Commitment to clean waters delivered by housebuilder

The developer behind the Hawthorn Park site in Leominster has chosen Friends of the River Wye as the latest recipient of its Community Champions scheme.

Persimmon Homes has donated £1,000 to the organisation, presenting the cheque to its chairman, Tom Tibbits, as part of the programme that sees £700,000 donated across Britain each year to good causes and much-valued institutions.

Friends of the River Wye is a grassroots community group and registered charity, committing to protecting the river and its tributaries from ongoing environmental harm. It is part of the Save the Wye coalition.

The group has done much to raise awareness of the plight of the river and runs a major citizen science project across the catchment, in both England and Wales, with hundreds of volunteers regularly testing water quality and reporting any pollution incidents they detect.

The accredited five-star builder is constructing 353 much-needed, high-quality homes at Hawthorn Park, from one to five-bedroom houses, starting at £199,995.

The development will trigger £1.8m of financial contributions from the developer to the community, including for local education, recycling facilities, sports facilities, transport improvements, and attenuation measures.

Persimmon has also donated to other local organisations including Leominster Town FC and Shobdon FC as part of the Community Champions initiative.

Commenting, Victoria Williams – Sales Director of Persimmon Homes East Wales, the business that made the donation – said:

“Many will be aware of the challenges in tackling pollution in our waterways in recent years and, as a developer that wants to leave a positive and lasting legacy wherever we build, it made sense for us to support Friends of the River Wye given our presence in Herefordshire.

“As housebuilders, we are held to rigorous environmental standards already but we wanted to go the extra mile by supporting the work of local people who campaign to protect the precious River Wye, so we were happy to make this our latest Community Champions donation.”

Tom Tibbits, Chair of Friends of the River Wye, added:

“We were delighted that Persimmon chose us as worthy recipients of Community Champions funding and welcome this donation to help us tackle river pollution.

“Friends of the River Wye, alongside our colleagues in the Save the Wye movement, campaigns for a clean and healthy river, an end to all pollution, the Wye to be restored to its former health and glory, and immediate government action to protect the river. We thank Persimmon for their help do this.”