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Welwyn Hatfield in Bloom

2018 Portfolio WH_Anglia_in_Bloom_Portfolio.qxp_Layout 1 27/06/2018 17:25 Page 2

Forward by

Cllr Stephen Boulton Executive Member for Environment and

Planning Delivery

We are very pleased to be entering our borough into Anglia in Bloom for the first time this year.

Welwyn Hatfield truly is a unique place where residents and visitors can enjoy a fantastic blend of town and country.

We have so many officers and fantastic volunteers working on different projects across

the borough and we want to celebrate our achievements through this application.

We hope you enjoy reading our portfolio and are

looking forward to you visiting our borough on the 5th July.

Index

Page 3 Page 10 Page 16 Welwyn Hatfield Conservation and Communication and Biodiversity Education Page 4 Horticultural Practice Page 11 Page 17 Resource Management Allotments Page 5 Impact: Page 12 Page 18 Welwyn Garden City Local Heritage Volunteers Page 6 Page 13 Page 19 Impact: Town Centres Local Environmental Calendar of Events Quality Page 7 Green Spaces Page 14 Street Furniture Page 9 Residential and Page 15 Community Gardening Plans for the Future

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Welwyn Hatfield

Woolmer Green

Oaklands & Mardley Ayot St Lawrence Heath Welwyn Digswell Ayot St Peter Ayot Green

Lemsford Welwyn Garden City

Stanborough

Essendon

Hatfield

Woodside Wildhill BLOSSOM IN WELHAM GREEN APRIL

Bell Bar Welham Green Newgate Street Our Vision and Brookmans Park Priorities

Swanley Bar Cuffley Northaw Our vision is to make Welwyn Hatfield a Little Heath great place to live, work and study with a vibrant and growing economy. Our priorities are to:

Introduction • Maintain a safe and healthy community Welwyn Hatfield is located in Hertfordshire, covering • Protect and enhance the environment an area of 130km2. The borough is made up of two • Meet the borough’s housing needs new towns of Hatfield and Welwyn Garden City and a number of large and small villages providing a mix • Help build a strong local economy of urban, suburban and rural areas, with each town • Engage with our communities and having its own identity and character. The borough provide value for money also contains large areas of open countryside.

The area boasts a number of conservation areas, listed buildings, areas of archaeological significance and currently, four registered historic parks and gardens. Integral to this built environment are the trees in the verges and urban woodlands that provide a setting for the development.

The borough’s population is estimated to be around 122,000, making it the second fastest growing local authority in Hertfordshire with an annual population growth rate of 2.25 per cent.

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Horticultural Achievement

WOOLMER GREEN VILLAGE PLANTER JUNE

RURAL COUNTRYSIDE JUNE

WOOLMER GREEN VILLAGE POND JUNE

Horticultural Practice: What we do

We are responsible for cutting nearly 3 million m2 of grass and also Hello. I would like to care for conservation grasslands, wildflower grasslands and ecotones. express my thanks We also plant in excess of 80,000 bulbs, plants and bedding each year for the efficient leaf for our residents and visitors to the borough to enjoy. clearing work performed We maintain more than 40,000 individual tress, 207 tree-belt and 43 today in Brockswood primary and secondary woodlands in both urban and rural areas Lane around the six horse across the borough. chestnut trees. I am so pleased that this work I wanted to congratulate the council on the has been done so early mowing regime of parks specifically the sensitive this winter. It is very manner that wild flower meadows are maintained much appreciated.’ (ie; areas uncut through the summer).’ Compliment from resident, Compliment from resident, November 2017. June 2017.

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Horticultural Achievement

NEW TREES IN BLOSSOM APRIL

FOUNTAIN IN WELWYN GARDEN CITY JULY

EARLY PROMOTIONAL POSTER FOR WELWYN GARDEN CITY BLOSSOM IN SUMMERDALE APRIL Impact: Welwyn Garden City Welwyn Garden City was founded by Sir Ebenezer Howard in 1920, who aimed to combine the benefits of a city and the countryside.

The town is laid out along tree-lined boulevards and every road has a wide grass verge.

To mark the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, a fountain was erected in Parkway at the intersection with Howardsgate in 1953. In recent years, the water in the fountain has been dyed pink in October in recognition of Breast Cancer month and throughout July this year, the water will be blue to celebrate the NHS.

I just wanted to say thanks for planting the new trees along my street this week - they really add to it and I’m sure will do for many years to come.’ Compliment from Resident, March 2018.

