Introduction

What is an environmental improvement project?

Many people want to get involved in improving their local environment. This can mean anything from renovating allotments, turning a derelict corner into a community garden, setting up a community recycling/composting scheme or a hanging basket project for your street, to getting involved in community arts projects, small land reclamation projects, managing and designating a local nature reserve or refurbishing a local play area. Click here to view some examples, including designs, briefs and timetables.

Improving your Community's Environment

Lancashire County Council recognises that many environmental improvement projects are initiated and carried out by local people. To help this process the Environmental Projects Team have developed a Project Management Guide to help community groups through the process of turning ideas into reality.

Working out how to start on a project, who to involve, how to get permissions, what to do and when to do it can be confusing. We want to enable you to cut through that confusion.

This step-by-step guide should help you get the best from your project by taking you through the process of project development and implementation. It has been put together with a Lancashire focus and is based on the experience of the Projects Team. It gives advice on how to take your idea forward, through to how to find funding, use contractors, write press releases and celebrate your finished project.

Of course, not all projects will include all the steps that the guide covers, so the step-by-step approach will enable you to identify which information is most relevant to you.

All you have to do is click on the subject you need to find out about and then follow the links to the information you want. We've also included useful contacts pages for each step, as well as examples of project case studies.

Some areas of work are quite specialised and you may find the following links and guides more helpful in developing this type of project:

Is your project to do with waste or recycling?

If so it would be useful to contact the Lancashire Community Recycling Network (www.lancashirecrn.org)*.

Are you a school?

If you are the schools grounds web page will be more appropriate for meeting your project needs.

Please let us have your comments via our feedback page, especially if you think we've missed anything out or if there's a way we can improve the guide.

All the best with your Project!!