as soil to help establish a new community woodland site.

Faced with disposing of such a vast amount of silt, Wirral Council, a partner in Newlands and Forestry Commission North West, began discussing the possibility of reusing the waste material.
So its use at Bidston Moss meant thousands of cubic metres of dirt avoided being sent to landfill – as well as preparing derelict land for planting greenery.

Community foresters planted trees and shrubs on the newly fertilised areas earlier this month (May) after letting the silt-based soil settle on the former brownfield site.
Forestry Commission community forester Vernon Stockton, who is site manager for Bidston Moss, said: “The woodland is now starting to take shape and the use of recycled materials has played a large part in that.”
“As well as the silt being turned into a rich soil, the pathways and cycling routes have all been made from broken down building materials while the boardwalks at the fishing lodge are from recycled rubber, such as old tyres.”

Bidston Moss is also home to major recycling and waste facilities.  Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority, owner of some 37 hectares of the 68 hectare site, operates an Integrated Waste Management Facility which boasts state of the art technology in a Materials Recycling Facility (MRF). This can sort up to 30,000 tonnes of domestic waste a year and is the first plant of its kind in Merseyside. The site also features an In-vessel Composting Facility that can handle 10,400 tonnes of green and kitchen waste and turn it into compost.

The silt was recovered from lakes at Birkenhead Park, which were dredged as part of an £11.4million restoration programme to reinstate the park to its former Victorian glory. That silt then went through a refining process to create the rich soil which has now become an essential ingredient for tree planting at Bidston Moss.

Adam King, Birkenhead Park Ranger, said: “We wanted to ensure that bringing the park back to its former glory would reap benefits for the wider community and our local environment, and if this meant finding alternative and sometime unconventional routes to dispose of our waste then so be it.”

Vernon added: “This was great for the site as after the area was capped in the 1980s, it became apparent that the land was unsuitable for tree planting, until now.
“The use of the silt, coupled with other recycled materials, has brought other benefits too. It means we have cut the amount of waste transported to landfill, not to mention the reduction of our carbon emission by using local materials.
“I think we can be proud of the commitment to recycling which has been shown all across the Bidston Moss site.”

Peter White, NWDA Executive Director for Infrastructure and Development, said: “Sustainable development is at the heart of all of the NWDA’s activities and we are delighted to support the sensitive development of Bidston Moss. New community woodland will not only enhance the environment for local people and visitors, but it will also raise the area’s profile as a place to invest.”

Ends

Notes to editors:

Newlands stands for New Economic Environments through Woodlands.

Newlands at Bidston Moss is 68 hectares and is located close to the centre of Birkenhead and the ‘NewHeartlands’ Housing Market Renewal Initiative. It is visible from the M53 east-bound motorway.

Last April (2006), Bidston Moss was granted more than two million pounds from the Northwest Regional Development Agency’s Newlands fund to redevelop and manage the site into a new public recreation facility and community woodland.

The Newlands long-term investment for Bidston Moss is £2,767,538.
Newlands sites will be transformed into community woodlands through a unique partnership of the NWDA and Forestry Commission as well as a range of delivery partners, which include Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority (MWDA), Wirral Council and Groundwork Wirral.

A brownfield site is any land or premises that has previously been used and is not currently fully in use, although it may be partially occupied or utilised. It may also be vacant, derelict or contaminated. A brownfield site is not necessarily available for immediate use without intervention.

Community Woodlands are multi-purpose open spaces that can be easily accessed by the local community, and can include a series of small woodlands, footpaths, cycle and bridleways, football pitches, wetland habitats and a wildflower meadow.

Each site is designed in partnership with the local community to help improve and enhance the economic, environmental and social value of the local neighbourhood to work towards a sustainable environment for everyone.

Newlands sites were selected from a survey of Derelict, Underused and Neglected (DUN) sites in the Northwest. These 1,600 sites were then analysed by the Public Benefit Recording System (PBRS), which uses a range of social, economic and environmental factors to find out which sites would bring the most public benefit if they were regenerated.

The project has been part funded by Biffaward, a multi-million pound environment fund managed by the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts  (RSWT), which utilises landfill tax credits donated by Biffa Waste Services.

Biffa is a part of Severn Trent Plc and is one of the largest single suppliers of waste management services in the UK. It collects, treats, recovers and disposes of municipal, commercial and industrial waste nationwide and in Belgium.

Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority (MWDA) is a local government body consisting of nine elected Members, representing the five constituent district councils in the Merseyside area. It is responsible for organising and managing the disposal of waste collected by the five District Councils of Merseyside. MWDA is the landowner for 37 hectares of the Bidston Moss community woodland.