Electric chargers go live at Prestatyn car park

Two new electric vehicle charging points have been installed at a Prestatyn car park.

The Council has switched on two public charging points at Kings Avenue short stay car park. Each 50kw charger will provide ‘rapid’ charging facilities over four fully accessible parking bays.

This latest project is part of the Council’s action to tackle climate change following the declaration of a Climate and Ecological Emergency in 2019 and adoption of the Climate and Ecological Change Strategy in 2021.

Funding for the ‘rapid’ destination chargers which are capable of replenishing most vehicle batteries to 80% in under an hour was secured from the Welsh Governments Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle Transformation Fund.

The two new chargers are in addition to work ongoing to provide fast charging points in eight public car parks across Denbighshire for use by the public.

Councillor Barry Mellor, Lead Member for Environment and Transport, said: “We are really pleased to be able to introduce these extra electric vehicle charging points in Prestatyn alongside the other local facility based at Fern Avenue. These charging points will support our important climate change work and also be of clear benefit to nearby households with no off road charging facilities.

“We also hope that this new facility will encourage owners of electric vehicles to come into Prestatyn and charge their vehicles in the car park while shopping locally to support the many businesses in the town.”

 

Tree Nursery opens doors to Prestayn pupils

Pupils have been given a taste of a Denbighshire biodiversity initiative.

Prestatyn High pupils recently visited the Council’s local provenance tree nursery at Green Gates Farm, St Asaph.

The site aims to produce 5,000 native wildflower plants a year alongside 5,000 native trees and has been funded by Welsh Government, through the Local Nature Partnerships Cymru ENRaW project and Local Places for Nature grant.

Denbighshire’s biodiversity team gave the pupils a tour around the poly tunnels on site where the plants and trees are grown from seeds sourced across the county.

They also took up the chance to test out their green fingered skills by re-potting some of the wildflowers grown on site.

The biodiversity team also gave an insight into other initiatives at the tree nursery which include a species rich hedge, a large native wildflower meadow, and a great crested newt hibernaculum all designed to support local wildlife.

Pupils were also shown the rain garden and large wildlife pond, installed as part of a sustainable drainage system designed to boost biodiversity and reduce flooding.

Councillor Barry Mellor, Lead Member for Environment and Transport, said: “It was great to welcome the pupils to our tree nursery and give them a chance to see first-hand and also experience the work our biodiversity team is doing to help maintain and improve our local environment.

“It was great to see and hear such an interest from the pupils about biodiversity and how they can support it and we hope they took away some really useful learning to help their own local areas.”

Following the Council’s declaration of a Climate and Ecological Emergency in 2019, this project is part of an ongoing commitment to enhancing biodiversity across the county.

If you are interested in visiting the tree nursery or helping out as a volunteer on site, please e-mail: biodiversity@denbighshire.gov.uk.

Natural grass control method sows positive outcome

A pilot scheme has sown benefits for future meadow grass control.

The Council’s biodiversity team last year trialled a natural technique to reduce and control the length of grass at a Denbigh wildflower meadow site and improve the ground for flowers to flourish.

The Council’s Wildflower Meadows Project includes over 100 sites managed for wildflower meadow (including the 11 roadside nature reserves). These sites are equivalent to nearly 35 football pitches worth of grassland managed as native wildflower meadows.

And now a Denbigh site has become the base for a novel and self-sustaining natural way of keeping the length of the grass on the meadows shorter while they are in season.

Part of the meadow in Lower Denbigh was scarified and Yellow Rattle seeds, harvested from another meadow in the town, were sown.

During June the Biodiversity team inspected the site and found the grass length to be reduced, and wildflower abundance increased, where the trial had taken place.

This has resulted in more food for pollinating insects and their predators, and means that future plans to introduce new local provenance wildflowers grown at the Denbighshire Tree Nursery, will have greater chance of success with less competition from meadow grasses.

Yellow rattle is a parasitic plant, tapping in to the roots of grasses and other neighbouring plants and stealing their nutrients. This has reduced the dominance of grasses within the meadow, allowing more native wildflowers to take hold.

Yellow Rattle seeds from the Denbigh site are now set to be harvested to allow the plant to be introduced to other county wildflower meadow areas to reduce the dominance of grasses and help increase the number of wildflowers within the sites.

Councillor Barry Mellor, Lead Member for Environment and Transport, said: “We are really grateful to the Biodiversity team for trialling this project. This natural and self-sustainable method has reaped a positive impact at the Denbigh site, helping the future growth of other wildflowers at the site and also controlling the length of the grass.

“We are looking forward to taking forward this natural scheme to improve the biodiversity and look of other sites for the benefit of local communities, plant species and native insects.”

All wildflower sites are managed in line with Plantlife’s Managing Grassland Road Verges guidelines which sees the grass cutting at these sites prohibited between March and August each year, giving wildflowers enough time to grow, flower, and set seed.

The site is then cut after August and cuttings collected to reduce soil fertility and provide the wildflowers with the best conditions possible.

This project has been funded by Welsh Government, through the Local Nature Partnerships Cymru ENRaW project.