05/10/2022
People's Project talks to Bromyard Council about the Park
One of the many ideas put forward to the Bromyard People's Project by members of our community is to brighten up roadside verges by planting colourful shrubs, perhaps including the broom from which the town gets its name.
We went to a recent meeting of Bromyard & Winslow Town Council to explain this idea and others, and we were met with interest from Councillors.
We're delighted to say that the Council have already picked up on one aspect of that idea, and we're working with them to discuss practical proposals.
Nunwell Park is the official name of the green area along the Bypass fronted by The Time Tower, a triangular carving celebrating aspects of local culture. Bromyard Council has been thinking about a revamp for the Park, and has been offered a small amount of appropriate funding by Herefordshire Council for just such uses, so they got in touch with the People's Project to invite us to submit exact proposals in line with our original idea.
We met on site with Council representatives who already had ideas and suggestions, and we've now put forward some of our own ideas. The basis of the proposal is colourful low-maintenance plantings of shrubs and herbaceous plants. These could provide a background to the Park to make it more eye-catching for all of us, and we hope also they'd attract the attention of some of the motorists who dash past Bromyard without feeling they'd like to stop off and see more than our current neat but blank grass verges.
If Herefordshire accept the proposals, an additional planting area will be created with advice and guidance from plant expert Ros Bissell of Moors Meadow Gardens, who may be able to donate some of the plant-stock, though donations from members of the public would also be welcome. Plants in the new area would be set in large clumps to provide colour and also to suppress weeds, keeping maintenance to a minimum. They might include Convalaria, Lily of the valley, English Bluebells, and Narcissus pseudonarsissus (wild Daffodil), together with a wide variety of other herbaceous varieties including verbena, crocosmia, bearded iris, libertia grandiflora, persicaria, geranium Johnson's Blue, Shaste Daisy, Hemerocalis, and many more.
The rear margin of the Park could be planted with shrubs, some also donated by Moors Meadow Gardens, such as Fuchsia, Choisya Deautzia, Hydrangeas, Mahonia, Philadelphus Belle Etoile, Rhododendrons, Spirea japonica, and Philadelphus Belle Etoile. The steep bank above the footpath by Tower Hill could be planted with low shrubs such as kalmia, fuschia, cotoneaster, and brachyglottis.
We hope that the Council's involvement will allow the proposed update to Nunwell Park, and that a successful scheme would allow permission for more of our ideas, with plantings on other areas of the Bypass, on all approach roads to the town, at the Riverside, and elsewhere. With keeping maintenance to a minimum by planting large ground-covering clumps, ongoing costs are low - an important detail for the Council's annual budget.
The People's Project group is keen that any such project should belong to everyone. To make that happen, we'll be asking gardeners to consider setting aside plants and sections of plants as they are cut back this autumn - those unwanted plants could then be donated to be included in such plantings, always under careful planning and supervision.
Join in - it's our Town!
