Hello all, it has been a very eventful two months. As I mentioned in my last blog, we ran a community consultation in May to see what people thought about the Green Network Project in Ellon. 101 people responded to the questionnaire and of these people 96% said that they would like to see changes in greenspaces that benefit biodiversity and the environment. As well as this 50% of people said they would be interested in getting involved in a community project in their local greenspace. One of the questions we asked was what changes the community would like to see in two of the main parks in Ellon, Gordon and Auchterellon Park. Many people said they would like to see more semi natural areas, as well as more trees, shrubs and grassland meadows. People also said that they would like to see community projects in the parks as well as some natural play areas.
These results were very encouraging but it was difficult to figure out where these changes should be made in the parks in Ellon. To try and work this out I organised an evening workshop to allow the community to have their say on where they would like to see these changes in the parks. To give a bit more background to potential changes John Malster, a local independent environmental consultant, came along to give a talk about wildflower meadows and Steve Willis from Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels kindly agreed to talk at the workshop as well. Having these talks at the beginning of the workshop generated some interesting discussion around managing areas for pollinators and squirrels, which formed a nice transition into discussing changes that could be made in parks in Ellon.
Ellon Green Network Workshop
After further discussions in small groups there are now a range of different ideas for potential changes in parks in Ellon. This project started off as a blank canvas and it’s been great to watch plans develop throughout the community consultation and workshop. This will form the basis for the beginning of the Green Network in Ellon, leading to a better place for both the community and wildlife.
Some of the ideas for Gordon Park