Suffolk Ecology Plant Centre

Aim

To open an educational garden & plant centre focusing on supporting our wildlife, education and providing local employment opportunities

Lowestoft is in the top 10% of the most deprived areas of the UK but we have so much going for us. We are Britains most easterly point and see the sun rise first, we have recently been awarded millions to regenerate the town and have a lot of exciting plans, we have some wonderful communities and have produced some olympic medal winners! Suffolk has also produced some amazing talent in other areas like acting and singing and we've recently had a visit from Banksy! We are a beautiful county with a rich heritage and an abundance of wildlife, including some rare species in both the animal and plant kingdom. 

During lockdown I started selling garden plants from home and delivering them locally. It did well and in December 2020 I opened a small shop in my garden. Talking to local people its become apparent that the town lacks a garden centre which is more than just a garden centre, and that is local to the town centre. I opened a small garden centre in Oulton Broad on a piece of land in 2022.  In 2023 I was diagnosed with cancer and underwent surgery in May.  I am currently going through chemotherapy even though the cancer has been totally removed, as a precaution. Because of this the shop has been closed for the year and is struggling to pay it's commercial rent. I hope to stay there and reopen in January, if I can find the rent money. 

The ecology centre has always been the ultimate goal with the current garden centre being the stepping stone to the bigger project, and despite this year's set back, I am still aiming for the ecology centre. 

Here's the plan:

• An educational garden / plant oasis - (think the Eden Project meets Kew Gardens) built with the aim of educating children and adults on the importance of wildlife and how to plant and manage their land/ gardens to support our wildlife.

It will be a social enterprise run to make a profit but also to support charities, the local community and those with less opportunities in employment.  

This will be done by:

• Donating a portion of profits to charities working to protect wildlife like Suffolk Wildlife Trust, the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, Sussex University Buzz Club and The British Dragonfly Society, although this may change month to month.
• Working with local disability charities and the probation service/ organisations to provide employment opportunities 
• Working with local schools to provide educational classes for children on wildlife, particularly pollinators, through collaboration with local trusts like Wild East, The Suffolk Wildlife Trust and the local Beekeeper Groups
• Having information via infographics, posters etc about pollinators and the best plants for them, as well as running classes on things like building bug houses, wildlife ponds and making wildlife meadows. 
• Monthly talks on different aspects of gardening, plants and other relevant subjects

The money raised will be used to start the project by purchasing land, getting planning permission, building the bones of the centre, buying plants for each greenhouse, setting up the infrastructure and employing staff. 

The plan for the garden centre is as follows:

• One greenhouse for tropicals highlighting the vast number of species on the planet and their habitat, along with information on their decline
• One greenhouse for arid plants like succulents and cacti with information of them
• One greenhouse for ferns and mosses explaining how these are some of the oldest plants on the planet and why we should start to love moss!
• A perennial garden planted specifically for pollinators
• A wildflower garden with wildlife pond 
• Wildlife areas out of bounds to customers, there to benefit the local wildlife with beehives, birdboxes, owl boxes, bat boxes etc, all planned in conjunction with wildlife charities and used as part of education
• A fully functional garden centre with all the normal stuff
• A cafe selling locally sourced food and drink from small businesses across norfolk and Suffolk, as well as using our own grown produce. 

And that's just the start. As time goes on there will un-doubtably be more to do, but this is a long term project which I am passionate about.

There is nothing like this in Lowestoft, let alone East Anglia right now.  Apart from the social enterprise side of the business, it will also bring money to the area by way of visitors, and in the right location I would expect people from further away to visit, and then visit other parts of Lowestoft at the same time, boosting the local economy. 

I expect an initial cost of £100,000 to buy land and put in the basic infrastructure, with a top budget of £500,00 expected to finish the plan as it stands.  There are limited parcels of land currently available in Lowestoft, but there are a few. I would expect this project to be a year long to get to the point of being able to open. 

This is a great opportunity to be part of something really special for the East and for the town of Lowestoft and surrounding areas. 

This project closed unsuccessfully on 11th October 2021