Countryside Rangers have a busy first year
Since they took up post a year ago, the Countryside Rangers have made a positive difference to the borough's open spaces.
It is now a year since Reigate & Banstead Borough Council’s two Countryside Rangers, Eleanor Yoxall and Richard Townsley, started work in the Borough and in a relatively short time, the pair have made a noticeable difference to many of the boroughs parks and open spaces.
Enhancing the countryside
Eleanor and Richard’s role involves carrying out day-to-day maintenance tasks to enhance the Borough’s countryside, working with the community and voluntary groups and using their enthusiasm and local knowledge to ensure an informed approach is taken to the managing the local environment.
Their work has ranged from keeping footpaths free from overgrowing vegetation, fixing fences, benches and bridges and responding to enquiries from the general public to help them enjoy their visits to our parks and open spaces.
Working closely with the Council’s Tree and Woodlands Officer, the Rangers ensure that trees on our countryside sites are in a safe condition, such as removing fallen and storm damaged trees.
Enforcement role
They also fulfil an enforcement role, reporting and clearing up fly tipping, promoting responsible dog ownership to encourage owners to clear up after their pets and issuing fixed penalty notices for offences such as littering and dog fouling.
Positive impact
Cllr Ellacott, Executive Member for Environment, said: “Over the last year, Eleanor and Richard have made a really positive impact through improving the access to and safety of our countryside.
"A lot their work has been site based maintenance work – “catching up” with jobs all over the Borough that we previously didn’t have the resources available to do.
“In some cases, such as emergency tree works, before the Countryside Ranger Service existed many of these jobs would have been contracted out to specialist companies.
"By having an in-house team capable of dealing with these urgent tasks it means we can now get issues dealt with more quickly and efficiently, whilst making financial savings.”
Face on the ground
Richard said: “We are a much needed face on the ground for the Council and like nothing better than to make a real difference to the local environment or improve someone’s enjoyment of a much-loved site.
"For example, a well used bridge across a ditch at New Pond Farm, Earlswood, had been vandalised and rendered completely unusable. We removed the remains of the old bridge and installed a new one, making the ditch passable again.
"And in January we spent two days clearing over a tonne of rubbish that had been dumped in the top lake at Earlswood Common, improving the lake for wildlife and for visitors."
Events programme
The pair have also organised a number of very successful public events over the past year, including a “Bat walk” around Priory Park last summer, attended by over 70 people of all ages, all hoping to catch a glimpse of the elusive creatures.
Their walks and events programmes are now a regular fixture in the council’s calendar with more walks and activities planned for the forthcoming year, including another bat walk later this month (27 May).
They also attend community events such as the Priory Park Community Festival and Banstead Wood Countryside Day, talking to people about the work they do and demonstrating traditional crafts, like making stools from logs.
For more information see the Maintaining parks and countryside page.
Last updated : 13/05/2010
