We are a group of diverse residents of social housing at Dove Street created in 2020 during lockdown to improve our environment, community and wellbeing.
We started transforming a fly-tipping corner below Carolina House in Montague Hill South into the guerrilla Dove Gardens.
That gave us the confidence to aim higher. We have been working with local organisations ( Friendly Neighbours, The Council, Parks, Incredible Edible, One Tree Per Child, The Cube, University of Bristol, BRI, Botanic Gardens among others) to expand our actions.
We have improved Dove Street South Park by planting 3,000 bulbs, an orchard, and installing benches, bins and signs.
We have created Documentaries, newsletters, and social media accounts to spread the good news. We have painted community murals to celebrate the inner city wild life that surround us.
Working with FN and Bristol City Council we delivered the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) project ‘Bounding Dove’ (30k) to improve the provision, replacement, operation and maintenance of Carolina House communal concrete esplanade, garage spaces and Dove Street Open space.
We have just been accepted for the 2026 CIL fund to deliver a new series of community murals, with the intention of turning Dove Street into an open air gallery that will attract visitors and put Dove Street on the map.
We have also been awarded a second CIL fund for improving Carolina Green – the park next to Carolina House in Dove Street. This will create a nature corridor, additional play spaces, picnic tables and paths to make the park more inclusive and an asset to our community.
To continue our projects and to enable us to grow we have formally registered our group as Dove Street Community Forum CIC. All residents are welcome to join us and participate in making Dove Street a beautiful, safe and welcoming place to live
Our Aims:
- Promote community-led development using a strengths-based, sustainable approach that supports the community and its members’ well-being and social justice, and celebrates local identity, heritage, diversity, and multicultural belonging.
- Amplify residents’ voices and strengthen community participation by facilitating inclusive consultation processes, encouraging interaction among residents, and supporting and encouraging people to take collective action on issues affecting their neighbourhoods and shared environments.
- Prioritise benefit for both people and the environment, recognising the interdependence between human and non-human life. This includes a focus on people with protected characteristics, people from minoritised ethnic backgrounds, and communities experiencing social, economic or structural disadvantage, while also supporting local ecological wellbeing.
- Improve and humanise public spaces and community environments through activities including, but not limited to, community-led public art, gardening, environmental initiatives, outdoor, sport, health and wellbeing activities, and other projects that encourage collective use, care and stewardship of shared spaces.
- Deliver its work through grants, donations, community trading, paid workshops, events and consultancy, ensuring that all surplus income is reinvested into the Company’s community benefit.
