TURF MANAGEMENT
RIBBLE VALLEY BOROUGH
COUNCIL AIM TO GET GAMES ON
WITH THE IMANTS SHOCKWAVE
Ribble Valley Borough Council
has invested in their own Imants
ShockWave to help alleviate
compaction and gets games on.
Chris Shepard, Head Gardener at
Ribble Council has 14 sports pitches
and the fields at Clitheroe Castle, a
medieval construction that has been
in place for 800-years, to look after as
well as other non-sports areas across
the Ribble Valley.
The council had a desire to improve
the drainage on the pitches and
prevent fixture cancellations while
improving other areas that were
less problematic. To achieve this the
decision to purchase a ShockWave
was made and it has had a busy start
to life during its first three months in
Lancashire with the difference already
visible.
Chris said: “There were some pitches
that had some standing water, but it
had got to a point where we needed to
do something regarding drainage for
all of the pitches and the land to put
money back into it and improve our
facilities and we thought to get better
use in the winter peri-ods that the
ShockWave was the way to go.
“There has been a difference in some
of the pitches we’ve used it on. There
was one area that would always hold
water but that’s gone now. It’s still
a bit softer underfoot than the rest
of the field but you’re not squelching
water like you would have been.
“Once we go on that area again, we’ll
be able to go deeper and get down to 18
inches and that’ll definitely help.”
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Landscape & Urban Design Issue 39 2019