Sea Mills and Coombe Dingle Together have been working with local residents to improve the environment at the recreation ground (the rec) in Sea Mills. A bench, new bins and a community notice board where the first things to arrive last year.
The recreation ground is one of the pilot sites for the Bristol Future Parks project which encourages local people to run community projects in their local park spaces. The next phase of the project, led by local gardener, Esther Giles is low planting along one, currently bare, side of the space. The planting will be designed to encourage pollinating insects and help the environment.
That plan has suffered a setback now that 40 metres of weed suppressant fabric, paid for by Esther was taken from the freshly dug beds.
The hard work of preparing the ground for planting had been done by local residents and “The Noise” a group of young people from Highgrove Church. They had done a brilliant job which involved some really tough digging. Local residents had then installed fabric covering as an interim measure to prevent weeds re-growing. A couple of weeks later one of the project volunteers noticed the fabric along with the pegs had been stolen.
A spokesperson for Sea Mills and Coombe Dingle Together said “It’s very disappointing that someone has stolen property from a community-led project. We rely on the good will of local people people to make this kind of project possible, it’s demoralising and it will be really sad if the hard work done so far goes to waste.”
The project now hopes to be able to source replacement covering or plant the beds before they become full of weeds again. The funding for this has yet to be raised.
The theft, which occured sometime between 18th – 21st May has been reported to Avon and Somerset Police, crime number 5222125784
