About the Project

The Greener Ipswich team decided that their work to support the enhancing of Ipswich’s environment would be more effective if they were a formal entity in their own right and in May 2024, Greener Ipswich CIC was formed. Its directors are David Matthews (Chair), Richard Bloomfield, Faye Harburt and Liz Harsant.

Greener Ipswich CIC’s stated activities include delivering horticultural projects to improve the urban environment as well as working with community and charity groups, schools, colleges and organizations supporting the vulnerable and marginalised.

The directors are keen to collaborate with other organizations, working to improve the natural environment. They welcome any suggestions from organizations or individuals as to how Greener Ipswich CIC could focus its energies.

Greener Ipswich Community Interest Company (CIC) Chair and one of the four founding directors.

After a career in education, culminating in eleven years as a headteacher of a secondary comprehensive school in South London, David Matthews moved to Ipswich in 2021. He is a published novelist and continues to write across a number of genres. As churchwarden at Ipswich’s civic church of St Mary le Tower, he is heavily involved in the church’s redesignation as Ipswich Minster and the plans, led by the church, for the Ipswich Charter 825 Festival in June 2025.

He is enthusiastic about improving the town’s natural environment and became involved with Greener Ipswich while working on the neglected pavement gardens in Tower Street, which Suffolk County Council had given him permission to renovate and maintain. He is keen to develop gardening as an opportunity to engage the whole community, coming together to care for our shared spaces. David helped transform Greener Ipswich into a community interest company (CIC) in 2024, thus providing it with greater independence and the scope to pursue its ambitions. He is the current Chair of the company. He brings to the project his experience of running a school in a diverse, multi-ethnic urban community as well as chairing a number of small educational charities.

Founder member and Chair of the “Towns Fund” Oasis/Greener Ipswich Project and one of the four founding directors of the Greener Ipswich CIC.

Faye’s career has been dedicated to working in the disability sector. Over the past 25 years she has worked in the Essex Sensory Team for the County Council and then since 2009 for a provider on behalf of the council – ECL (Essex Cares Limited). For over a decade she has led the service as Team Manager and Head of Sensory, building upon its nationally recognised high quality status, and has developed a range of innovative services meeting the needs of individuals and businesses in the community.

As an Ipswich resident keen to protect green spaces Faye has become involved in local environmental activities, including leading the endeavours to protect 1.2 acre wood near the centre of Ipswich – White Elm Woodland. This activity led to Faye setting up a CIC (Community Interest Company) to purchase and thus preserve the White Elm Woodland as a green asset for the local community.

Faye is a Trustee for the Eden-Rose Coppice Trust having started as a volunteer at their Brickmakers Wood project in Ipswich in 2017. She is also a committee member of the Friends of Holywells Park, and a Volunteer Tree Warden with Ipswich Borough Council.

Faye is one of the founding members of Greener Ipswich which in 2022 secured funding of £520,000 from the Government’s Town’s Fund. She chaired the Greener Ipswich Task Force since 2021 and is now Chair of the Greener Ipswich Board within Ipswich Borough Council. Faye has most recently become a founding director of the newly created Greener Ipswich CIC.

Faye’s career in the social care and disability sector and her passion for green regeneration combine in the Greener Ipswich project. She hopes this work can support the transition towards more resilient, beautiful and inclusive green spaces in our town.

One of the original Greener Ipswich group members which in 2022 “won” £540,000 from the Government’s Town’s Fund. He is one of the four founding directors of Greener Ipswich CIC.

Richard Bloomfield has a Joint Honours degree in History & Politics. He works as an online ecommerce growth specialist for Marketing Labs, the UK’s most experienced Digital Marketing agency, and holds various Google Ads certifications. He has advised and worked with over 40 companies in sectors as diverse as industrial supplies, market research, fashion, print production, restaurant supplies and dentistry.
Between 2001 and 2009 he was the website Manager for the Woodland Trust (the UK’s Largest Woodland Conservation Charity) and had a similar role for 2 years at the British Heart Foundation. Before that he worked in The City as both a stockbroker and equity-linked trader for two large Japanese Financial institutions.

Richard is a founding member of the Gainsborough Walking Football Club (now in Kesgrave) and when not playing football he can often be found walking his dog in Holywells Park. He is an active member of the Friends of Holywells Park Group and manages their website content. He also helps with the Ipswich Men’s Shed, which is a community workshops where men can create, converse and connect.

Liz is a Suffolk County Councillor representing the Gainsborough Division in the Southeast of Ipswich and is one of the four founding directors of Greener Ipswich CIC. She was formerly Chairman of Suffolk County Council, which she says was a great honour and privilege.

