A volunteer-led charity is planning to transform a York gardens.
More flower beds, better seating and even a library are planned for North Street Gardens.
York Cares, the independent employee-volunteering charity, is behind the plans.
They’re looking to improve the gardens and protect them from the impacts of climate change. And they are asking residents to help, with donations to their crowdfunding campaign.
North Street Gardens is in a green riverside location, close to the station, hotels, restaurants, shops, and offices including Aviva and City of York Council.
It provides a space for River Ouse wildlife and a habitat stepping stone in the city’s Green Corridor, connecting St Andrew’s Church garden, the Memorial Gardens, and the City Walls.
But it also attracts some anti-social behaviour, including street drinking and drug use.
York Cares’ volunteer activity as part of the York Cares Big Community Challenge 2023 tidied up the area.
The team are now keen to capitalise on this to make further improvements, to create a safer, more welcoming, vibrant and multi-use space for the community to enjoy.
Holly Hennel, York Cares team manager, told YorkMix: “It’s been really underused in the past, and we wanted to make it a more attractive space, more welcoming, to encourage people to come in and use the space.”
Holly recognises that the gardens used to regularly attract anti-social behaviour. “People have felt unsafe going into the gardens, it has had anti social behaviour in the past, and we have seen a decline in that since we started having more of a presence in the gardens.
“We are hoping that continues, and people feel like they want to be able to come and use the space, because it’s a really nice space to come and sit in.’
Changes to North Street Gardens
York Cares are working in partnership with the ECO Team at City of York Council, St Nicks, and York Bid to improve the gardens, some of the plans include:
- Planting up empty flower beds with drought and flood resilient herbaceous perennials and tansy to support and increase opportunities for pollinators and wildlife, improving biodiversity.
- Adding hanging baskets to create pollinator friendly stepping stones where there is currently no refuge.
- Replacing large shrubs that attract drug/alcohol misuse and litter with grass seed, bulbs and fruit trees.
- Installing accessible seating and benches to encourage people to connect with and enjoy the garden and the increased biodiversity.
- Creating themed murals to create a vibrant atmosphere which promotes nature and invites visitors to enjoy and relax in the space.
- Putting a birdhouse library in the gardens (subject to planning permission) to encourage people to come into the space to exchange books, the initial stock of which will have a predominantly environmental theme.
- Improving the walkway to provide an attractive short cut to/from the city centre and increase footfall through the gardens.
The area is susceptible to flooding, which is why York Cares has deliberately chosen resources that can withstand the floods. These include flood-resistant plants and benches that ensure longevity.
Fundraising for the space
In just a few days, donations have reached £7,000. York managed to also achieve their initial target in the first day of the page being set up.
“So we originally had a target of £,3000, with a stretch target of £5,000 but because we’d reached that by the end of the first day, we’ve upped that to £10,000,” Holly told us.
“We were absolutely blown away. We’d put it live on Monday evening, and then by Tuesday, we hadn’t really done a huge amount of promotion, because we were working on our socials, and then suddenly we’d reached the target. People’s support for the project, it’s incredible.”
Aviva are matching the funding for the project, which means donations are mirrored by the company. Aviva staff are also given Community Fund vouchers to put towards projects of their choice, which many have chosen as the restoration of North Street Gardens.
The gardens are right outside Aviva offices, so the improvements will introduce a more welcoming space for colleagues to enjoy some fresh air or eat their lunches.
Overall the project looks to be long term, Holly told us, ‘the funding that we’ve got from nature’s hub fund needs to be spent by April of next year. So we factored in opportunities between now and April of next year for volunteers to come in and support the area.
“We’ve now got the money from Aviva as well, so it will be a long term project, there’ll be an initial transformation, but then we need to think about the ongoing maintenance, and how we can ensure that once we’ve made it into a beautiful space, we can maintain it.”
The next upcoming volunteering sessions are currently full, but if you want to get involved, follow their crowdfunding page here to receive regular updates of the gardens.