SUSTAINABILITY will be the focus of a new National Lottery funded project at Queenswood.

The Queenswood managing partnership have been awarded funds from the National Lottery Community Fund and the Herefordshire Community Fund to begin their project to host a Sustainability Centre at the popular county destination.

Phase 1 funding will fund the development and creation of exhibitions and educational sessions about how to live more sustainably, workshops and a hub where people can meet, access information and gain knowledge that can be shared with communities across the county.

Wendy Ogden, the Queenswood Sustainability Lead said: “We were delighted by the enthusiastic response to our online survey about what people would like to see at the Sustainability Centre and we plan to look at issues such as living within our means in a culture of growth, eliminating single use plastics from our lives, creating wildlife habitats and wildlife friendly gardening."

An increasing range of sustainable technology on site including solar energy and solar thermal hot water is already being developed and showcased at the site.

Other initiatives include a water bottle filling station to combat single use plastic bottles, and the visitor centre also sells a range of ‘green living’ products.

Work will begin straight away on equipping the Jubilee Building to host the Sustainability Centre and preparing information and resources, with more work planned for the new year having secured the small amount still needed to complete Phase 1. Future plans include online resources and developing links with Herefordshire schools and colleges.

If you are interested in being involved with the project, either as a volunteer or workshop provider or wish to donate to help us reach our Phase 1 target please email wendy@herefordshirenewleaf.org.uk