Winston Churchill Memorial Garden project
Winston Churchill Memorial Garden is a public park located at the end of the Lower High Street. It is already a space of significant biodiversity value, particularly due to its collection of trees and the perennial scheme planted in 2018. There is opportunity here to create habitats which would otherwise be more challenging in other Habitat Cheltenham areas, such as orchard creation and long grass/meadow creation.
We secured European Regional Development Funding to improve biodiversity across the town centre as part of the Habitat Cheltenham project.
In 2019 we engaged with stakeholders including Cheltenham West End Partnership and Friends of Winston Churchill Memorial Garden to agree how the funding can be used to increase biodiversity in the park.
The proposed works included the creation of wildflower meadows to provide a significant boost to supporting wildlife in the park and enhancing local biodiversity.
October 2020
In October 2020, the bare soil areas within the grass were seeded in preparation for spring 2021.
June 2021
In June 2021 the wildflower meadows came to life, bringing a welcome sight to the area and enhancing the biodiversity.
Project milestones
This is a live project and a summary of the key milestones of the work so far can be seen below.
- 17 September 2019 – the CBC Townscape team started to collect and analyse information about the garden to help identify the opportunities for biodiversity improvement and to identify key stakeholders.
- 14 November 2019 – key stakeholder workshop took place at the Cheltenham West End Partnership to discuss the opportunities identified. It was agreed that the Southern entrance to Market Street should be the area of focus for biodiversity improvement. Landscape design work commenced.
- 15 January 2020 – public consultation event took place at the Cheltenham West End Partnership to display the CBC Townscape team’s design proposals.
- 20 March 2020 – site clearance along the Market Street, in preparation for planting the fruit trees.
- 23 March 2020 – Work on the Community Orchard was halted due to the pandemic.
- 15 October 2020 – creation of wildflower meadows with the support of Glorious Cotswold Grasslands-Cotswolds National Landscape who has supplied a mix of perennial and annual native species, which will provide a significant boost to supporting wild life in the park and enhancing local biodiversity.
- 4 March 2021 – with the support of Gloucestershire Orchard Trust, Townscape and the Green Spaces Development teams we have finally completed another stage of this fantastic project. Fruit Tree species are especially good at supporting a wide range of insect species, small mammals and birds and of course provide a colourful spring blossom.
Get in touch
If you have any questions or comments, or would like to get involved in our projects, please email townscape@cheltenham.gov.uk
Stakeholders and partners
Stakeholders include: CBC trees department, CBC green space development, Cheltenham West End Partnership, Friends of Winston Churchill Memorial Garden and Honeybourne Line North, and ward councillors.
Downloads
- Download the infographic which outlines key parts of the project.
- Engagement boards