Soha Housing and WREN joint working makes community garden a reality

Published by Jon Land for Soha Housing Ltd in Communities and also in Housing

Soha Housing is working with WREN to create a community garden on a Didcot housing estate. 

The move is part of Soha's 'safer, cleaner, greener' approach which also includes flitting solar panels, improving lighting and building a children's garden on Great Western Drive estate.

A £22,800 grant from WREN and the Landfill Communities Fund (LCF) to Soha Housing and Groundwork UK will be used to create the communal garden which will bring together local residents.  Volunteers will learn new skills helping to design, create and maintain the new green space, with work starting in the Summer and ending in September.

Jane Cox, Project Manager for Sustainable Communities at Soha Housing, said, "The aim is to unite residents of all ages and backgrounds to volunteer and learn new skills, such as horticulture and team working. We’ve already got local police officers, students from Abingdon College and residents of the estate lined up to help create the garden.”

To watch a video of volunteers working on the new community garden click here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKvZuteRDjU

Notes:

WREN is a not for profit business that awards grants to community, environmental and heritage projects across the UK from funds donated by Waste Recycling Group (WRG) as part of a voluntary environmental tax credit scheme called the Landfill Communities Fund.  Since 1998, WREN has granted over £133m to more than 5,100 projects which benefit people living within 10 miles of a WRG landfill site. www.wren.org.uk 

The Landfill Communities Fund (LCF) is a voluntary scheme which enables landfill operators to contribute some of the tax raised on the disposal of waste in landfill to Environmental Bodies (EBs) who can then fund community, heritage and environmental projects which comply with the Landfill Tax Regulations.  Since 1996 over £880m has been spent on more than 34,000 projects helping to improve the environment in which we live.

Waste Recycling Group Limited (WRG), a leading UK waste management and energy recovery company, is part of FCC the international environmental services, infrastructure and energy group (www.fcc.es).  FCC in the UK comprises WRG and Focsa Services (UK) Ltd.  Focused on delivering integrated waste management and energy recovery solutions to meet national, regional and local needs, WRG operates facilities for the reception, recycling and disposal of waste, including a network of waste transfer and recycling centres and a regional network of landfill sites. WRG donates the LCF tax credits that are generated by its operations to Waste Recycling Environmental Ltd (WREN), in order to add value to the environmental and social infrastructure of the communities around landfill sites. www.wrg.co.uk

Soha Housing is the largest social landlord in South Oxfordshire, managing over 5,200 homes across the District and beyond.  Most of these are for social rent although over 200 are for shared ownership (part purchase, part rent).  Soha is committed to encouraging sustainability, both in terms of its housing stock performance and community activity. www.soha.co.uk