Big Business investing in Local Wildlife

April 25th will see a flurry of excitement at the Fitzwilliam canal basin near to the Parkgate Shopping.  Spring will be in the air as staff from Parkgate Shopping, work with local volunteers to plant wild flowers to encourage butterflies, bees and other insects.

This marks the start of a partnership between Parkgate and local environmental charity Groundwork Dearne Valley to improve the Fitzwilliam canal for wildlife and the local community.

Between 10.30am and 2:00pm local volunteers will be planting wildflowers and carrying out a litter pick of the area with help from Parkgate’s management team and staff from Rotherham MBC who own the canal site.

Future work will include putting up bird and bat boxes, vegetation management and wildlife surveys all with the aim of improving the biodiversity of the site. 

Alex Benson, Special Project Co-ordinator from Groundwork Dearne Valley said ‘At the heart of this will be local people who will also benefit from the improvements to the canal basin.  Groundwork and British Land, who own Parkgate Shopping, want to encourage residents and workers to use the site more as a pleasant spot for their lunch breaks or as a safe way to walk to the local services instead of getting in their cars.  This project is a fantastic way of getting people enjoying their local nature and getting outdoors’

“We are very pleased to be working with Groundwork and supporting a practical project that will benefit local people as well as the environment,” said Denis Copeland, Manager of Parkgate Shopping.

This project has been made possible through the generous funding from British Land.

If anybody is interested in volunteering please come along on Wednesday 25th April or ring Alex Benson from Groundwork Dearne Valley for more information on 01226 740077.