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Horticultural Achievement

HOWARDSGATE APRIL

HATFIELD TOWN CENTRE FLOWERS APRIL THE CAMPUS JULY

Impact: Our Town Centres Business Areas and Premises

We plant Spring and Summer bedding annually in our two town I was quickly walking centres in Hatfield and Welwyn Garden City. Each year, we though Hatfield town design our spring and summer bedding around key themes or centre the other day but events; for example, this year, some of our summer bedding colours are green, white and purple, in recognition of the I had to suddenly STOP & was suffragettes. blown away & stunned to see all those crisp very sharp and The Welwyn Garden City BID is a not-for-profit company set up stylish burgundy Tulips so by businesses in Welwyn Garden City town centre supported by neatly landscaped, you have government legislation to improve the area. Their vision is to create a town centre which is innovative and modern, which some very good gardeners… builds on the unique garden city principles and characteristics ..wow wasn’t expecting that! to make it a great place to visit, work and live. This summer, Thank you. Loving the colour the BID team in Welwyn Garden have installed a number of shade & the fact that some planters for residents and visitors to enjoy. are curly petals & some smooth - fab.’

Compliment from resident, April 2018.

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Horticultural Achievement

BID PLANTER JULY

BID PLANTER JULY HOWARDSGATE APRIL

A group of us gardeners went to Mottisfont Abbey on Monday to see Graham Thomas’s old fashioned rose garden. It was as beautiful as we had hoped it would be. But, as one of us said, and we all agreed, if you walk down Parkway it is such a delight it makes you wonder why we needed to travel to Hampshire.’

Compliment from resident, June 2018.

I am writing to congratulate the gardeners responsible for the delightful natural plantings in the flower beds around the town centre. The colour combinations are really lovely and an inspired choice by whoever masterminded it. Thank you!’

Compliment form resident, July 2017.

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Horticultural Achievement

APRIL JULY

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER

CHRISTMAS Green Spaces: TREE OF REMEMBRANCE & GREEN FLAG The Lawn Cemetery, DECEMBER Hatfield

The Lawn Cemetery was opened in 1984 by the Lord Bishop of Hertford with the landscape permitting only upright headstones, placed on predetermined concrete plinths at the head of the grave. The size and shape of the memorials are constrained to ensure a unified design in an effort to encourage well maintained grass.

For the last 3 years, the Lawn Cemetery has achieved Green Flag status.

Each December, we place a tree of remembrance on which families can write names of family members on stars. All donations received go to a local charity.

Twice a year, the Friends of the Cemetery group organise communal bulb planting days.

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Horticultural Achievement

COMPETITION ENTRIES FROM SUMMER 2017

Residential and Community Gardening: Bloomin’ Good Garden Competition

Each summer, we run the annual “Tenants Panel Blooming Good Garden Competition” open to tenants and leaseholders in our borough.

Categories include:

• Best Back Garden • Best Front Garden • Best Balcony/Window Box • Best Communal Garden • Best Allotments • Best Special Chair Award

Winners receive a garden voucher, trophy and certificate which is presented at an event hosted by our tenants panel chair giving out the prizes.

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Environmental Responsibility

SPRING WOODHALL ORCHARD SEPTEMBER

DOR MOUSE

SHERRARDSPARK WOOD MAY

Conservation and Biodiversity: Our Woodlands

Woodlands in Welwyn Hatfield offer excellent access for peaceful enjoyment of trees, foliage, autumn and spring colours, running water and sunny glades, not forgetting the joy of seeing woodland wildlife, enjoying birdsong and even perhaps gathering fungi. The larger woodlands have extensive networks of both public and permissive paths and trails which are well way-marked to help visitors. The boroughs largest woodlands, Northaw Great Wood and Sherradspark Wood are designated Sites of Special Scientific Interest.

Throughout the year, Sherrardspark Wood Wardens Society provide specialist guided walks through the woods, which provide the community with an opportunity to understand more about our woodlands from the geology of the area, to identifying trees, flowers and insects.

In addition, weekly Healthwalks in Sherrardspark Wood are organised for residents.

BLUEBELLS MARDLEY HEATH MAY

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Environmental Responsibility

CCOMPOSTOMPOST GGIVEAWAYIVEAWAY MMAY

COMPOST GIVEAWAY MAY

EXAMPLE FROM OUR ResourceResource CALENDAR CARD ManagementManagement APRIL 2018

EveryEvery year,year wewe inviteinvite residentsresidents to our compost giveaway event to collect free compost and is always well received with positive feedback from residents. The compost is given away courtesy of Agrivert, the company which composts the organic waste borough residents collect in their brown bin.

