A recent report highlights the efforts made by Caerphilly County Borough Council to implement a ‘Green Infrastructure Strategy’.

The Council’s Environment and Sustainability Scrutiny Committee endorsed the update report at a meeting held on 25th October.

Included within the report are several initiatives successfully delivered by the Council, since the implementation of its Green Infrastructure Strategy in November 2020. These projects include community tree planting at Sirhowy Valley Country Park, which saw volunteers plant around 4,500 trees in the area. As well as offering mental and physical health benefits to volunteers during the planting, it will create woodland spaces for future visitors to enjoy.

The Council’s Countryside Team also launched its ‘Plant a Patch for Pollinators’ campaign during Mental Health Awareness Week 2021. The campaign aimed to reconnect residents, businesses, and schools to nature by growing a wildflower patch and creating small patches of meadows, providing nectar and pollen rich native flowers for pollinators.

This summer also saw the team launch a ‘Hedgehog Highway’ campaign; where packs were available for residents to create accessible local highways for hedgehogs. Each pack contained a plaque to surround the hole in fences for hedgehogs to access, a survey tunnel, and an identification guide for footprints, creating new wildlife corridors and links to existing ones.

Work has also been carried out, as part of the Resilient Greater Gwent Grant scheme, along the county borough’s three key rivers: the Rhymney, Sirhowy and Ebbw. This has included river clean ups and installing wagtail, dipper and otter boxes along river corridors.

Cllr Chris Morgan, the Council’s Cabinet Member with responsibility for Green Spaces, said “This repot highlights the magnitude of work being undertaken in the county borough by the Green Space Strategy Team. Taking care of the environment and reducing our carbon footprint is everyone’s responsibility and it’s great to see the variety of projects being undertaken by us as a Council, but also those which engage residents and local communities.

“The team is also undertaking a vast amount of work at a strategic level to consider future management and enhancements for green spaces throughout the county borough. A recent, well attended, members’ seminar was also held where Councillors were extremely supportive of our work on biodiversity.”