Community Tidy Up Day to be held in Needles area of Horsham

The Needles Tidy-Up Day forms part of a Government ‘National Spring Clean’ initiative, which is being held across the country on Saturday – officially the first day of spring. Volunteers are asked to meet at the Children and Family Centre at 10.30am for an 11am start. Refreshments and equipment will be provided. Three areas will be tackled on Saturday, the two wooded areas in Granary Way and Alder Copse, and the river area behind Henderson Way. A residents’ survey, carried out by volunteers in September 2014, revealed that residents liked living in the Needles area but raised some environmental concerns about litter, parking, lighting, and the condition of some roads and pavements which needed to be tackled. Many residents said they wanted to be part of the solution to combat problems and play an active role. The Community Tidy-Up Day is the first of several community activities which are being planned as part of a continuous programme of events giving residents the chance to make a difference to an area they value and helping to build community spirit and neighbourhood pride. It also provides an opportunity to bring the whole community together to discuss further improvements they would like to see as part of the programme. In the long term Horsham District Council’s street scene co-ordinator will support residents to join the council’s newly launched Adopt-a-Street initiative where groups of volunteers get together on a regular basis to take extra care of their street or a communal area near them. Think Needles is a community project supported by partners including Horsham District Council, West Sussex County Council, Saxon Weald, Horsham Matters and the Needles Children and Family Centre. For more information or to get involved in the Think Needles Project email nick.jenkins@horsham.gov.uk. If you are interested in being involved in community projects where you live, get in touch with HDC’s community development team by emailing community.development@horsham.gov.uk or calling 01403 215100. For more information on the work of Think Family across West Sussex visit the county council’s website.