Ensuring sustainability and community at The UP Garden

From "People Powered Forest Gate & Maryland"

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Proposed budget

GBP 19,300

Description

PROPOSAL

The UP Garden would like to ensure sustainability and community by:

increasing its biodiversity and sustainability by investing in a range of plants (and related equipment) that can withstand climate change challenges, thus attracting more wildlife to The UP Garden in particular pollinators;
providing a full calendar of events aimed at all of our communities which offer opportunities for learning as well as strengthening multi-generational connections, and improving how those events are delivered in response to community feedback about shelter and volunteer feedback about task efficiency e.g. gazebos, parasols, etc;
attracting more daily visitors and improving accessibility by way of sustainably-recycled picnic benches which have imprinted board games table-tops and which allow wheelchair access, as well as equipment to maintain the various offerings available to our daily visitors; and
engage local residents in a project to explore the history of the estate in which The UP Garden is located and nearby areas, through a series of workshops, culminating in a permanent display available to the public.

Volunteers will be involved in delivering this project, and the nature of various components means that the community will continue to benefit from them long past this funding scheme's deadline. Accordingly, we consider that our project provides excellent value way beyond the amount sought.

PRIORITIES

This project helps to address:

ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC SPACES - The UP Garden is open every day, all day, to all, for free. This public space will be improved through enhancing our offerings to make them more biodiverse, sustainable, more accessible, and more engaging to different groups;
HEALTH & WELLBEING - our visitors include those who come to garden, to peacefully enjoy being around nature, to play (e.g. our piano, mud lab, foosball table, etc), and to socialise, all of which are beneficial to mental and physical health;
COMMUNITY SAFETY - the more interesting, attractive and accessible The UP Garden is, the busier it is as well as the surrounding estate. This reduces the likelihood of anti-social behaviour and improves the feeling of safety in the area.

CONSULTATION

We have been consulting our community at our events over the course of 2025. The above is based on the feedback and suggestions received, and we are therefore confident that there is a public need for our project.

THE UP GARDEN

For those not yet familiar with us, lots of information is available at www.theUPgarden.org or you can follow us on social media @theUPgarden. To see our previous project which shows through monthly updates how it was successfully delivered, check out bit.ly/theUPgarden2023.

Comments(7)

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Profile of Jay Smith

Posted by:Jay Smith

9 months ago

Hello. I couldn’t get to the voting event yesterday so I’m asking the same questions what I’d ask in person as I want to know what I will actually get for my vote? Youve given details which I appreciate as hardly any other projects have but would still like a breakdown.

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Profile of The UP Garden Forest Gate

Posted by:The UP Garden Forest Gate

9 months ago

@Jay Smith Thanks for your interest in our project, happy to be transparent about our forecasted costs! £2000 on a variety of plants chosen to withstand climate challenges (e.g. drought-tolerant) and attract beneficial wildlife (e.g. pollinators), plus gardening/maintenance materials, equipment, tools and related items. £9500 on session leaders, music acts, arts and crafts materials, refreshments, weather protection, events equipment, publicity, and volunteers’ expenses to provide an anticipated 12-20 free-to access events during 2026. £5300 on sustainable and accessible furniture (e.g. wheelchair-friendly picnic benches with board games guaranteed to last for 25 years) to replace the upcycled donated furniture we have been maintaining but is now at end-of-life. £2300 on historians, transcribers, session leaders, materials, refreshments and publicity to deliver workshops, a community event and a permanent display about local history. £200 on overheads to deliver all of the above (e.g. stationery, e-administration costs, public liability insurance). We know that our local communities use The UP Garden in different ways, which is why there are 4 distinctly different elements to our project - you can never please everyone but we are trying! For the last 3 years, the yearly attendance at our events (not including our weekly community gardening or urban forest school sessions) is +1200. The vast majority of our expenditure will be on items that the public can enjoy on a daily basis outside of our events (plants, furniture, history display) and/or will continue to be used past 2026 (e.g. parasols, tools, equipment). We don't know how many people use The UP Garden when our volunteers aren't there but as it's open all day 360 days a year, it could be hundreds if not thousands in addition to the 1200+ at our hosted events. So we think our project is a very responsible use of funding, designed to provide the maximum benefit for the maximum time for a substantial number of people!

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Profile of Jay Smith

Posted by:Jay Smith

9 months ago

@The UP Garden Forest Gate Really happy to get your reply thank you. I remember last year you were one of the few to actually even bother answering me and give a proper breakdown as most ignored me and someone actually complained about me pointing out bare facts. Youre asking for a lot more this year but I can now see why. I like that stuff will last. Its why I voted for you last year and will again this year. I'm not keen on stuff that only lasts the 1 year of funding because then what happens to the people who were benefitting from the workshops or whatever and maybe even relying on them.