A COMMUNITY garden in Warrington has been awarded £6,000 as part of a new urban scheme to bring people closer to nature.

Culture Warrington’s Sky Garden, in partnership with Golden Square, was launched in the summer of 2022.

The initial aim was to make the town centre a more biodiverse place, showing people what can be achieved with even a small green space.

Now, the Sky Garden has been named one of 100 new community nature projects as part of The Nature Hubs Fund and has been awarded a £6,000 grant.

The Nature Hubs Fund, led by environmental charity Hubbub and Starbucks, has been set up to support projects that ‘bring nature closer to people and people closer to nature’.

“I applied for the funding in February and didn’t think we’d get it as Hubbub said the applications were so strong this year,” said Amanda Moore, education and sustainability officer for Culture Warrington.

“We then heard that Starbucks wanted to fund 100 projects and we were one of them!

“I was over the moon to hear out Sky Garden had been successful.”

The Sky Garden, which is on the top floor of Golden Square’s car park, has also provided food for the community through its Harvest Festival and was the inspiration for the launch of a networking group called Warrington Community Gardens.

“I think it’s a great project that grows food for the community, brings a bit of green space for wildlife right into town and also gives us opportunity for working with different community groups up there,” said Amanda.

Some of the funding awarded to the Sky Garden will be spent on training for volunteers, a sustainability themed workshop and buying a weather station to track the effects of climate change in Warrington.

Tables, outdoor seating for events and garden signage will also be purchased using the money from the grant.

“Being chosen to receive this money from the Nature Hubs Fund has been an incredible boost to our Sky Garden,” said Kim Moate, support services manager at Golden Square.

“We believe that Golden Square is at the heart of the community in Warrington, so having this cash injection to spend on enhancing our community project is fantastic.

“We always aimed for the Sky Garden to be an area for everyone to use and enjoy, and now that we can expand the space with a huge focus on biodiversity and sustainability means we can invest in its future.”