Long Preston Floodplain Project

The Long Preston Floodplain Project has worked for 10 years to restore important habitats, natural floodplain processes and education and benefit local businesses through a partnership of charities, agencies, local government and farmers.

A Ten Year Celebration was held last month at the Plough Inn, Wigglesworth, to mark a decade of conservation and education on this site. This included:

A review of the achievements of the last ten years.

The launch of a new publication, ‘The birds of the Long Preston Area’ including records dating back to the 1960s, in addition to more recent surveys by local volunteers

A view of the future and a change from ‘Wet Grassland’ to ‘Floodplain Project’, reflecting the emphasis on restoring dynamic natural processes and features on the River Ribble and its tributaries, and an integrated approach to future management.

The organisation has also launched a new Floodplain Trails leaflet and project website www.longprestonfloodplainproject.org

The project is situated just to the west Long Preston in the area known as Long Preston Deeps on the upper reaches of the River Ribble. The whole floodplain at this point is approximately 766 hectares.

The wetland was formerly seen as an important natural resource for rushes, hay, wildfowl and the linen industry. Agricultural improvements from the 18th century drastically altered the landscape with extensive drainage and new field patterns leading to a highly diminished wetland habitat. Now falling economic returns and changes in agricultural policy are providing a new economic opportunity to enable habitat restoration as well as address the need for flood control.

The project area has been identified as showing good potential for the re-creation and enhancement of lowland wet grassland, a high priority habitat for the RSPB and other conservation organisations. Whilst the floodplain floods extensively in winter, the extent of this flooding is limited by active drainage schemes. The amount of standing water in spring and early summer has decreased dramatically.

Stepping Stones

This group of vulnerable adults have worked tirelessly over the past decade on a range of projects throughout the town, making a colourful impact with their summer and winter bedding plant displays. Their site at Aireville nurseries has also been transformed from a derelict dumping ground into a hidden gem.

From small beginnings in 1999 as an off-shoot of traditional learning disability day services, the project quickly out-grew its location and moved to the present Aireville Nursery site in 2006.

Adults with learning disabilities have opportunities to develop knowledge and skills in all aspects of horticulture.

The emphasis is on practical, hands-on experience backed up with regular tuition and supervision that empowers the people using the service and increases their independence and confidence.

The group have flourished over the past few years, gaining a reputation for outstanding quality and value growing bedding plants for hanging baskets and local floral displays whilst managing garden maintenance and grass cutting contracts.

Last year the team were given the serious recognition that they deserved by winning ‘gold’ and ‘category’ at the RHS Yorkshire in Bloom awards as well as playing a significant part in securing ‘gold’ for Skipton too.

Grassington Festival

Grassington Festival has achieved a 100 per cent recycling success rate at all its event sites through the development, construction and provision of dedicated recycling stations, plus volunteer efforts in collection and sorting, saving over 20,000 litres of recyclable waste per year from going to landfill both now and in the future.

Thef estival has been one of the North of England's premier arts events for 35 years. This annual fortnightly festival takes place every June over a number of different sites, including Grassington village centre and Grassington Town Hall. It culminates in a week of events at the 'Festival in the Field' site at Colvend, Grassington. These venues accommodate up to 1,500 patrons per night. This volume of festival goers unsurprisingly generates a huge amount of waste, particularly on the finale 'party' nights.

The festival generates around 25,000 litres of waste per year over all its sites.

About five-sixths of the total waste produced every year is recyclable as it largely consists of polypropylene plastic beer glasses, plastic bottles, cans, glass, cardboard and paper.

For many years, no recycling system or policy existed so the majority of this waste was unseparated and sent wholesale to landfill. No facilities were provided for patrons who might want to recycle their waste at any of the festival sites. This did not create a good impression of sustainability or environmental awareness for the festival. Some might argue that since Grassington Festival was responsible for generating this recyclable waste they also needed to address solutions but it was a daunting prospect.

The festival sought to address this issue but as the festival is a registered charity it was necessary to avoid capital expenditure. A volunteer recycling co-ordinator was appointed who developed a recycling plan in 2012 and worked with the festival to implement it.

Sponsorship was obtained from local companies and individuals to support the construction of a set of six dedicated recycling stations. These offered separate bins, clearly labelled, for plastic, glass and cans and general waste. Apart from looking very smart in festival colours the bins gave clear guidance for patrons and created a positive environmental message. The stations were moved around the various sites so that all the festival waste generated at each event could be separated.

Some 'secondary sorting' was necessary by volunteers to ensure that the final collections were uncontaminated. Three dedicated skips for cardboard at The Festival in the Field site were also filled.

The festival worked with Craven District Council and Todd Waste Management of Thirsk for collection. The recycling statistics demonstrate a 100 per cent recycling success rate since the project started d in 2013.

The benefits of this project are clear. The festival has recycled nearly 75,000 litres of recyclable waste over the last two years. Festival patrons are very supportive and all the festival environments are tidier as it is clear where waste should go. More volunteers have stepped forward to help with recycling, keen to support what they consider to be an important initiative. Alternative, more easily recyclable types of plastic for beer glasses are being researched to reduce costs. Two years on the festival now has a sound environmental pedigree and will continue to recycle with pride.

Ongoing benefits of this project are many. A sound initiative will extend beyond its immediate area of concern and will influence others. The local community have embraced this project and have requested that the bin stations be used for future events such as Grassington 1940s Weekend. They have already been of great service during the recent Tour De France Grand Depart when Grassington was a Spectator Hub. The Parish Council approved the placement of the stations in the village for the summer to encourage summer visitors to the village to recycle. These highly visible bin stations are creating a clear message locally, helping recycling to become a cultural expectation and a community responsibility.