In partnership with the local community, the parish council would like to transform a 9-acre scrubland site known as the Jubilee Field, into a treasured and greatly enhanced sustainable green space and community facility. The Jubilee Peace and Hope Garden project balances nationally significant Nature recovery with improving community well-being, protecting social heritage and supporting lifelong learning and greater inclusion. Our project has 3 very clear objectives:To create the Jubilee Peace and Hope Garden:
The space will create an improved sustainable habitat for local flora and fauna and offer a space of reflection and support improved wellbeing for the local community.To save local and national environmental heritage through the preservation and replanting of the Black Poplar Tree and share the local farming, landscape and social heritage with the community.To provide diverse communities with skills, knowledge and access to local nature recovery networks, empowering them to continue to become increasingly engaged in preserving and protecting the local heritage.
Our aim is to ensure that a wide range of people engage with the project, find out about the important heritage of the area and learn about how to support nature recovery in the area. This includes the local community many of whom are fairly new to the local area due to the increase in new housing. The landscaping work will increase biodiversity. The planting scheme includes Black Poplars, to help to preserve the UK’s most endangered native species.
The Black Poplar tree: a nearly extinct native tree that has seen its natural habitat wain due to the changes in land use over hundreds of years, with only 7000 trees left in the UK, and only 600 of these are female In Hatton, the project’s focus area, the Black Poplar tree’s habitat, has been eroded by industrialisation and new housing. The tree needs wetlands to thrive, and the wetlands were drained to make way for more dairy farming and then housing. The story of the tree, in how both man and nature have used this species for centuries, is unique to this country, making it an important story to preserve and share. For Hatton, the tree’s heritage is interwoven between nature, farming, culture and industrialisation. Nature recovery is key to a rural area where industry and housing have recently expanded exponentially. The site is ideally placed geographically within the village to serve local residents, nearby villages and schools and the 1000+ incoming workforce. The site has the potential to support health and well-being, social cohesion and to be a connection to nature that creates such a diversity of habitats and micro-climates that it can kick-start nature’s recovery and support greater biodiversity of flora, fauna and wildlife. The site would be connected to other nearby environmental initiatives (e.g. bee hives, protected butterfly fields and riverside meadows). Derbyshire Wildlife Trust has advised without intervention, the site is at risk of losing its capacity to be transformed. The project’s landscaping design incorporates a pond whilst still maintaining the unique wetlands geography that makes it a rare site suitable for Black Poplars. The parish council has worked on this project with the following:-People ExpressRepresentatives from the community formed a working groupDerbyshire Wildlife TrustEast Staffs Wildlife Trust Cultural Heritage Officer (Dr Mark Knight)Biodiversity Officer at South Derbyshire District Council – on pond inclusion and benefits, potential nature recovery outcomes for the scheme, and landscaping advice to create the greatest diversity of micro-climates (e.g. s-shaped bund)Project Earth - advice on the best Black poplar trees (male and female) from Kew GardensDerbyshire Amphibian and Reptile Group (DARG) - pond adviceGreenwood Days – how to access a network of at-risk craft practitioners, sustainable seating and community facilities, creating an eco-friendly Story Tree Circle for Early YearsLocal farming community - heritage research and key contactsNestle Ecological staff –existing bee and butterfly and other existing local nature recovery initiativesThistley Meadow - protected river-side site and Butterfly Meadow, (local nature recovery initiative community run)The Transforming Trent Valley Project (TTTV) - how to connect to local walking & cycling networks, information on native flora and fauna, nature recovery family engagement ideasGreenwood Projects - guidance on evaluationTurner and Co Built & Landscape Design Company - guidance on designing and costing digital outputsCalke Abbey - advice on boardwalks and family-friendly interactive landscaping
