The Heart of England in Bloom Campaign
GOLD WINNERS 2011
At the awards ceremony in Wolverhampton on 15th September it was
announced that Redditch had been awarded the Gold award.
This is only the second year Redditch have entered the Heart of
England in Bloom campaign and we are thrilled to have been awarded
a Gold.
Heart of England in Bloom is the
regional element of the national Britain in Bloom competition which
started back in the early 1960`s.
The Redditch in Bloom team would
like to thank all those involved in the campaign and would like to
give speacial thanks to the sponsors.
What is the campaign about
The In Bloom campaign is not only
about flowers. The judges look at how we as a Council manage
the environment as a whole and how we engage with the public.
Areas we are judged on include:
Conservation & Biodiversity
Recycling - minimising demand on
natural resources
Local Environmental Quality -
how we deal with litter, graffiti and dog fouling
etc.
Management of street furniture such
as benches & signs.
Community Participation - how we
get the community involved & how we communicate with them.
Flowers and the landscape are
a big part of the campaign and we are judged on the impact of
the plants we choose and where they are planted. We are
also judged on the maintenance of our landscaped
including housing areas as well as our parks and open
spaces.
2010 Campaign
Redditch last entered the
competition in the 1980's. It was agreed we would enter again
in 2010 to support two of the Council's priorities of Clean
and Green and. judging took place on 6th July.
A team from Environmental Services
took the judges to various sites around Redditch. The
tour started at the Town Hall where the judges, Les Goodman
and Mike Garwood, met with the Mayor Kath Banks, Cllr B Clayton,
Cllr Braley and Cllr Brunner. The judges then walked through
the Town Centre to view the planters and bedding within the centre
and Church Grounds. The judges
then visited the Where Next Association to see their
nursery and the work that they do. The judges also
visited Forge Mill, the Abbey Cemetery, Arrow Valley Countryside
Centre, Winyates Green allotments and the new park at Overdale in
Astwood Bank. The children and staff at Matchborough First
School happily showed the judges around their grounds taking in the
woodland class room and the vegetable patch.
