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Ref MB35
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26/07/2007
Mike Bray, The Mersey Forest Team
01925 859 611 / 07770 735 755
[email protected]
ST HELENS GREEN TEAM GETS HELPING HAND
A ‘green team’ helping unemployed people get back into work has come up trumps after
receiving £13,000 of new forestry and woodland management equipment.
Run by St Helens Chamber, the Environmental Intermediate Labour Market (ILM) Team
offers short-term paid work and training to help unemployed people into sustainable
employment whilst simultaneously improving the local environment. Now the team are
benefiting from a host of new equipment ranging from chainsaws to a log splitter thanks to
an ICEP Mersey Forest grant.
Carl Smethurst of The Mersey Forest Team said: “This equipment will help give local
people the skills they need to take advantage of the growing opportunities in the forestry
sector. The ILM team is already a big success and we hope that this grant will help it go
from strength to strength.”
The grant is funded by the European Objective One Programme as part of the Integrated
Countryside & Environment Plan (ICEP) for Merseyside. ICEP aims to build land
management skills in Merseyside and promote diversification from traditional agriculture
into new uses for land.
Sean Cassin, Environmental Supervisor at St Helens Chamber, said: “The ILM team work
on projects that improve the local environment and access to leisure and recreation
amenities for local people, schoolchildren and visitors to the area. This new equipment
will boost the amount of work we are able to carry out and means that we’ll be able to
increase the number of places available on the project, benefiting local unemployed
people.”
To find out more about St Helens Chamber’s ILM scheme, contact Paul Taylor on 01744
742069.
ENDS
Media Contact:
Mike Bray, tel. 01925 859 611 / 07770 735 755
Editors Notes:
St Helens Chamber:
St Helens Chamber is one of the most successful and influential Chambers, with the highest
business involvement rate in the UK. Its Members employ 60% of the local workforce and
represent all industry sectors, ranging from sole traders to large corporations and multi-nationals.
The Mersey Forest:
The Mersey Forest is the leading environmental regeneration initiative in the North West and the
largest of England’s 12 Community Forests. The Mersey Forest is not restricted to a single site,
rather it is being created across a 465 square mile area of Merseyside and North Cheshire as
networks of woodlands and other habitat between and within our cities, towns and villages for and with the involvement of - local communities.
The regeneration of The Forest is driven by The Mersey Forest Partnership, which includes the
Forestry Commission, Natural England and nine local authorities – Cheshire, Liverpool, Ellesmere
Port and Neston, Halton, Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Vale Royal and Warrington. The Mersey
Forest is the key driver for investment into and for the development of a green infrastructure for
the North West, reclaiming over 8000 hectares of land, home to 1.6million people, over a 30-year
period to bring revolutionary economic, social and environmental benefit to the region.