Liz represented the Borough Council for 23 years and for 6 ½ years was Leader of the Council when she made significant improvements to the town. During this time the murders of the 5 girls took place which had a huge impact on the town and the whole of the County. Ipswich adopted a multi-agency approach to tackling street prostitution which has proved to be very successful and this strategy has been used around the UK. She is patron of the Charity Talitha Koum which was set up back in 2006 to help women who were being exploited. She is also Patron of Family First which is a small charity working to support families preventing the possible breakup of relationships and homelessness.

Liz has always been passionate about creating opportunities for young people and has, over the years, become very involved in the Education sector having been a Corporate Member of Suffolk New College where she held the position of Chair of Risk; she was also a Trustee of the Raedwald Trust and was particularly involved with two of the Pupil Referral Units Parkside and the Lindbergh Centre. Liz is very proud to be the Chairman of The Ipswich Community Playbus which is a small non-profit making charity providing free access to quality early play for under 5’s and family support for their carers. She is also a member of the Foundation Development Trust at Ipswich School.

Liz is a founder member of Greener Ipswich and has helped to negotiate with both local authorities to promote the project. She is a founder member of the Friends of Holywells Park and is their Secretary.

When she was Chairman of Suffolk County Council her chosen charities for her year were the Eden-Rose Coppice Trust, IHAG (Ipswich Housing Action Group) and Cancer Support Suffolk.

Liz is an active member of the Rotary Club of Ipswich East and was their President at the start of the pandemic which proved to be a very difficult time for the Club. She is the Secretary of Ipswich Suffolk Business Club which she has run for over 14 years.

David has lived in Ipswich most of his life and is a passionate supporter of local parks and green open spaces.

He explored Chantry Park as a boy, kicked footballs around at Whitton and Castle Hill and played adult football on Bourne Park. He’s played with his children and grandchildren and supported events in the parks and walked his dog on Broomhill and Valley Road and feels we must make our town even greener. He uses the parks every single week and firmly believes we must cherish them..

David is a journalist, writer, Rotarian and local charity volunteer.

Rob Brooks is the founder of Eden-Rose Coppice Trust, a Charity that was created in 2006.

He has a firm belief that more than medication is required to affect positive and constructive support of those of us living with life limiting illness and, that people affected, often have unmet emotional and social support needs.
The four woodland sites that the trust provides are safe town centre outdoor natural environments designed and managed specifically for the support of those in need.

Rob was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Suffolk for his work with woodlands and their health benefits.

He feels passionately about Ipswich and its green spaces along with their ability to overcome negative effects of social pressure.

In his spare time Rob and his partner maintain their 150 year old barge in the Ipswich Marina.

As well as being a local farmer, Oliver is a director of Suffolk Food Hall and has been involved in many agri-environment initiatives over the years. Having completed a masters in Environmental Geochemistry, his interest in the pressures on natural systems and the balance between habitats and humans continues to develop. This is coupled with his commercial experience, his commitment to making local independent businesses stronger, enhancing the visitor economy of Suffolk with Ipswich at the hub, and helping provide more ‘green-happiness’ for all. Oliver’s mix of growing businesses, growing plants and growing tourism destinations is a good addition to the Greener Ipswich team, particularly as he is always focused on succinct answers with the solution not the problem. Oliver helps keep Greener Ipswich connected to the Ipswich DMO, Visit Suffolk, Suffolk Day, the Queens Green Canopy for Suffolk, the Suffolk Agricultural Association, the Stour & Orwell Society and others.

Tim’s benches are different – they are never straight. Benches are, by definition, for more than one person and nobody likes talking over their shoulder, do they? When he makes a bench, it must:

• be comfortable to encourage people to linger longer out of doors
• be sturdy and robust so it can last decades
• be made out of local, sustainable English oak that is needs-must felled in my local parks
• be made with no joints where the water will seep in and rot will develop
• have metal legs so that the legs do not rot off in 10 years or less (as happens to all those lovely park benches)
• be easy to repair if, heaven forbid, it ever gets damaged

Tim was asked to make a Bench for Greener Ipswich, just outside St. Peter’s Church, down by Ipswich docks. Tim is an Ipswich boy, lives in the town centre and is a fan of the club and of the town! See his work at www.benchproject.co.uk or www.germain.co.uk

Annett is a Senior Project Manager and Chartered Quantity Surveyor working for Concertus, Design and Property Consultants. She really enjoys working collaboratively helping deliver interesting projects working closely with a variety of different Clients.

Her varied career has included the delivery of the refurbishment of Felixstowe Seafront Gardens, Ness Park in Lowestoft and recently The Hold in Ipswich. She brings a strong sense of vision, direction, and passion to any project with which she is involved and takes a personal interest and learning from each new challenge.