When Trevor and Emma Lynn moved to their new house in Harebell Way, Carlton Colville they found that fourteen crimes had been committed in their road during the previous year. They decided to set up a neighbourhood watch scheme. Little did Trevor know that his neighbourhood watch of six houses would soon grow into sixty homes and a community garden.

So on a wet, miserable Friday in August, our community reporter Kerry Burn went along to meet Trevor to get the low down on this successful community scheme.

I was met by Trevor and Max, the friendly neighbourhood watchdog.

Harebell Way is a cul-de-sac with several pedestrian walkways leading down to groups of houses. The walkway leading to Trevor and Emma’s house was used as a shortcut and they would often have beer cans and rubbish thrown into their front gardens. After starting the Neighbourhood Watch scheme they persuaded Waveney District Council to put up temporary fencing at one end of the walkway to stop it being used as a cut through. Trevor and his immediate neighbours then donated trees, which were planted inside the fence, so that in time they would serve as a hedge.

Within the first week of starting up more and more residents wanted to join. Out of a community of around 80 homes, membership now stands at 60 and still growing.

Fly-tipping in their communal parking area was another problem faced by the residents. Trevor and the Neighbourhood watch scheme soon got to work: “To this day I do not know where the skips came from but we had two of them and with help from the Prosecution Service and residents, we cleared the whole area” Trevor explained.

During this time Trevor was also putting in for grants to help with the financing of new projects. One grant funded a new fence for the back of the parking area which was erected by Trevor and a band of willing residents. “It was great” Trevor said “We have a laugh about it to this day, saying we should go into business putting up fences, I can’t believe we got it done in a day”

In all the Harebell Way Neighbourhood Watch Scheme has been awarded a grand total of £14,000 in grants since it started last year. This money has gone into funding Neighbourhood Watch signs, hanging baskets, new fencing, and the Community garden.

The Community garden started out as a area of grass that was used for dumping abandoned cars. Motorists also used the grass to turn round on when they realised the road was a dead end. Thanks to Trevor and the local community the transformation is amazing. Pupils at the Warren Special School designed the community garden and children living in the area were involved in the planting. A flower border has been dug along the side of the road, and there is a sensory garden. Trees have been planted and the focal point is a boat, also planted out with flowers. “The idea is to remove the sail and replace it with a trellis in the shape of a sail to grow Wisteria up for next year…” Trevor says. “…and a bench funded by a grant from Age Concern will also be added to the garden”

“I am starting to get a bit of a reputation – the local police have hailed me the man who fights crime with flowers!” Trevor laughs. But it seems to be working There have only been 3 crimes in the road since the start of the scheme and none since the garden project started.

It truly is a transformation; Trevor showed me photographs of how the garden and the communal parking areas looked before and it is great to see how involvement from everyone in the area has made Harebell Way the place it is today.

Children are encouraged to become involved in helping with projects and the scheme has started to give out ‘Certificates of achievement’ to children who go out of their way to help. Two certificates were awarded recently, one to a young girl who impressed the judges by naming 14 different types of bedding plants and trees used in the community garden from memory and the other to a young lad for his outstanding contribution to not only his front garden but to that of his neighbours, clearing weeds from car parks and planting many plants and shrubs in one of the car parks.

Due to their involvement with children Trevor and Emma have had the necessary child protection training. The scheme also has a child protection policy and is offering other places on the SAFE training for any residents.

Trevor has also done a 16-week ‘Civic Champions Course’ run by then Civic Trust, The Guild and Business Link. This is a course designed for community volunteers to provide them with the skills and confidence to manage community projects. More info on the course is available on the Civic Trust website www.civictrust.org.uk/.

Following the success of their spring garden competition, the scheme has received several nominations for local awards and although it was unable to enter the Lowestoft in Bloom Competition, they were put forward to the small category in the ‘Anglia in Bloom’ The results are due to be announced on September 22nd so we wish Trevor, Emma and the residents of Harebell Way every success with their entry.

I would like to thank Trevor for telling me all about this successful scheme and showing me around Harebell Way,. Long may it continue. I know that Trevor has other ventures that he is looking into at the moment and I wish him every success with those too. We hope to report on them in the future. My thanks go also to Max (Trevor’s Irish Wolfhound/Collie cross) who made me feel very welcome and made sure that he got his fair share of attention.

And lastly from Trevor "I would like to give a huge thank you to Claire Taylor-Crisp at the Waveney Community Forum who got us our first grant and nominated me to the civic champions course. Also a big thanks to Chris James at Waveney District Council who helped hugely cutting out red tape and offering lots of practical advise. It would be an injustice to them if I didnt include them."

And an update on the disabled group SOLD based in Lowestoft, who renovated the boat used in the community garden. They have now been aked to repair and rennovate the boats of a local boat hire firm. So good things are growing out of the Harebell Way garden in more ways than one

For anyone who is interested in starting up a Neighbourhood Watch scheme in their area and would like some advice then you can email Trevor at [trevor@trevorlynn.wanadoo.co.uk] and for more news from Harebell Way  visit their website at www.harebellneighbourhoodwatch.co.uk or visit the Suffolk Neighbourhood Watch website

If you are involved in or know of any community activities running in your area which you would like us to feature then please let us know. Email: kerry.burn@onesuffolk.co.uk or Telephone 01473 583891.