Walker Tidy Gardens

Our Walker “Tidy Gardens” Maintenance Scheme is a highly successful example of a Big Society project that provides youth employment opportunities that combines a focus on specific support for some of the most vulnerable members of our local community.

This project works in partnership with Walker Ward Committee and Newcastle City Council – Neighbourhood Services Directorate.

 

From the outset, the project is about people and their need – it is not restricted to any particular tenure type or means test.  The Garden Maintenance Scheme offers a traineeship to young people from the area, for a period of 12-18 months.  The trainees carry out garden maintenance and improvement work, under supervision, in the gardens of elderly and/or individuals who have a disability across the area. 

The eligibility criteria for the scheme are:

  • over 60s;
  • infirm or medically unfit;
  • those without dependants living at home able to undertake the work

The nature of the project straddles three main priorities, these being;

  • supporting vulnerable members of the community;
  • housing
  • the environment. 

Therefore, the operational objectives of the project are focused on these and include:

The delivery of a targeted garden maintenance and improvement service to vulnerable members of the community.

The project supports the elderly and vulnerable to retain tenure. By providing a service that contributes to keeping gardens tidy, older people and those with a disability feel more confident and comfortable living by themselves and more comfortable in the knowledge that their garden is looked after.  Evidence suggests that prior to the introduction of the scheme some elderly residents gave up their homes and independence on the basis that they could no longer manage their gardens or that they suffered from significant levels of stress, this as a direct result of their feelings of letting down their neighbours and neighbourhood through their inability to manage their gardens.

The creation of employment training opportunities for local young people

As well as undertaking an NVQ in horticulture, learning skills and gaining work experience, the trainees interact daily with the elderly population.  They gain a sense of ownership by transforming untidy gardens into something to be proud of. Moreover, they help out more needy and vulnerable groups within the community.

Building social capital and local economic resilience

In providing this very specific, but much needed assistance the project provides a valuable means by which local people feel good about themselves and the area they live in.  This operates on a number of levels. These are local young people, trained and employed and delivering services within their own communities and to the most vulnerable members of those communities. Whilst the economic benefits are modest these should be considered in the broader context of the work of our organisation. These are young people working and earning a wage and spending locally. The service they provide and its impact clearly deliver savings to the public purse in other areas of community life. All of this contributes to increased community cohesion and social capital, in addition to other reported benefits such as reduced vandalism and anti-social behaviour.