Streetwise Environmental

West Bridgford in bloom

By on Tuesday 6th September, 2016

Thank you so much West Bridgford Wire for such a lovely article about our planting schemes in Central Avenue and The Park. The pictures are fabulous! Here's a link to the article: Click here

Rockley Park - one year on

By on Friday 26th August, 2016

A year ago, with the blessing and generosity of Radcliffe on Trent Parish Council, we started renovating a small nursery within Rockley Park, the beautiful memorial park in Radcliffe on Trent.

Twelve months on, the three greenhouses are bursting with life, and plants that we have grown from seed have been seen by thousands - in Radcliffe on Trent village, and in the planting towers and beds in Bridgford Park and the Civic Centre.

The Streetwise Environmental / Cityscape Greening / Rockley Park project was conceived last summer. The nursery had become neglected through lack of use, and the space was perfect for us to use to propagate and grow plants for the many planting schemes for which we are responsible.

During the autumn and winter of 2015 we cleaned, renovated, pointed and re-glazed, bringing the nursery back to life, all ready for the spring growing season.

In March and April, we starting sowing seeds for summer bedding. Our own nursery has given us greater flexibility in terms of the plants we use for our schemes, so this summer residents and visitors have enjoyed a much wider range of plants including Verbena, Lobelia, Pelargonium, Salvia, Cosmos, Dahlia, Fuschia, cow parsley and various interesting grasses. Our planting schemes are just that bit different - and the plants we've used are insect friendly, better pollinators, and less formal than the summer bedding more traditionally found in council planting schemes. Feedback has been hugely encouraging, so we're now making plans for the next season, and daring to be a little different.

In return for the generosity of Radcliffe on Trent, we have been providing the village with plants for their own use. And we have also grown vegetable plants for a community allotment. Villagers have been enjoying a 'freegan' diet of runner beans, sweet corn, tomatoes, radish, courgettes, beetroot and lettuce this summer!

Billy Wragg of Streetwise Environmental, our most experienced gardener, has day to day care of the nursery, and for planning the planting schemes. Assisted by a few of our horticultural apprentices he is now planning the winter sowing, picking out, potting on, and tidying up after a busy and productive summer.

He's also growing herbaceous plants with a view to rejuvenating some of the shrub beds and borders, and making them more interesting.

Other plans we have for the nursery include widening the scope of the project, and with the support of Cityscape Greening, inviting other groups to use the nursery for educational purposes, perhaps training the long term unemployed in new skills and helping them back into work.

We love the collaborations and partnerships that have come about through this project. Working together with Rachel Cameron of Cityscape Greening, Radcliffe on Trent Parish Council, village residents and the community allotment has been a wonderful coming together of local businesses and communities, while it has resulted in fabulous displays for the benefit of local residents and visitors alike.

John Scott-Lee

MD, Streetwise Environmental

Felicitaciones y celebraciones!

By on Thursday 28th July, 2016

Streetwise Environmental is delighted and proud to announce that their Divisional Manager, Barry Ingle, picked up the Out and About Award at the Rushcliffe Borough Council Award Ceremony on Friday 17th June.

The Out and About Award recognises ‘wonderful people or a team who make the borough look great’. The Awards give colleagues a chance to thank each other for the great job they do, for the support they give to customers and team mates, and for the inspiration that they provide in achieving results.

On receiving his award, Barry Ingle said, “I was proud to be the first member of Streetwise to win a RBC award; it made me feel that all my hard work was worthwhile. It’s important to the general public that we have presence in the community and I feel that in my job I always put the public first. Although the award is an individual award I would not have been able to do my job as effectively without the support of all the staff in the office and I would personally like to thank them”.

John Scott-Lee, managing director of Streetwise Environmental said, “This award was well deserved. It is recognition of Barry’s commitment and dedication to the Borough of Rushcliffe. Well done Barry from all of the team at Streetwise Environmental”.

The award ceremony was held at Lutterell Hall in West Bridgford and the theme was ‘Carnival!’, in anticipation of the Rio Olympics. Staff and guests dusted off their most colourful party clothes, dug out their dancing shoes, and celebrated into the night in true Rio style.

Felicitaciones Barry!

(Caption: Barry Ingles with Kath Marriott, RBC Executive Manager for Transformation, Rushcliffe Borough Council)