Publication Date: 24-07-2025 09:00
Primary Academy’s Eco Council visits Forest Walk development in Lydney
Primary school pupils from Lydney had the chance to find out all about sustainable house building when they visited the Forest Walk development which is under construction in the town.
Homebuilder Bellway hosted the group of 10 children from Primrose Hill C of E Primary Academy at its development where it is building 200 homes.
During the visit on Wednesday 25 June, the children saw houses at different stages of construction – including the showhomes and Bellway’s House to Home plot, which showcases the various stages of the build process. Pupils also got to sit inside the cab of a forklift.
The pupils are all part of the school’s Eco Council, which leads a wide range of sustainability initiatives across the school. These include composting fruit and vegetable waste, planting and maintaining a wildflower area on the school field and developing the school’s community orchard.
Headteacher Emma Mignaud said: “Our children had an exciting and inspiring visit to Forest Walk where they learned how new build homes are more environmentally friendly.
“The visit offered a unique opportunity for the children to see sustainability in action and learn more about eco-friendly living. The children were fascinated by the variety of green features in the homes including solar panels and electric car charging points.
“They were especially excited to learn about the hedgehog walkways in the fences and the bird and bat boxes. This visit further strengthened the children’s understanding of how sustainability can be integrated into everyday life and inspired new ideas to bring back to the school.
“We’re incredibly grateful to Bellway for welcoming the children and showing them how small changes can make a big difference to the environment.”
During the visit, the pupils heard about the biodiversity measures Bellway is putting in place to look after wildlife at the site, as well as the different jobs that people do as part of creating a new housing development.
Bellway Wales Development Manager Simon Hughes showed the children around the site with Assistant Site Manager Geraint Edwards.
Simon said: “We like to reach out to the community in the areas where we are building new homes and hosting a visit for the school’s Eco Council was part of that.
“The children were very enthusiastic and very knowledgeable.
“I am always keen to get across to schoolchildren that there are so many jobs behind the scenes of a development like this – as well as building the houses there are roles such as being an ecologist or an acoustic engineer, or an architect. There are a whole raft of things to consider.”
The site visit was part of an ongoing relationship between Bellway and the school. Simon has previously been to the school nursery to talk to the children about building houses and Bellway plans to help the school over the summer with improvements to its grounds.
Forest Walk is the final phase of a wider 320-home scheme to the west of the A48 Lydney Bypass.
It is the second development that the housebuilder has delivered in the town in recent years, following the completion of 90 homes at Archer’s Walk, off Highfield Road, in 2021. Both developments form part of the wider Lydney Urban Extension which has brought hundreds of new homes to the eastern part of the town.
For more information, visit https://www.bellway.co.uk/new-homes/wales/forest-walk or call the sales team on 01594 480035.
