Clean, green E15- Making Maryland a place to grow.

This project led by Maryland Community Group is for a community ‘grow and share’ project, accessible to all, located at Henniker Point on Leytonstone High Road.

It’s a prominent area of the high street which is currently notorious for fly-tipping and waste.

This community-led project aims to:

-       establish a series of planters with all-edible planting such as small fruit trees and bushes, herbs and vegetables.

-       upgrade existing planting areas and promote small-space gardening such as for flats and balconies 

-       Include a ‘little library’ for seed and veg exchange, rainwater- harvesting and community composting to support the planters

-       offer community-planting events with the focus on edible planting to develop and model sustainable, community-led ‘grow-and- share’ resource, inspired by ‘Incredible Edible Todmorden’.

This will be a sustainable community resource that promotes connection, appreciation and care for our environment. It will transform the pavement to provide a clean, green community resource that promotes community engagement, promotes healthy living and wellbeing through shared gardening and offers access to fresh healthy locally grown food for local residents while discouraging rubbish and fly-tipping on the high street. 

Funding requested: £9000 

The start of the project- regular fly-tipping on the pavement by Henniker Point.

Our project proposal: Clean Green E15, Making Maryland a place to Grow

October 2022 at Henniker Point- Finding out what local residents think of the project

This is what you all said...

More of what you said.... great to get such strong support!!!!

October- onsite meetings with LBN officers from Housing, Recycling and Highways.

November 2022: we get the go-ahead for work on the Housing Department land in front of the flats.

January 2023- our chosen supplier is now on the LBN supplier list.

January 2023- one the pink clothing recycling bins has been moved by LBN to make room for the planters...

And the 2nd bin has been moved to close the gap between the bins= less space for fly-tipping. Small steps, big impacts.

17.2.23

A little more about the contractors who will be working on our Clean Green project with us.

Newham Newlife are a locally based social enterprise organisation that support people who have experienced barriers to employment back into work.

From their website:

"NewLife Newham is a social enterprise that empowers remarkable people facing complex obstacles; including mental and physical ill health, homelessness and disadvantage. Believing in the power of purpose and belonging to change lives, we support vulnerable local people into and towards meaningful employment and housing."

We found out about Newham Newlife through recommendation after they worked on the Alma Street Greener Together project. This was one of the very successful projects, based in Maryland, that received funding locally from the Newham Community Assemblies in the previous year's round of funding.

I'm pleased that not only we will be working with a local company with a strong ethical basis to deliver on this project but that also, through their involvement with our project, they are now registered as a supplier with LB Newham so are in a much better position to work on similar projects locally in future.

Quotes from Newham Newlife are in:

•Planters will be bigger, better quality wood, more robust and with longer life.

•They will be higher than originally planned to discourage ASB and people sitting on the planters. 

Community composting:

•LBN Recycling dept will be working with Housing to offer a community composting pilot.

3rd, 4th April 2023- first set of planters built. 

Saturday 1st May – Maryland Community Group and residents from the local area, including from Henniker Point planted the beds with apple trees, fruit bushes, shrubs and herbs. 

In response to littering and low-level ASB, makeshift signs were put up. 

Noticeable level of engagement and verbal feedback from passers by and residents. Overwhelmingly positive.  

Building and our community interaction:

We are at the early stages of building wider involvement but so far receiving positive and enthusiastic response from residents.

Publicity via word of mouth when we are at the planters, engagement with residents, posters at the planters inside Henniker Point, flyers, Facebook.

Face-to-face contact via presence at the project is a powerful way to meet and talk to people about what we are doing and how they can get involved. 

Posters by the lifts inside the flats at Henniker Point have also been effective.

Grow and share planting on Saturday May 27th:

Ready to go

Plants to share. 

Seeds from neighbours. Some were planted, some were swapped with others. 

Indoor and outdoor plants to share

A neighbour contacted us on Facebook then brought 2 huge hydrangeas, not edible but welcome all the same. They were added to the existing beds at Henniker Point and to the Shape Newham beds in front of the flats.

This bed has a fig tree, sage, rosemary, lavender, a rose planted by a neighbour, and lots of seeds. 

Spider plants to give away, all but one found a new home.

June 2023:

Looking for ways to bring in more people to help our regular group with watering. Reaching out to the community for support brought 4 watering cans and some tomatoes to share. 2 watering cans have been shared with people to help with watering the beds.

Next ‘Grow and Share’ Saturday 17th June at Henniker Point

We gave away compost grow bags sourced from the Food Bank Initiative and shared with CleanGreenE15.

We are offering these to people who live in flats with no garden space. 

Participants ranged in age from 3 to 78 years old: we planted seeds to take home, to share with neighbours, weeded and watered the plants, the children, planted sunflowers, marigolds, beans and peas and made new signs for the beds.

June 2023: Feedback from our survey: 

We are still waiting installation of a big planter once the building works at Henniker Point are complete.

To date, two plants have been stolen but the rest are in place. Feedback from the community is very positive and we aim to continue  to build engagement and ownership. 

We’ve been able to monitor the beds, respond to issues and littering rapidly and are starting to build a wider group of people to support watering, maintenance and upkeep.