Renfrewshire Council

Renfrewshire Council regularly work with community groups and organisations to improve the quality of the local environment. These are a selection of recent projects.

Bog Squad - Sergeantlaw Moss, Paisley

Sergeantlaw Moss, lying with Gleniffer Braes Country Park, is one of the best examples of Lowland Raised Bog habitat surviving in Renfrewshire. The Council supported Butterfly Conservation Scotland to enhance the habitat and help the local populations of the scarce Large Heath butterfly.

Volunteers from the Butterfly Scotland Bog Squad installed ditch-blocking dams to keep the surface of the peat as wet as possible, supporting Hare's-tail Cottongrass, the food plant of the butterfly's caterpillar. The works also created small pools where uncommon damselflies can lay their eggs and help to maintain their populations locally.

Froglife's Renfrewshire Living Waters Project

Froglife developed a Living Waters project concentrating on three locations within Renfrewshire in partnership with the Council, supporting the improvement of habitats for amphibians and reptiles and raising awareness in the local community.

The project involved the enhancement of ponds at Gleniffer Braes Country Park, Jenny's Well Local Nature Reserve and Barshaw Park, supported by community events which helped to raise awareness and teach local people new skills and techniques in identifying amphibians and managing their habitats.

The enhanced ponds were being used by spawning frogs even in the first spring, so the impact on local biodiversity is already very positive.

WEGGA's Sanctuary Garden, Paisley

The Renfrewshire Growing Grounds Forum supported the West End Growing Grounds Association (WEGGA) move to a permanent site at Underwood Road, Paisley, after several growing seasons a temporary site. This highly visible location has boosted awareness of community gardening and of environmental regeneration in the West End of Paisley.

Funding support from Renfrewshire Council's Community Empowerment Fund and in-kind support from Sanctuary Housing and its contractor, CCG, enabled the construction of more than a hundred 8ft by 4ft timber raised beds and a polytunnel for its members from the local community. Most important of all, the Sanctuary garden has become a local hub facility for the neighbouring communities.

Foxbar Community Garden and Environmental Projects Group, Paisley

The Growing Grounds Forum have also supported development of proposals for a new community garden on the site of the former St Paul's Primary School, Paisley. The first action emerging from the community led Foxbar Local Place Plan, a feasibility study developing options for the Community Garden is being progressed, supported by funding from the Council's Community Empowerment Fund.

Pollinating Insects at Erskine Community Allotments

Several allotment associations and community gardening groups have supported the aims of the Renfrewshire Biodiversity Action Plan through initiatives to help local wildlife populations, especially where these benefit their own growing activities.

The Erskine Community Allotments Association manage land within Council ownership adjacent to the allotment plots. Aware that the ground would not be suitable for creating more plots, the group drew up plans for installing a polytunnel and planting a biodiversity orchard.