Vote for Plymouth Grow Wild
People are being asked to take part in a national vote to help Plymouth Grow Wild right in the heart of the city centre.
An exciting plan has been put forward to create a corridor of wildflowers along Armada Way – from ‘City to Sea’.
The project could be in with a chance to win £120,000 of Big Lottery Funding to help communities transform their area through Grow Wild, a mass participation programme around UK native wild flowers.
Supported by the Big Lottery Fund and led by Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Grow Wild inspires communities, friends and neighbours to come together to transform local spaces by sowing, growing and enjoying native wild flowers.
The Plymouth site is now one of only five on a national shortlist in and the winning site will be chosen by public vote in a national campaign which launches on 7 October – next Tuesday – and will go on for a month. The other Grow Wild England projects are based in East London, Bristol, Sheffield and Liverpool/Manchester.
Led by the Council, City to Sea aims to create a striking wildflower corridor from the train station along Armada Way, connecting the city centre to the historic Hoe. The kilometre-long planting plan will open up and reconnect views along bustling Armada Way and inspire and stimulate commuters, shoppers, visitors and businesses.
City to Sea will have a mix of native wildflowers and even fruit for passers-by to enjoy.
Not only has the City to Sea flagship site the potential to transform Armada Way with colour and flowers, but the aim is to bring this strip of land alive with events for schools and the wider community through planting, bug hunts and other events designed to get more city folk to interact with nature.
Councillor Brian Vincent, cabinet member for the environment said: “This is such a great scheme, I’d love everyone to back what we are doing and vote.
“Many Plymouth people commented on how fantastic the wildflowers in the Jigsaw Garden looked – well, this is a chance to do something similar but on a great scale. Our city centre needs to keep bringing in visitors and shoppers and this is a great idea that will refresh the landscape as well as open up some incredible views from city to sea.”
Gay Coley, Director of Public Programmes for the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew said: “These shortlisted Grow Wild flagship projects showcase some fantastic ideas of how people can transform urban space with wild flowers, for the benefit of the whole city and for the environment. The five shortlisted sites are all imaginative steps towards Grow Wild's overall ambition to re-engage the nation with nature. It is great to see the involvement from local communities in each city at this important stage in the projects.”
Peter Ainsworth, Chair of the Big Lottery Fund, said: "Our Fund is proud to support projects which improve the quality of life for all. We know that making the places where we live more beautiful and connected to the natural world can give a real boost to happiness. Grow Wild aims not only to make places look better but also feel better. The involvement of young people is so important; they have a chance to make a big difference to the world they will inherit"
The vote for flagship sites in England is the second of Grow Wild’s special projects to take place. The inaugural flagship was launched earlier this year in Barrhead, Scotland, following a public vote. A call for nominations for flagship sites in Northern Ireland and Wales will be made later this autumn.
The vision is to transform Armada Way into a buzzing green events and learning space – benefitting the whole of Plymouth. Schools will be invited take part in the Big Sow, when over 1,000 pupils will sow wild flower seeds. The site will host bug hunts led by Buglife, incredible edible adventures with Food Plymouth and other events designed to inspire young people to interact with nature.
Partners involved Natural Connections (Plymouth University), The Zone Youth Centre, Plymouth City Centre Company, Buglife, FotoNow, Food Plymouth.
For more information visit our Grow Wild web page. To vote Vote.growwilduk.com
