Eckington Community Fields - A Natural Networks Case Study

Eckington Community Fields is a new, three-hectare community green space to the north of Eckington village in southeast Worcestershire. The vision of the local parish council is to create an attractive, natural, recreational space for local people whilst boosting the value of the habitats on site for wildlife. This new park will also serve the newly developed residential area immediately to the north. 

Working with design company One Creative and project managers Tandem Projects, the first phase of the site’s re-purposing focussed on public access and native planting and included: 

• Planting over 1,900 native trees, shrubs and hedgerow plants. 

• Orchard creation – local Worcestershire varieties. 

• Increasing the floral diversity of the meadow areas by sowing three different native wildflower seed mixes. 

• The creation of a sinuous, seasonally wet swale that will provide different microclimates for invertebrates, birds and small mammals. 

• The installation of 12 posts for solitary bees, four bat boxes and four bird boxes.  

• Hedgerow creation along the boundary with the cemetery to replace non-native trees that were removed. 

• Creating all-weather, accessible pathways to guide visitors across the site.

Eckington Community Fields has been made accessible to the adjacent cemetery to the south by installing a gated entrance that leads through the new beech hedgerow into a garden of reflection – a more formal space in terms of its enclosed hedgrow planting and one where people can sit and enjoy the tranquil surroundings. The local community can look forward to further enhancements to the site in the near future that will include native bulb and plug planting, children’s play equipment, benches, a fitness trail, water feature and a community building.