Trafalgar Roundabout Leaves a Lot to the Imagination
Notorious for its tendency to flood, Truro City Council use valuable leaf mulch gathered from flood defence areas for a new project on Trafalgar Roundabout
Trafalgar Roundabout in Truro is the busiest roundabout outside the parameters of the A30. During the festive period, the county has always awaited decoration of the roundabout with bated breath. Opting for some simple lit up angels this year, Truro City Council have a much bigger project planned for 2015; harnessing sustainably sourced leaf mulch.
With an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 motorists using the roundabout every day, the roundabout has seen chronic flooding itself in previous years. So far the winter has been unseasonably temperate, but if the January rainfall hits anything like that of this year, the Council have thankfully got an ally in the Director of resilience consulting organization, Climate Vision: Luci Isaacson.
Using a scheme pioneered by Isaacson, 9 tonnes of leaves was collected from areas particularly susceptible to flooding during the autumn. Speaking about the new project, she said “Apart from preventing trauma in the lives of people in areas such as Par, St. Blazey and Lostwithiel, we are delighted to announce the Award Winning Parks Department of Truro City Council will be using the leaf mulch for a very special project on Trafalgar Roundabout in Truro next year”.
To mark the centenary of WWI this year, the roundabout was ablaze with poppies, in a project co-ordinated by Truro City Council’s Richard Budge. Not only brightening up the lives of volumes of drivers along the road, his work won the Community Champion award in the National Britain in Bloom awards 2014. Next year’s project will have equal value to the scores of thousands of commuters. Commenting on the collaboration, he said “Truro City Councils parks departments has had the great pleasure to work with Climate Vision on their unique project, in which local volunteers collect all the leaf litter in their local area to reduce the threat of flooding to businesses and homes in the Lostwithiel area. This leaf litter was then composted and we were given the opportunity to use this fantastic resource to enrich some very poor quality soil on Trafalgar round about in Truro.”
DEFRA visit to experience funded project, providing vital flood protection.
Financed by Cornwall Community Flood Forum and Cornwall Council using DEFRA Pathfinder funds allocated to test projects that will enhance community resilience to flooding, the initiative, known as the Leaf Litter Project, identified points in the affected areas at which storm conditions cause fallen leaves to block strategically important drains. The positions of these key blockages cause a knock-on effect, with waters that are unable to drain away; torrenting down hills to flood lower lying positions.
On Thursday this week (December 11th) at 3.15pm Truro City Council will collect the valuable Leaf-Mulch from the site at Lostwithiel, under the watchful gaze of Robbie Craig, Policy Officer for Defra, who is visiting Cornwall to see the results of the community resilience projects.
Flood victory points way for national roll-out.
Climate Vision, who pioneered the chaos-preventing scheme, attended the Flood Defence & Prevention Expo in London last week to spread the news about sustainable flood prevention options, delivered in Cornwall. During her presentation, Luci produced a Crystal cut vase containing the leaf mulch and asked people to consider the value of its content.
Notes to editors
- 1. For attributable quotes from, or named contacts within, any organisation connected with this story please contact Luci Isaacson as below.
- 2. Truro City Council Collect the Mulch from the top of Castle Hill, Lostwithiel Thursday 3.15pm Park at Cemetery and walk up hill a further 10 yards (great photo opp). Luci Isaacson from Climate Vision, Robbie from Defra and Martyn Alvey Community Flood Resilience Manager from Cornwall Community Flood Forum will also be at that site with a sample of it in a cut glass container (great photo opp)
- 3. Robbie Craig, is the Policy Officer for Defra and is the national contact point for Property level protection scheme in the Floods team.
- 4. http://www.truro.gov.uk/Parks-and-Gardens.aspx
Contact
Ms Luci Isaacson
Director, Climate Vision
info@climatevision.co.uk
07909530730
http://www.climatevision.co.uk
Our climate change resilience consultants have gained professional experience around the world in the public, private and charity sectors. We have developed our specialist knowledge learning from some of the World’s leading climate scientists and now, based in the South West, we are committed to using this expertise to help businesses, communities and individuals throughout the UK prepare for the challenges of climate change.
