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Kent Village of the Year 2005
Entry Form
Name of Village Lynsted
Population 250 (Parish 1000)
Contact Name Bob Baxter
Address: Tudor Cottage, Cellar Hill, Lynsted, Kent
Post code ME9 9QY
Second contact name (in case first is unavailable) - John Disney
Village website address (if you have one): www.lkpc.org.uk ( parish council website. Community website under active discussion)
Categories entered, please delete as appropriate:
Environmental Action
Please return Entry form and completed Category sheets by email (if possible) to info@ruralkent.org.uk by 31st MARCH 2005.
Action with Communities in Rural Kent, 15 Manor Road, Folkestone, CT20 2AH
5: Environmental Action
1. Have you planned/completed any local schemes in the past year to improve or manage the environment?
Yes –The Park Farm Cherry Orchard project with funding from the Local Heritage Initiative. The 3 year project aims to create a community resource and explain the management, heritage and natural history of the orchard (for more details see attached sheet). In addition there are historic and on-going environmental activities including tree planting, footpath management, historic buildings interpretation, wildlife surveys etc. A Parish Plan is in preparation and a Parish Design Statement was completed two years ago. A footway along a stretch of a dangerous approach road to Lynsted village was completed in January, 2005, after a protracted campaign by the Parish Council, in association with district and county councillors. This has created a much safer environment for parents taking children to school, etc.
Who took part? Lynsted with Kingsdown Parish Council is a focal point for environmental activities in and around the village (including the Orchard Project referred to above that involves a broad-based orchard management group representing the community). Other environmentally active groups include the Lynsted with Kingsdown Society, The Association of Men of Kent and Kentish Men and Lynsted and Norton Primary School. Members of the village also contribute to the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), which has an active Committee in Swale. The Parish Council is represented on the Swale Countryside Forum, who produced the the Biodiversity Action Plan for Swale. At least two farms in the vicinity of the village operate Countryside Stewardship Schemes. All major activities aim to involve the wider community as much as possible, both within the village and in the surrounding Parish.
2. How do you manage resources in and around your village hall/community centre? (e.g. use of grey water, energy saving light bulbs, timers and thermostats on heating, solar power, spray/automatic shut off taps, etc)
The Community Room within the village Church of St Peter and St Paul uses a timer and thermostat on the heating system and the Church does have low energy lighting bulbs, as do the outside lighting standards.
3. Are plantings (trees, shrubs, flowers, grass etc) around the village sensitive to the local environment? (e.g. drought tolerant, native species, appropriate to local conditions, etc)Give examples:
The Parish has a Tree Warden, who is available to advise on native species.Examples of appropriate plantings include:
- the Millennium Hedge, which contains 14 species of native trees and shrubs, common to Kent – but excluding the native hawthorn which is traditionally avoided in local hedges because it carries a serious disease of fruit trees. It was planted in 1997 and inaugurated in 2000. The planting team included 20 adults from the community, and all members of Lynsted and Norton Primary School.
- a small-leafed lime tree planted for the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations in 2002 (The name ‘Lynsted’ means ‘the Place of the Lime Trees’).
- A Jubilee Flower Border, including drought tolerant lavender, created at the focal point in the village in 2002.
- Nine hundred metres of native species hedging planted on the farms surrounding the village under the Countryside Stewardship scheme.
- Native holly tree specimens planted by the Lynsted with Kingsdown Society at points around the parish boundary in a recent community ‘Marking the Bounds’ project to celebrate the enlargement of the parish. Holly trees were and are traditional markers in the landscape.
- The Parochial Church Council planted, and cares for in the village graveyard, a native yew produced under the Millennium Yew Scheme that involved the distribution of rooted yew cuttings derived from ancient specimens.
- New cherry trees, of appropriate traditional varieties, have been planted in the Community Orchard to fill existing ‘gaps’.
Who is involved selecting and managing these areas? The Parish Council, the parish Tree Warden, and the members of various initiatives. Parish Council has nominated councillors or committees to look after trees, footpaths and to lead the Orchard Project. The Parish Council routinely refers to the Parish Design Statement section on native species when commenting on planning applications involving landscaping etc. The Lynsted Branch of the Association of Men of Kent and Kentish Men also operate a scheme of providing native trees, free of charge, for planting schemes in the village/parish. Yes
4. How are environmental issues etc. communicated to the village (e.g. meetings, newsletters, internet, notice boards etc.)? Please give details.
