Meanwood Valley Heritage Project - Consultation

Introduction to Project

Long celebrated as a ‘green artery’ from the centre of urban Leeds to rural countryside, the Meanwood Valley has been identified as a Green Infrastructure Corridor and a Yorkshire Wildlife Trust Living Landscape. It forms a substantial portion of the North West Leeds Country Park. And it has an extremely rich cultural and natural heritage. To celebrate this heritage and to complement the North West Leeds Country Park initiative the Meanwood Valley Partnership in partnership with Leeds City Council Parks and Countryside Service would like to propose the submission of a Heritage Lottery Fund, ‘Our Heritage’ application. This project will have the aim of engaging the local community in nurturing, restoring and celebrating the cultural and natural heritage of the valley ensuring a vibrant and sustainable change into the future for local people, visitors and wildlife.

In this document we will give an introduction to:

-the heritage of the Meanwood Valley

-the ‘Our Heritage’ fund

-the aims of the Meanwood Valley Partnership and Parks and Countryside Service, what the Service would like included in this project and how these complement the outcomes of ‘Our Heritage’

-and more importantly, give you the opportunity to tell us what aspects of the Meanwood Valley are important to you, what you would like included in the project and to let us know if you have any questions or concerns about any aspect of the proposed project.

Background to Heritage

Biodiversity

Within the Meanwood Valley there are a number of sites designated for their biodiversity value and nature conservation interest, including Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), Local Nature Reserves (LNRs), Sites of Ecological and Geological Interest (SEGIs), Leeds Nature Areas (LNAs), Local Geological Sites (LGS) Green Flag awarded Parks, allotments, recreation grounds and woodland sites, which are UKWAS/FSC certified where they are in LCC ownership. The habitats are extensive and diverse with a range of woodland, grassland and heathland communities including mire, wet woodland and lowland & upland oak woodlands.

In 1992 the central area of the Meanwood Valley was declared a Local Nature Reserve in recognition of its diverse and sometimes unique habitats and species and the value it had to the local community.

Heritage and communities

The Valley has provided a place for settlement over millennia, and there is evidence of Neolithic and Bronze Age communities, as well as Roman occupation. Much of the valley’s intensive industrial development began during the medieval period, particularly through the milling, quarrying and smelting activities of the Cistercian monks at Kirkstall Abbey, who owned large tracts of the valley. In more recent centuries, corn-mills, tanneries, paper-mills, quarries and farms continued to maximise the ‘ecosystem services’ of the day. Some of the many goits, mill races, mills, tan yards and other historical features are still obvious today, a few are listed structures, but many remain in a state of disrepair with no historical reference on site.

Nowadays the Meanwood Valley is largely a place for recreation and housing. It is a popular area to live in – no doubt due in part to its proximity to both the city centre and green space – and has recently attracted economic investment and interest.

There are strong community links within the valley, not least through the numerous Friends of Groups associated with the formal parks and natural habitat sites, including the Meanwood Valley Partnership, Meanwood Village Association and Transition Meanwood.

Many primary and secondary schools are also located within or on the edge of the valley, and these and other youth groups currently utilise it as an educational resource to support curriculum based and lifelong learning activities

Outcomes of Our Heritage

The Our Heritage open programme is a fund for any type of project related to national, regional or local heritage in the UK. Not-for-profit organisations can apply for between £10,000 and £100,000 to deliver projects that will make a lasting difference to heritage, people and communities. The Heritage Lottery Fund describe heritage as ‘including many different things that we value and want to pass on to future generations’, such as histories of people and places; people’s memories; places and objects related to our industrial history; and natural heritage, including habitats and species.

The difference that the Heritage Lottery Fund wants to make to heritage is described through a set of outcomes, as detailed below. The project will not have to meet all of these outcomes. As a minimum it is expected that projects will achieve one outcome for heritage and one outcome for people.

The outcome that they value most is ‘that people will have learnt about heritage’. The heritage Lottery Fund expand on this as follows: ‘Individuals will have developed their knowledge and understanding of heritage because you have given opportunities to experience heritage in ways that meet their needs and interests’. To score highly in this outcome we will have to think of various ways to interpret the heritage of the valley, which may include public events; guided walks; workshops; education sessions for primary schools; leaflets; spotters guides; interpretative panels on site; a website; audio trails; recorded histories of local people; training in research, archive, traditional skills or wildlife surveying; sculpture trails and photo competitions.

Outcomes for heritage.

With our investment, heritage will be:
- better managed
- in better condition
- better interpreted and explained
- identified/recorded

Outcomes for people:

With our investment, people will have:
- developed skills
- learnt about heritage
- changed their attitudes and/or behaviour
- had an enjoyable experience
- volunteered time

Outcomes for communities:

With our investment:
- negative environmental impacts will be reduced
- more people and a wider range of people will have engaged with heritage
- your local area/community will be a better place to live, work or visit
- your local economy will be boosted
- your organisation will be more resilient

While we are currently looking at submitting an Our Heritage bid, if you have ideas for projects that are not covered by the above outcomes please do let us know in the consultation form below, as we can always look at submitting further funding applications.