We also deliver recycling cards to every house in the borough, where we provide information on recycling and ways to reduce waste.

SHERRARDSPARK WOOD JUNE

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Environmental Responsibility

HOWARDSGATE Local Heritage: The Fernery Restoration

Following research done by officers, we knew there was an area of historical interest in the reserve.

Over the past three summers, the Friends of Danesbury Park volunteers have taken on the mammoth job of clearing the site of a huge amount of brambles, scrub, nettles and spoil to reveal the Victorian fernery once again.

Considered something of a horticultural gem and a symbol of wealth in Victorian society, and in the absence of local rock in Hertfordshire, the fernery was designed by the Danesbury Gardener, Anthony Parsons, incorporating artificial rock made by a local company - Broxbourne based Pulham & Sons.

Recently the volunteers have started planting ferns in the unearthed rockwork and will be ensuring the site is modernised so it can be easily maintained going forward.

VARIOUS DATES THROUGHOUT REGENERATION

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Environmental Responsibility

BUNDING JUNE

Local Environmental Quality: Protecting our Borough

In the last two years, the Council has introduced a number of projects to reduce fly-tipping across the borough. The impact of the FTG’s work is reflected in a significant For example, we have bunded and landscaped a number drop in the number of incidents reported from April 2017 of unofficial laybys to restore the country lane landscape. – February 2018 which saw a reduction of 2308 incidents (16.6%) compared to same period in 2016/17 across In addition, we are part of the Hertfordshire-wide fly- Hertfordshire. tipping group, which is multi-agency task force including Hertfordshire’s 11 local authorities, the Office of the Police & Crime Commissioner, Hertfordshire Constabulary, Hertfordshire Fire & Rescue, the Environment Agency, and the National Farmers Union.

The group quickly published its first 2 year work programme covering key issues such as the implementation of a county wide fly tipping campaign; to the development of a bespoke training academy for frontline enforcement officers designed to improve the standard and consistency of investigations for pursuing more serious cases through the courts. The work of the group is supported by funding from Hertfordshire’s Police & Crime Commissioner

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Environmental Responsibility

STREET SIGNS

BENCHES

LITTER BINS

DOG BINS

Pride of Place: Street Furniture

We provide and look after street furniture, such as benches, bus shelters and street name plates.

We always ensure that any street furniture is appropriately placed for our residents and is in keeping with the surrounding environment and heritage.

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Community Participation MARCH

JULY

HATFIELD TOWN CENTRE TULIPS

Development and Continuity: Plans for the Future

A number of our projects presented in our portfolio have 2020 will be a very special year for the Borough, as been ongoing for a number of years and we are hoping to Welwyn Garden City will be celebrating its 100th year. further build on these and gain further interest from the The Welwyn Garden City Centenary Foundation has been community through entering the Anglia in Bloom established to co-ordinate the centenary celebrations competition and launching our It’s Your Neighbourhood (http://www.wgccentenary.org). project.

Community Participation: Funding and Support The majority of funding for our application this year has been from existing council budgets, with our partners, such as the BID team and University of Hertfordshire funding their own projects.

For future years, we will be providing a council-funded project officer, who will be able to commit to working more closely with our partner and volunteers, and to seek further funding to deliver the objectives of the Anglia in Bloom competition and It’s Your Neighbourhood Project.

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Community Participation

ALL PHOTOS TAKEN BETWEEN Communication and Education: OCTOBER AND MAY University of Hertfordshire

The University’s Campus Community Officer (Dean of Havilland Campus, offering staff and students an area for Students Office) has worked in partnership with quiet reflection, working together to grow vegetables and Groundwork East and Herts Sport Partnership to provide flowers, whilst also offering a flexible outdoor space for a student outdoors project between October 2017 until activities. Student involvement in developing the project May 2018. The ‘Get Outdoors, Get Active’ project aimed to will be recognised via the Go Herts Award pilot, which is encourage students to spend time outside, learn new an opportunity to acknowledge and applaud extra- skills, whilst improving overall wellbeing. In particular, the curricular activities carried out by our students. UH is project focused on the importance of improving emotional enthusiastic about celebrating not only the dedication wellbeing, and mindfulness. The weekly sessions were students have to their studies, but to their volunteering based at the College Lane Allotment Plots, and UH and positive impact made to our local communities. This is Bayfordbury Campus. Students were involved in an incredibly exciting project for both staff and students. numerous activities, such as preparing the ground for Not only does it make better use of our green areas, but planting, growing a large variety of vegetables, and encourages social integration across the University. learning about pond life and building deer boxes. There is also a Blog about the project on the University The project went well, resulting in the Campus Community Community page: Officer securing partial funding via the Collegiate Campus Life group, for Groundwork to run a 26 week project on http://blogs.herts.ac.uk/2018/03/university-of- the de Havilland Campus. Therefore, work is currently hertfordshire-community.html underway to design a new Community Garden on de

