Living billboard promotes green message

A living advertisement made from a hedge of willow trees has been created to send a green message to motorists in the north west.


The Green Billboard, which is believed to the first of its kind in the world, has been planted at a new community woodland in Bidston Moss, near Birkenhead, Merseyside, and is visible from the M53 motorway.

It bears a slogan describing the work done by the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) and Forestry Commission to plant more trees across the region.

The sign, which is 30 metres long and 2.5 metres high, is part of Newlands – an ongoing regeneration project being carried out by the NWDA and the Forestry Commission at Bidston Moss, transforming contaminated wasteland into community woodland (see <a href="http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=11199" title="

Manchester wasteland to be turned into green community space”>related story).

The 68-hectare site, a former Mersey Waste Disposal Authority landfill, has been turned into a community green space with the aid of a £2.7million regeneration fund.

Peter White, executive director of development at the NWDA, said: “Bidston Moss has already been transformed as part of the Newlands scheme and the billboard will be a welcome addition to an ongoing programme of improvements to the site.

“The site’s reinvention as a community woodland has already been helped by a pioneering commitment to recycling, with pathways, fishing lodge boardwalks and even the soil which covers the site all coming from recycled materials.

“So it is appropriate that the new billboard fits with the environmental theme that has underlined our work.”

Keith Jones, regional director of the Forestry Commission, added: “What better way to mark the enthusiasm and professional workmanship of the Newlands partners and the communities it serves than with a world’s first environmentally-friendly outdoor advertisement, designed and created in the Northwest, to celebrate our achievements.”

The Green Billboard has been funded by the NWDA and will be managed by the Forestry Commission.

Kate Martin

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