WORKING with partners Swansea Council, Carmarthenshire County Council, Cwmamman Town Council and the Small Woods Association Coed Lleol, Neath Port Talbot Council has gained Welsh Government funding to improve community connection to nature and green spaces using Green Infrastructure.

Green Infrastructure is a new approach in the development of our communities and green spaces, providing a network of ingredients to reduce the challenges of climate change by building with nature.

Councillor Annette Wingrave, Neath Port Talbot Council’s Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Sustainable Development, said:

“Green Infrastructure is vital to quality of life for both existing and future residents of Neath Port Talbot and is nationally acknowledged as an important element of well-designed and inclusive places.

 “It can increase wellbeing, health and biodiversity and it ranges from building with green technologies such as living roofs and walls, implementing changes to grass cutting regimes to encourage wildflower growth, tree planting and sustainable urban drainage, right through to the provision of activities such as natural play.“

The awarded grant, Enabling Natural Resources and Wellbeing (ENRaW) is funded by Welsh Government and The European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development: Europe Investing in Rural Areas.

The funded project, Connecting Green Infrastructure, has started work and will continue through to March 2023.

The key goals of the project involve enabling communities to maximise and fully benefit from the many services provided by new opportunities created by Green Infrastructure (GI).

These include improving and enhancing biodiversity, nature and ecosystem resilience and green spaces within the urban environment as well as assessing our landscape and engaging with communities through studies and consultation exercises in order to plan future developments.

The project has already created seven job opportunities and aims to engage more than 200 stakeholders, train more than 100 people and deliver up to 150 new GI enhancements across the area.