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Community Participation

AUGUST MARCH

Community Involvement: Our Allotments The Council owns 46 allotment gardens in the borough and we have over 500 plots.

Having an allotment is a great activity. It is a wonderful excuse to get outside, get physical, learn something new and meet people. It provides low cost local organic fresh fruit and vegetables as well as promoting a sense of achievement and well-being and can reduce stress. Every year, we run a number of allotment competitions, including:

• Best Kept Plot • Giant Pumpkin • The Best Shed • The Best Newcomer • Tallest Sunflower

We also issue an allotments newsletter.

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Community Participation

STACKLANDS VOLUNTEERS JUNE

COMMUNITY LITTER PICK BY STANBOROUGH SCHOOL MAY

FRIENDS OF MARDLEY HEATH JANUARY

Year-Round Involvement: Our Volunteers

Last year, local volunteers gave over 1,647 days of work Residents are encouraged to contact us at any time of the to local nature reserves, woodland and open spaces. year to arrange litter picking, planting and general In November last year, the Council launched It’s Your sprucing of the areas they live in. Neighbourhood Project and we have 50 volunteers signed up to the Adopt A Road scheme.

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Calendar of Events JAN • Wood warden volunteer days • Weekly Healthwalks in Sherrardspark Wood

FEB • Wood warden volunteer days • Weekly Healthwalks in Sherrardspark Wood

MAR • Wood warden volunteer days • Keep Britain Tidy Community Litter picks • Sherrardspark Wood Wardens Society Guided Walks (Introduction to Geology) • Weekly Healthwalks in Sherrardspark Wood • Grass cutting commences

APR • Wood warden volunteer days • Hatfield Clean-Up Week (week of litter picks, arranged by volunteers) • Sherrardspark Wood Wardens Society Guided Walks (Spring Bird Walk, Cowslips and Bluebells) • Weekly Healthwalks in Sherrardspark Wood

MAY • Wood warden volunteer days • Compost Giveaway Day • Sherrardspark Wood Wardens Society Guided Walks (Woodland Photography) • Weekly Healthwalks in Sherrardspark Wood

JUN • Wood warden volunteer days • Sherrardspark Wood Wardens Society Guided Walks (Art Walk, Foraging) • Weekly Healthwalks in Sherrardspark Wood • Summer bedding planting

• Wood warden volunteer days JUL • Blooming Good Garden Competition • Weekly Healthwalks in Sherrardspark Wood (Flowers and Butterflies, Summer Bug Walk)

AUG • Wood warden volunteer days • Sherrardspark Wood Wardens Society Guided Walks (Identifying Woodland Trees) • Weekly Healthwalks in Sherrardspark Wood

• Wood warden volunteer days SEP • Introduce students to the borough in week of door knocking. • Weekly Healthwalks in Sherrardspark Wood

OCT • Wood warden volunteer days • Environment Awareness Day at University of Hertfordshire • Sherrardspark Wood Wardens Society Guided Walks (Fungal Foray) • Weekly Healthwalks in Sherrardspark Wood • Spring bedding planting

NOV • Wood warden volunteer days • Weekly Healthwalks in Sherrardspark Wood • Remembrance Day • Regeneration Schemes

DEC • Wood warden volunteer days • Tree of Remembrance (The Lawn Cemetery, Hatfield) • Weekly Healthwalks in Sherrardspark Wood

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Members of the Welwyn Hatfield Team

Carol Simpson Rosemary Allen Community & Environment Officer University of Hertfordshire, School of Education Ann MacDonald Landscape & Ecology Manager Emma Lewis Community Officer, Dean of Students Office, Kirsten Roberts University of Hertfordshire Community & Environment Services Manager Our Partners: Serco, Maydencroft and Lindsey Bertram Amethyst Horticulture. Senior Communications Officer Nick Long Plus, all our volunteers who have Corporate Director supported us.

Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council The Campus Welwyn Garden City Herts AL8 6AE

Telephone: 01707 357000