News
12/06/2023
Highwood donates £10,000 to Horndean ‘Green Loop’ from projects’ Community Fund
Highwood has donated £10,000 to Horndean Parish Council for an exciting initiative to encourage residents and visitors to walk around the town and connect to its historical and natural open spaces through a high quality, safe and well-signed route.
Based on a similar project carried out in Whitehill and Borden, The Green Loop Project will be delivered by Horndean Parish Council (HPC) with the aim of reducing car journeys and inspiring more people to walk and cycle instead.
The donation has been made from Highwood’s Community Fund, a scheme that designates £5,000 for every project delivered to a community scheme that will benefit local residents and visitors. In this instance, Highwood’s best-in-class retirement village and 60-bed care home that are being built for Inspired Villages Group and Barchester respectively have seen £10,000 allocated for the town’s Green Loop initiative.
“This is a particularly special Community Fund contribution,” explained Steve Matthews, Managing Director at Highwood. “We’ve enjoyed a long relationship through the town through projects that are in various stages of development and we’re delighted that we’re able to boost the appeal of the town’s open spaces for more people to enjoy. We understand our donation will cover the implementation of the Blendworth area of the route that will link in with the new retirement village and care home, making our alliance with the Council all the more rewarding.”
Design consultancy, Urban Place Lab, who developed the strategy for the award-winning Green Loop in Whitehill and Bordon, has been asked by HPC to undertake a feasibility study into how the existing Horndean Green Loop could be enhanced and transformed. Urban Place Lab will also advise on how the local community, trades and suppliers could become involved in the design, manufacture and installation of wayfinding infrastructure. This could include seats, benches, signage and sculpture to help animate and highlight this route for more people to enjoy. Public engagement into the project is to be managed by HCP.
The project aims to inspire more people to walk and cycle through the town's green spaces
The Green Loop route will be safe and well signed
A CGI of the new care home at Horndean
Enhancing how residents live
Elaine Tickell, Vice Chairman of Horndean Parish Council, said:
“Horndean Parish Council was thrilled when Highwood offered funding support at the outset of this major new project of walking for health, wellbeing and interest. Horndean is a great place to live with a lot of green space, access to beautiful countryside and a rich history going back centuries. The trail will enhance how residents live here and the funding enables us to move the project forward in Blendworth where Highwood is building the new care home and retirement village.
“Part of our vision is to facilitate the integration of the new residents into the existing community through their accessing the trails and local facilities and immersing themselves in the area’s history. Highwood’s funding has double value as it enables us to obtain match funding for the project.”
Read more about the Horndean retirement village project here.