Self Watering Plant Pot Washes Away Anti-Social Behaviour
02 October 2008
The Central Estate in Dukinfield, Greater Manchester was notorious. It was
Dukinfield are not alone suffering from run down council estates that are high on anti-social behaviour, high on resident turn-over and low on pride. Three Dukinfield local residents turned up to the local committee meeting hoping to find a way to make things better- they were the only three that attended but fortunately, one of them knew someone at New Chartered Housing and asked for help.
New Charter Housing decided to help by purchasing from the Derbyshire company, Amberol ,250 self watering barrier baskets which were supplied the estate complete with flowers. The idea was to start the regeneration process by bringing some colour in to the area. By creating barrier flower beds along the balconies and walkways of the low rise flat blocks that had once been symbols of the estate’s negative image, the residents were able to once again take pride in their local community.
Worried that their plan would be abandoned after the initial interest had died down, Tameside Council recommended the Amberol product as the self-watering system required residents to water the baskets less frequently. The durability also ensured a long life span and minimal vandalism. Extensive consultation was undertaken with residents, to determine where to locate the baskets. The uptake was astounding.
Within a two month period, numbers of resident volunteers increased from 3 to 60 plus, as many residents willingly took ownership of their baskets. In order to raise the profile of the project, a community planting day was organised where residents were invited to collect a free hanging basket for their property.
By the summer of year one, the visual appearance of the estate had been transformed. Residents had begun to reclaim the area outside of their properties and balconies were adorned with flowers.
Four blocks on the outside of the estate received large numbers of barrier baskets which were placed end to end creating a sea of colour on the middle balcony which lifted the appearance of the estate and instantly changed people’s perceptions. One resident on each block volunteered to maintain these features and they were given new hosepipes and stop taps as encouragement.
The project gave people a reason to speak to their neighbours, and clusters of residents began to come together with a common purpose. Central Estate has a diverse community and at that time, numbers of Eastern European tenants were on the increase. The project encouraged these residents to become involved in planting as the flowers were a universal language which brought people together.
One young man (aged 24) said, “My dad had never come to my flat before because he was frightened of the area. He has visited a few times now because the flowers make the place look better”.
”. Another lady who had lived on the estate for more than 30 years commented that, she had never seen the community come together in such a way before in all her years of living there.
John – a quote a here from someone at Amberol talking about how the self-watering plant pot works would be great.
After years of trying, the tenants on Central Estate have found a way to bring back pride into their community. Crime and anti-social behaviour are down and community spirit is on the up.
