At the last Coulsdon Town Street Stall, some residents asked me about The Hive, a new community garden being set up behind Coulsdon Library.
As local Councillors, we think it is great to see these community initiatives making our town a better place. However, we understand from our street stall that a few residents in the immediate surrounding areas have some concerns. The HIVE volunteers, the Council's Libraries Department, and your local Councillors are in regular contact regarding this project.
The Council's Library Management Team have been liaising with the HIVE volunteers since before the COVID-19 pandemic to see how the space could be used to benefit the local community and library users. The Team continue to liaise regularly and are very pleased with the progress being made to bring this unused and unloved space back into use, while also providing local volunteers with the benefits to mental health that gardening and working with nature creates.
The current plans for use of the space are that it will be used when the library is open, when HIVE volunteers will be present at all times. The volunteers will also be responsible for locking the garden when activities have finished. However, it will be some time before the space is complete, and only volunteers helping to create the garden are currently on site at specific times.
The gates and fencing to the Railway Terrace (north) entrance have recently been replaced and provide a more secure solution than those in place previously. It is intended that this will be the main entrance to the garden as there is level access from Railway Terrace itself.
There is NO intention to add another entrance in the south-east corner (i.e. to the alleyway along the back gardens of 1-20 Station Approach.)
There are regular updates on progress displayed in the library and when the space is nearer completion the Council's Library Management Team will be engaging with local residents as to the type of events that may be held in the space. They are also hoping to use the garden for library activities such as story-times when the weather permits, and for the garden space to be available for residents who don’t have any outside space themselves.
If you have any questions, you can contact The Hive using [email protected], or your local Coulsdon Town Councillors using [email protected].
