How one community is greening up its urban spaces
The nearest playground to Roxby Close in Leeds has a bad reputation in the area, one resident described it as “rubbish” and a place “druggies” hang out.
Another resident says she doesn’t feel comfortable letting her kids go to the park because of the dangers, she says it’s a location where lots of bullying takes place and “kids doing things they shouldn’t be doing”.
Community group, Mafwa Theatre, want to create a new an open green space for the community to use, closer to their home, which creates a space for nature to thrive and will also help tackle climate change.
5 Live’s Rowan Bridge visited the area to find out how the group plans to turn a neglected space into what’s been described as a ‘pocket park’.
Tamsin Cook, co-artistic director at Mafwa Theatre, says the group have a list of ways they hope the space will help residents.
“We know that people really love to tend to plants, and that supports their mental health,” she says.
“There’s also the climate change issue… we’re not going to completely change the course of climate change with this small area, but what we can do is bring awareness.”
Mafwa Theatre also hope by planting edible crops, they can help local residents reduce their food miles and make their money stretch a little further.
Jane Findlay, president of the Landscape Institute, says this sort of local initiative to green up urban spaces is “excellent”.
“The benefits of local parks are immeasurable,” she says, “contact with nature is essential to people.”
But obtaining permission to renovate spaces can be tricky.
“It’s not as easy as you think,” Jane says, “there’s all issues around land ownership.”
“It also needs local support and local people to be fully engaged with the design of the parks, but you also need the guidance of designers and other professionals to get these parks installed.”
Jane says long-term plans for maintenance also needs to be considered by community groups hoping to green up their areas.
“If you’re going to invest this money, you’ve got to get the benefit for generations to come – and in this country we’re not very good at maintaining our green spaces,” she says.
Tamsin is hoping the Roxby Close pocket park will be an example of success for future projects.
“A lot of people in the council have been saying ‘you’re very persistent, people would have given up by this stage already.’ Which I think is true,” she says.
“It takes a bit of grit and persistence, it’s about finding allies within your community in terms of residents and decision makers.”