Parks and Countryside Service

The Parks and Countryside (P&C) Service manages approximately 4000 hectares of green space across the city, including city parks, community parks, nature reserves, churchyards and public rights of way. The main aims of the service are to:

-engage the community in promoting parks and green spaces as accessible places for everyone to experience and enjoy

-provide good quality parks and green spaces that are well managed and provide a range of attractive facilities

-protect parks and green spaces that will offer lasting social, cultural and environmental benefits to the people of Leeds

-promote parks and green spaces as places to improve health and well-being and prevent disease through physical activity, play, relaxation, and contemplation.

The main outcomes that the P&C Service would want from this project are a funded countryside ranger post for the duration of the project; a website to promote the North West Leeds Country Park (NWLCP) and in particular the Meanwood Valley; and interpretation of the green spaces in the valley, in the form of interpretative panels and leaflets.

The Countryside Ranger Service works to protect and promote the green spaces of Leeds through working with volunteers and community groups, delivering public events and education sessions for schools, and producing interpretation. With this remit a dedicated Meanwood Valley Ranger would be ideally placed to deliver the ‘outcomes for people’ strand of Our Heritage, through the delivery of guided walks, public events and school education sessions to promote the cultural and natural heritage of the valley. The ranger would also be able toencourage new Friends of groups in Meanwood Park and Breary Marsh; coordinate other volunteer groups to manage the green spaces in the valley; and assist with the design of leaflets and interpretative panels.

The NWLCP has a boundary that is a circular walking route in North West Leeds; though it encompasses and connects a massive network of footpaths, bridleways, parks and green spaces and aims to involve the communities within and surrounding the country park. The website will be used to promote this initiative and will be broken down into 4 main sections: the Meanwood Valley, the Wharfe Valley, the Aire Valley and Oil Mill Beck. The P&C Service would like to use this project to research and develop the Meanwood Valley section of this website. It is hoped that all of the available information on the natural and cultural heritage of the Meanwood Valley will be collated and shared on these webpages, with timelines, information on the different green spaces and activities that have taken place on them, archives of photos and press releases, together with downloadable leaflets, maps, pod casts and spotters guides.

Meanwood Valley Partnership

The Meanwood Valley Partnership consists of local residents who volunteer their time and skills to preserve, protect and enhance the Meanwood Valley area. Working in partnership with Leeds City Council, local businesses and other groups, we aim to improve resources and facilities whilst maintaining the areas great heritage and community spirit. We hold regular meetings where we discuss matters that affect us as residents and progress ideas for improvements. It’s an opportunity for people to meet and have their say on what they believe Meanwood should look like.

Our heritage is very important and we’ve been active in preserving it for future generations (E.g.Captain Lawrence Oates Memorial and the Great War ‘Meanwood Men’ Memorial). We want to protect our village atmosphere and community spirit and make Meanwood a safer, better place to live. Planning issues, whether for buildings, transport, road changes or maintenance, affect us all. We keep a close eye on proposed developments and through consultation try to ensure they are appropriate and beneficial for the area. On occasion we undertake environmental activity,such as helping to eradicate the invasive Himalayan balsam from the area.

We also look to enhance the area, whether that be the planting of bulbs, a litter pick, or bringing the community together e.g. with our Annual Fun Day and its development into the 10 day Meanwood Festival held in May, joining together for the Christmas Lights switch on, or trying different ales at the Meanwood Beer Festival.

About you

As the fund we are wishing to apply for is ‘Our Heritage’ we are keen to find out what heritage in the Meanwood Valley is important to you. What is worth protecting and celebrating? What are the priorities of the people who use the Meanwood Valley? Please continue of separate sheets if necessary.

Name
Contact details
Name of group (if applicable)
What is your interest in the Meanwood Valley? This can include what you use the valley for, such as walking, wildlife watching or attending events/guided walks. Do you volunteer for an existing community/ Friends group? Are you interested in the local history or wildlife? If you are responding on behalf of a community/Friends group, what are the aims of your group?
What aspects of the heritage in the Meanwood Valley are important to you and what would you like to be included in this project (or future funded projects)? This can be anything heritage related in the Meanwood Valley, such as interpreting or protecting specific heritage features, conserving specific habitats or wildlife, specific training for you or your volunteers to help protect/promote the Valley, improvements to specific green spaces in the valley, ideas for themed walk leaflets, or simply more events or opportunities to volunteer, or any other ideas not yet covered.
Do you have any concerns, issues or questions related to this project proposal? Examples brought up in the recent project meeting included the continuity of the project and footpath improvements in specific green spaces.

Please return your completed form to us by 31st August 2015at or post to Dan Malster, Stable Courtyard, Temple Newsam Estate, Temple Newsam Road, Leeds, LS15 0AD. Thank you for taking the time to complete this consultation.