Newquay Community Orchard has won the Best Contribution to Sustainability by Increasing Resilience in the Community category of this year’s Cornwall Sustainability Awards.
Urban Biodiversity, the community interest company that manages Newquay Community Orchard, also walked away with a highly commended for the Best Managed Small Business category. The Orchard has been in development for almost three years on the western edge of Nansledan on land gifted by the Duchy of Cornwall. It aims to create a sustainable community hub where people can gain knowledge on the importance of the local environment and make positive contributions to sustainable growth.
The judges were delighted with the Orchard’s passion, vision and dedication to have a positive impact on the environment and reduce greenhouse gas emissions through local purchasing, empowering the community, sustainable design, waste minimisation and resource management. “This all-encompassing approach is the reason the judges felt this was a worthy award winner,” the judges said.
Natalie Frost, Operations Manager, at Newquay Community Orchard, said: “This is the first year applying for the awards and we were not expecting such a fantastic result. This is a very proud moment for the team as we have worked hard over the last few years to ensure that the project contributes to positive environmental growth through creating an off-grid multifunctional space with native tree plantings, organic produce and a wood workshop where products are upcycled.
“Sustainability is embedded throughout all aspects of the project and business as a whole, from where we choose to buy supplies, to how we run the office. This is a challenging time for planet Earth but together as a community we can make a positive change.”
Also shortlisted in the Cornwall Sustainability Awards were Nansledan suppliers Green&Blue, who are supplying the development with bee bricks to provide habitat for solitary bees.
The Cornwall Sustainability Awards aim to encourage, reward and gain recognition for the excellent work businesses are doing to improve their own sustainability, and that of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly as a whole.
Sue James, cabinet member for environment and public protection at Cornwall Council, which supports the awards, said: “The Awards have recognised hundreds of innovative Cornish businesses over the last 15 years and in that time, our understanding of what ‘sustainability’ means has changed. We have realised how much damage has been done to our planet and the increasing pressures it faces. We must all look after the special place we call home and I take my hat off to the winners and finalists who are champions of innovative and sustainable business and have shown that economic and environmental growth can go hand in hand.”
