Cambridge Cohousing is a cohousing community in Orchard Park that undertake regular small-scale projects to help build a greater sense of community in Orchard Park and try to develop a culture where the community takes more ownership and responsibility for the spaces around them in support of the environment and local wildlife. Orchard Park is a relatively new urban fringe development on the Northern Edge of Cambridge. It benefits from many small open space and tree planting, but residents found that the planting have not been taken care of by contractors and over time many plants have died and not been replaced. Over time there has been a loss in biodiversity in the area.

Orchard Park has little by way of community activity and some of the small open green spaces are used very little. This project therefore aspired to activate some of the local community spaces and connect people at a hyper local level to their immediate environment to benefit nature, but also connect people and help build a greater sense of connection and community. Local resident were invited to participate through regular social media posting, leaflets delivered to nearby houses, and displaying blackboards and bunting in the local area. Funds and support from Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Future Parks and Natural Cambridgeshire was used to purchase native bulbs, plants, and fruit bushes. While November is good for planting, its a challenging month to get people out of the comfort of their homes when conditions are cold and damp. However, during the plant out, particularly when planting on verges near the guided busway, high level of passing football meant there were lots of positive interactions with local people.

Over 6 sessions, 22 volunteers took part. Volunteers planted 20 fruit bushes, underplanted with spring bulbs to improve biodiversity. Across the spaces 6,185 builds were planted. Many of the participants were people who had visited or previously taken part in community events such as pop-up cafes Cambridge Cohousing ran in the summer, their monthly Rubbish Rambles’ or ‘Mere Way clear-up’ the previous year. The success of the project shows how small but regular activities led by local communities can bring people together activate local community spaces to change peoples perceptions of these spaces as active community hubs and strengthen community cohesion.

Credit: Edited by Heather Thomas, CPFP Project Officer, with special thanks to Frances for her contribution to this article and pictures.