River Cole - Completion Video

Title:               River Cole and Tyseley Energy Park: Creation of a Community Commons Project Completion

Duration:        7.43 mins

Begins

[Dr Emily Prestwood, Development Manager for Birmingham Energy Institute] "We have been working over the last 18 months with our project partners to rehabilitate this area Green Space in East Birmingham near Tyseley Energy Park and alongside the River Cole.

[TEXT: Creation of a Community Commons Project Completion, © open street map, the data is available on the open database license]. 

[Lisa Trickett, co-founder, Place in Common] What we're trying to do with the Community Commons idea is to look at the green space and  actually say this is something that we have shared  value from and we need to get shared benefit from.   

[Emily Prestwood] We've been creating a Green Corridor for active travel for people to use, we've also been doing various interventions to create opportunities and spaces for animals, insects, plants and the community to use. Improving biodiversity and improving the community activity in the area.

[Keiran McKenzie, Assistant Director of Health and Green Spaces, The Active Wellbeing Society] What many people might be familiar with is the really large Asda and the big bypass where people drive to access this part of the city, but what people are probably less familiar with is the fact that just set behind that road here is a beautiful passageway where you can access alongside a river which which cuts right away in between several areas.

[Music]

[Cllr. Shabrana Hussain, Sparkbrook & Balsall Heath Ward] The area was under used and the community didn't  get all the benefits. I think this is really important because it's under utilised, there's so much potential here and I do find it that a lot of families and residents don't use it, or don't know about it, or don't feel comfortable or safe using it.

[Emily Prestwood] To enhance and improve the area we have designed and developed interventions with the community along the route to make this a place where people want to go and enjoy.  Let's look back on the construction and challenges the project gave us. 

[TEXT: Meadow Creation]

[Emily Prestwood] In Heybarnes Recreation Ground the wildlife trust are creating a Hay Meadow.

[Jacob Williams, Senior Reserves Officer, Birmingham & Black Country Wildlife Turst] What the wild flowers of a Hay Meadow need is very nutrient poor soil once that has been prepared we would then be taking a cut from another high  quality meadow in this case it will be Castle Vale Meadows and bring it onto the prepared area and then the next year all that seed should take and you'll get a meadow in the summer.

When you come to  the meadow once it's done you can actually have up to 50 plant species within a metre squared so it's a huge amount of habitats being created.

[TEXT: Viewing Platform]

[Michael Mullen, Site Supervisor, Chiel Construction Ltd] The viewing platform was quite tricky because the ground level was quite low, so we had to raise the ground level up quite a lot. It was raining when we first started the project, quite a lot, so everything got quite foggy very, very quickly.

[TEXT: Assembly Point] 

[Michael Mullen] Before we did any work here, it was heavily a knotweed area.  So we ended digging up four meters down  to get make sure we get all the roots. The knotweed then has to get buried down the bottom, covered with a membrane, sand over the top and all the good soil then back on top of that.

[TEXT: Play area and outdoor gym]

[Michael Mullen] You've got this area here which is going to be a little gym area, multiple things and then you've got another area over this side which is going to be jungle climbers, ringers swing area.

[Text: Ackers Assembly Point]

[Michael Mullen] All the dirt that we removed was mounded into different areas around the dig site which opened this up and it's been nice to walk along the canal sit here and relax.

[Music]

[Cllr. Shabrana Hussain] The biggest main changes I've seen would have definitely have to be the Ackers Weir. I'm still mesmerised every time I come and go oh my God where's it gone. It's finally flowing the way it's supposed to be flowing and I think that's a really good thing.

[TEXT: Cowley Road Entrance]

We've improved the look and usability of the Cowley road entrance this included widening the entrance making it more easily accessible for everyone.

[Nicola Toms, CEO, Arts in the Yard] We are delivering some art interventions spread throughout the project, that involves a series of metal tiles, we're decorating a pedestrian bridge, creating a central art piece and we're also involved in designing the map for the project area.  

[Mah Jabeen Bano, Project Manager, Arts in the Yard] The metal tiles were created by all the families in Hay Mills we have made about 80 tiles in three days.

[Nicola Toms] Our participants have been really excited to get involved with this project and one person said to us it's great to be part of history and to decorate where they live.

[Music]

[Keiran McKenzie] We thought it was really important to get the residents who live around the River Cole area involved in  this project because it's their local area, asking them if they use their green space, if they use the River Cole, find out what  their perceptions are around the area and also what they're interested in having in that space  and it's led to them having an opportunity to be involved, have their say.

Whenever you do any community engagement work you want to do  it in a way where you're including absolutely  everybody, all cultures, all age groups, so we also  looked at the local schools to encourage them  as part of their green curriculum. And it's our  hope that we can see the community continue with  that same momentum really, continuing to engage,  continuing to see this as their space.

[Music]

[Cllr. Shabrana Hussain] So the next phase we're looking at is to set up a friends of Cowley Park so it just gets the community a lot more involved.  

[Cllr. Zafar Iqbal, Tyseley and Hay Mills Ward] If it wasn't for the University and the partners we wouldn't have got to this stage because all the bits that we had to put in to put this all into  place take a lot of work, and a lot of energy, a lot  of people are working behind the scenes. It would  never have happened if it wasn't for our partners.  

[Michael Mullen] It felt like a really big wasted space and there's  something here along the route now for everybody.  

[Music]

[Lisa Trickett] What we want to do is actually through the stewardship is to ensure that the environmental measures that have been put in place are maintained and that we should continue to steward and take forward this area, so the biodiversity not just of this neighbourhood but all of the neighbourhoods across the East Birmingham Corridor can be bought through into that greener future.

[Cllr. Shabrana Hussain] A lot of residents in my ward don't even  actually have a back garden or a front  garden so this is the best place to just come out take your kids. You can come for a stroll and just enjoy the natural beauty around us. 

[Emily Prestwood] Through this projects we've engaged with the community and we've established different interventions and carried out work with the aim of rehabilitating this green space and  connecting people via the green space, via the  green corridor to the research and innovation  that's taking place at Tyseley Energy Park. 

[European Regional Development Fund Logo, Midlands Engine Logo]

[TEXT: Find out more: birmingham.ac.uk/river-cole]

[Logos for Birmingham City Council, Environment Agency, Sport England, University of Birmingham Energy Institute, The Active Wellbeing Society]. 

Ends