Community gardens unveiled

25 August 2009

M&S, GROUNDWORK AND CASTLE VALE COMMUNITY HOUSING ASSOCIATION UNVEIL ‘GREENER LIVING SPACE’ AT RENFREW SQUARE

- PROJECT COMPLETED WITH SUPPORT FROM THE M&S CARRIER BAG CHARGE -

Marks & Spencer, environmental regeneration organisation Groundwork West Midlands, Renfrew Square Residents Group and Castle Vale Community Housing Association have unveiled two community gardens at Renfrew Square, Castle Vale in Birmingham that have been supported by money raised from M&S’s carrier bag campaign.

Birmingham Lord Mayor Cllr Michael Wilkes and Lady Mayoress Mrs Vivienne Wilkes awarded a trophy to the winners of partners’ versus residents’ garden games. This was to celebrate the completion of the six-month garden development that was jointly funded by M&S and CVCHA and decided upon by Renfrew Square residents.

The games were accompanied by refreshments and made for a bumper day of family activities at the beautifully landscaped adjacent gardens.

The joint venture between M&S, Groundwork, Renfrew Square Residents Group and CVCHA has been supported by the proceeds of M&S’s national carrier bag charge.

In May last year, M&S introduced a 5p charge for food carrier bags in all of its UK stores, to encourage customers to reduce the amount of plastic bags they use and bring a reusable bag for life with them each time they shop. All profit* from the charge is going to Groundwork to invest in ‘Greener Living Spaces’ like Renfrew Square.

The funding has enabled Groundwork to make major improvements including landscaping and seating for local residents.

Peter Richmond, CVCHA Chief Executive, said: “We are always looking to improve the lives of our residents and these gardens will give them the opportunity to relax, stroll and meet friends in a beautiful eco-friendly environment.”

Donna Carter, Senior Community Project Manager for Groundwork, said: “We are delighted to be supporting local people in Castle Vale in what is our first Greener Living Space project in Birmingham and part of our commitment to raising awareness of climate change.”

In addition to the charge for food bags, M&S has also made two other changes to help reduce the environmental impact of carrier bags even further:

• M&S customers can return any unwanted or used carrier bags to any till point or customer service desk at M&S stores for recycling.
• M&S is the first major UK food retailer to be using a new standard food carrier bag made from 100% post consumer waste in all of its stores nation-wide. This move will reduce the amount of virgin plastic M&S uses by 3,400 tonnes per year.**

-Ends-

(Captions)

Renfrew 1 – Castle Vale Community Housing Association residents Ricky Hill, Joanne Phillips and their daughter Taylor Hill enjoy the new communal gardens at Renfrew Square in the company of Birmingham Lord Mayor Cllr Michael Wilkes

Renfrew 2 – Birmingham Lord Mayor Cllr Michael Wilkes and Lady Mayoress Mrs Vivienne Wilkes chat with CVCHA resident Sophie Taylor at a table in the new communal gardens at Renfrew Square

For more information on M&S, please contact:
Marita Upeniece Staniforth 020 7573 7484/ marita.upeniece@staniforth.co.uk
Chris Bull Staniforth 020 7573 7483/ chris.bull@staniforth.co.uk

For more information on Groundwork, please contact:
Garry Campbell Groundwork UK 0121 237 5811/07703 535841

For more information on Castle Vale Community Housing Association, please contact:
Simon Hale at Quicksilver PR on 01564 773366

Notes to Editors

• *1.85p from each single use food carrier.
• **Based on current M&S standard food carrier bag usage. This is in addition to a 3,300 tonne annual saving that M&S made by converting its Bag for Life, clothing and home carrier bags to 100% recycled post consumer waste in April 2007.
• The national carrier bag charge is a major step towards M&S’ Plan A commitments to aim to reduce carrier bag usage by a third and send no waste to landfill from its operations by 2012. Plan A, M&S’ business-wide, £200 million ‘eco-plan’, was launched in January 2007.
• The 5p charge does not apply to mini food bags and horticultural bags which will be available free of charge on request.
• The M&S 100% recycled post consumer waste food carrier bag has been developed in conjunction with Papier Mettler.
• See www.marksandspencer.com/plana for more information.

About Castle Vale Community Housing Association

• CVCHA is a community based housing association that manages around 2,400 properties in Castle Vale
• They are a resident led organisation that is committed to delivering excellent homes and excellent services
• CVCHA also accepts and supports the need to improve residents’ broader quality of life (improving health chances, reducing crime and anti-social behaviour and addressing concerns about the environment and our key service providers).

About Groundwork

• Groundwork is a national charity working with partners to improve the quality of people's lives and the places where they live, work and play.
• Groundwork's projects help local people get practically involved in making decisions and managing improvements in their neighbourhood and encourage people to make healthier and greener lifestyle choices. This ranges from working with children and young people to create sports facilities and ‘outdoor classrooms’, to providing training and jobs for the long-term unemployed as they regenerate major areas of derelict or waste ground.
• Last year Groundwork supported nearly 6,000 projects across the UK supported by central and local government, businesses, charitable trusts and the National Lottery. As a result of those projects more than 80% of people involved felt their neighbourhood was a better place to live and felt more able to influence decisions affecting their community.
• Groundwork will use the money raised from the carrier bag charges to support local projects in towns and cities across the UK.
• See www.groundwork.org.uk for more information.