A housing estate in North Wales is about to burst into bloom thanks to an eco-friendly funding scheme.
Seventy-two hanging baskets and 11 planters will soon be in full flower on the Chester Avenue estate in Kinmel Bay.
The residents are benefiting from a pioneering scheme called Participatory Budgeting promoted by housing association Cartrefi Conwy.
The association put up £50,000 for environmental improvements throughout the county – and £2,435 of the total was won by Chester Avenue’s Green Fingers Club to provide hanging baskets for households on the estate and replenish tired planters.
“It will be like a rainbow – I am going to look after my hanging basket,” said association tenant Lorraine Poole who lives with her three youngsters, Kady, 5, and three-year-old twins Kimi and Doni at Cynlas.
“I think the club have done a brilliant job. I wouldn’t go out and buy a hanging basket. They are expensive and there’s always something else to buy.”
Lorraine was one of the many residents from the Maes Gwyn, Argoed and Cynlas areas of the estate who attended a fun day at Y Morfa Leisure Centre where she could make up her own hanging basket from plants, compost and materials bought by the club.
Club chairman Vicky Downey (correct), who started the club at the end of last year with estate residents Alf Roberts, Kerry Mills, Derek Hurst and Sharon Sadler with the aim of bidding for funding from Cartrefi Conwy, said the response to the idea to brighten up Chester Avenue and build community spirit had been good.
“We are making up baskets for the elderly, and others can make up the baskets themselves,” said Vicky.
“We want to brighten up the area and get more people involved and hopefully, if it’s a success, we can do similar projects.”
Cartrefi Conwy board member Brian Horton, a Chester Avenue resident, said: “I think it’s brilliant. It’s bringing communities together. People have organised themselves. I think they have done a brilliant job.
“But we need to sustain it. We don’t want it to fold. We must look for more funding to maintain not just Green Fingers but other projects. A bit of colour makes a difference to the estate. It puts pride back into the estate.”
The estate’s elderly had been consulted about the project, and been given the feeling of being part of the scheme, he said.
“It may be good not only for this community but other communities can look and say ‘We could do this’.”
Cartrefi Conwy Community Involvement Coordinator Michelle Jones said: “Hopefully the Green Fingers Club will carry on and additional funding from Keep Wales Tidy might be available to help with tools and plants,” she said.
Community Involvement Manager Phil Jones said Cartrefi Conwy was very pleased with the Chester Avenue project and hoped that it would lead to other ways to improve the estate that the association could link into.
The Green Finger Club carried out a survey and with the assistance of Cartrefi Conwy’s Building Maintenance Team put up 65 brackets to support the hanging baskets, he said.
In March, a “Your Voice, Your Choice” participatory budget voting scheme was held.
A total of of 21 community projects were invited by Cartrefi Conwy to the voting event at the Interchange, in Old Colwyn, to pitch their ideas – and seek the votes of those present.
Around 120 tenants and residents from across Conwy attended the event. After hearing the presentations everyone was asked to mark each project and the result was that all 21 projects received what they were asking for, up to a maximum of £2,500, and a total of £36,000 was distributed.
