The Green Communities Fund

The Green Communities fund, a partnership project delivered by rural development agency Cadwyn Clwyd and the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) with support from Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire and Wrexham councils has supported improvements to outdoor community activities and infrastructure across North East Wales.

43 communities have been supported through the Enabling Natural Resources and Wellbeing grant, 24 within Denbighshire, 8 in Conwy, 4 in Flintshire, and 7 in Wrexham, all given support to transform their outdoor community spaces for wildlife to thrive and to create desirable places to live, work and play.

11 of these projects are situated in the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley, spanning Denbighshire, Flintshire, and Wrexham.

A total of 4 new Community Miles routes have received funding from the project at Nannerch, Nantglyn, Froncysyllte and Garth.

Llangollen Rural Community Council created two of these routes improving the accessibility of footpaths in Froncysyllte and Garth, to encourage outdoor walking in the villages.

The council aimed to enhance one trail in each village and provided a link to the existing Community Miles route in Trevor, so residents could make better use of the walking routes in their communities, in addition to promoting the area to tourists visiting the World Heritage site.

Corwen Community Garden, a Denbighshire Countryside Service site had experienced repeated periods of water shortage due to a combination of anti-social behaviour and increased spells of dry weather conditions. A new, secure building was constructed from locally sourced Larch with the ability to harvest more rainwater coupled with a 50 % increase in storage capacity. The project also increased the composting ability of the site and created a new fruit bush hedgerow aimed at maximising the productivity of the site for the local community to enjoy. Gwllangollen, a self-funded CIC based in Llangollen supplied locally sourced wool from the Dee Valley for weed suppression to help the newly planted hedgerows.

Two communities, Llandegla and Llanbedr Dyffryn Clwyd, installed solar arrays on their village halls along with battery storage reducing both their carbon emissions and fuel bills. Already carbon neutral with an existing solar array, Llanbedr DC village hall hope their new installation will bring them closer to being one of the first net zero public buildings in Wales. Located within the AONB they received additional funding from the Sustainable Development Fund which contributed to the fitting of low energy LED lighting with all external fittings being Dark Skies compliant bringing added benefits to not only night-time visibility and light pollution but also conditions for nocturnal wildlife.

Outside Lives, a social enterprise located in Gwernymynydd, near Loggerheads, used their grant to substantially upgrade facilities that provide activities and events to support wellbeing and growth. A wildlife pond with a wheelchair accessible viewing platform was created along with improved access tracks throughout the woodland and compost toilets, all created with minimal impact to the environment.

The Outside Lives project was featured on ITV Wales News and you can view it below.