Well connected and opportunities for all – Rhyl & Prestatyn green corridor

Denbighshire Countryside Service, alongside partners such as Keep Wales Tidy and Grŵp Cynefin have secured a £1.2 million grant from Welsh Government to run a cross boundaries project spanning the length of the Rhyl cut/Prestatyn Gutter. This is to start in Kinmel Bay in Conwy, running through Rhyl and Prestatyn in Denbighshire, and ending at Gronant on the Flintshire border. The aim is to transform the cut/gutter into a green/blue corridor, connecting our sites with urban greening efforts and habitat improvement and creation with the help of the local communities to benefit their health and well-being.

This is a Welsh Government funded project lasting 3 years under their new grant scheme called Enabling Natural Resources and Well-being (ENRaW), which is based on the Well-being of Future Generations Act to tackle some of the most pressing issues facing us today. These include the climate crisis, environmental crisis, poverty, financial sustainability and social exclusion.

While the greater aim is to create a continuous green corridor, we have several key areas where we will be focussing in on habitat improvement: Horton’s nose Kinmel Bay, Rhyl cut area opposite Brickfields pond, Prestatyn/Dyserth way and Y Shed, Prestatyn wetland, and Gronant dunes. Alongside this, an environmental education programme inclusive to all schools will be rolled out across the area, to include: classroom sessions, site visits, school ground improvements, and inclusion in the habitat improvement work. Further still, the project will support the improvement of social well-being through: volunteer opportunities in habitat improvement to include social prescribing, tailored exercise sessions for the less able, provision of sites for recreational activities, social opportunities, and urban greening of deprived areas.

This a meaty project that we really want to the community to adopt, make it their own, and help us make a reality. We will be setting up community meetings in each of the project areas, Rhyl, Prestatyn and Meliden, to provide a platform for local group representatives to be a part of the planning process right through to the delivery to ensure we are effectively matching the needs of the community as well as the environment.

If anyone knows any community groups you think might benefit from this or have contact with in the area, or if you would personally like to get involved, then please get in touch by e-mailing amy.trower@denbighshire.gov.uk.