Environmental issues are transmitted to the village community through the 56-page monthly Newsletter that is circulated to all parishioners, the Parish Council website ( www.lkpc.org.uk ) and three noticeboards located around the Parish (one in the centre of the village). The Parish Council organises visits for Lynsted and Norton Primary School children to Toll Wood, an ancient semi-natural woodland in the parish. These are led by a recognised wildlife expert. Public meetings are held periodically for issues such as the Parish Design Statement and the Parish Plan. The recently formed Lynsted with Kingsdown Society (current membership 71) holds regular lectures by experts on topics such as bats, moths, fungi, archaeology, wildlife gardening and historic buildings. The Society’s website ( www.lynsted-society.co.uk ) carries notices, reports and advice, including on environmental and wildlife conservation matters.A ‘Pride of Place’ project created a ‘parish map’ in recent years. This explains the layout of features of the parish through a relief artwork on display at St Peters Place, a green area in the centre of the village. A durable and easy-to-interpret map of the public footpaths in the parish is also on public display in this area. Copies of the map are on sale in the Black Lion pub close by.
5. What village organisations have active involvement in environmental activities? (Include activities such as bug counts, bird counts, mammal surveys, as well as physical projects such as planting, pond construction, clearing etc).
Through the Community Cherry Orchard project and the Lynsted with Kingsdown Society, surveys are being conducted on fungi, bats, moths, stag beetles and hopefully mammals, lichens and birds. Habitat surveys are also planned for the Orchard. In addition, English Nature have commissioned Just Ecology to conduct a survey of the biological diversity in the Orchard which includes lichens, fungi, insects and a habitat survey. Through the Swale Countryside Forum, villagers are involved in a feeding programme to encourage tree sparrows, a threatened species, to establish a stable colony in a hedgerow near the village.Lynsted and Norton Primary School, which is located in Lynsted village, has an active programme of waste paper recycling. There is a bottle recycling bank next to the Black Lion pub in the village. This is used by the landlord, as well as householders in the vicinity. Lynsted Church Youth Group are planning a ‘village clean-up’. One resident collects aluminium cans in a one-man recycling effort. One of the village churchwardens is a keen bee-keeper, and keeps an eye on bee matters in the village.
7. Is the village involved in any other initiatives like “walking bus”, car sharing, use of bicycles, public transport, composting? If yes please specify.
The village primary school is actively planning to introduce a “walking bus” scheme, in a bid to alleviate a serious car parking hazard problem outside the school. The Parish Council operated a popular garden waste composting site in the parish for a while. This had to be discontinued because of technical and finance factors beyond its control. Yes or No?
If you want to give the judges any additional information about Environmental Action in your village please add no more than two pages of text.
Additional Information
Organisations associated with the Village and the surrounding Parish are very conscious of environmental issues. We list below a series of activities and initiatives that are either active at present or have been undertaken in recent years.
- Parish Design Statement. Published in September 2002, the Statement is intended as guidance to residents and those parties involved in shaping the environment. The guidance in the document has the status of Supplementary Planning Guidance, and due regard has to be paid to it when planning applications are considered. The Statement is an instrument in the ‘management of change’. As such it a valuable tool in conserving the locally distinct character of the built environment of the parish, the jewel of which is Lynsted village. The document was produced by a team of volunteers from the parish, in consultation with the local community. It identifies the features of the landscape and buildings that give the parish its unique character. There is considerable emphasis on the visual character of the Parish, the design and materials used in buildings and related issues such as transport, footpaths, utilities, light pollution, landscaping and mature hedges and the remaining fruit orchards. Conservation was given high priority in the action plan and supplementary planning guidance arising from the exercise.
- Park Farm Cherry Orchard Project (commenced in 2004). The project, which receives funding from the Local Heritage Initiative, focuses on the value of a traditionally managed and established cherry orchard that is part of a working farm. Activities aim to highlight the cultural and landscape heritage of cherry orchards in Kent, where they have been drastically reduced in recent years. This includes an appreciation of the wildlife that benefits from the orchard habitat. Planned events for the current year include a Blossom Day, a Cherry Celebration Day, a Halloween Party, and wildlife activities such as bat monitoring, moth trapping, habitat surveys and a Fungus Foray. The LHI funding is being used to develop the orchard as community resource, and local groups (primary school, Lynsted with Kingsdown Society etc.) are already taking advantage of the opportunity. The Orchard lies at the southern periphery of Lynsted village.
- Lynsted with Kingsdown Society. The Society (www.lynsted-society.co.uk) was established in 2003 to celebrate, study and promote the understanding of the Parish. Coverage includes talks, visits and events on the history, archaeology, folklore, flora, fauna and genealogy of the parish and area. Recent events include talks on archaeology, family tree research, gardening for wildlife, understanding of historic buildings. A ‘fungus foray’ in the Cherry Orchard and Toll Wood with a local expert is planned for later in the year. An important archive of local genealogical and historic building information is being developed.
- Association of Men of Kent and Kentish Men, Lynsted Branch. This branch of the County Society has an environmental ethos. As well as paying for trees and shrubs for planting in village projects (and supplying volunteer manpower!), it fosters an interest in local matters, for instance it helps to keep alive the traditional game of Bat and Trap.
- Teynham and Lynsted Historical Society. This aims to promote interest in local history, including the built environment of Lynsted.
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