South Wales

Greencare

GreencareResearch has shown that the well-being of individuals is heavily influenced by the physical characteristics of where they live, work and visit. It is a sad fact that the quality of the local environment in many of the communities we support in Wales is poor. The level of contaminated land sites remains high and costs for improvement works is often not financially accessible.

Greencare is able to address this by providing a range of competitively priced grounds’ maintenance and outdoor space improvement services to community groups, social landlords, schools, charities and private businesses.

Our Landscape team delivers contracts on a commercial basis that not only restore pride in the local area and green spaces but also self-esteem to team members who have the opportunity to improve their skills and employment prospects. In addition, the income generated feeds back into the delivery of local community initiatives.

One such contract is currently underway in conjunction with our partners at Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council. Funded by ESF, we are delivering an employability programme in Tredegar to study outdoor skills (S.O.S.) at the Sirhowy Woodlands, the site of the spoil tip for the former Iron Works.

Along with other post-industrial towns Tredegar is now suffering from rising poverty and a high degree of social exclusion.

To support regeneration in Blaenau Gwent, we are working with long-term unemployed and economically inactive people over the age of 25. We provide training and qualifications with particular focus on strimmer, path clearance and restoration, environmental awareness and tree identification. The results are already there to see in both the landscape and the enhanced life stories of our participants. To date, a number of participants have entered full time employment, volunteering and many more into further learning. All participants have reported a positive outcome with regards to how they feel about their future and confidence and motivation in securing further

opportunities and employment.

“Really enjoyed my experience on the Studying Outdoor Skills project. As I have been out of work for

such a long time, I found it very interesting. I learned lots of new skills and liked mixing with new people. It was great to get out of the house and be active in the woodlands. I would now like to find somewhere else to continue volunteering”.

Colin Payne, Blaenau Gwent