Our family business, set up in 1972 by the Wilkinson family, is a Commercial Landscaping Contractor covering the North West of England.

Today, founding family member John Wilkinson and his son, David, are less actively involved in the day to day running  but still oversee the development of the Business. The company has now grown to employ a staff of 20 and a new director, Johnathan Fountain has been added to the Board. We still operate from the family owned premises in Longridge, Preston.

The directors are backed up by a highly experienced team of skilled Landscape Gardeners and Plant and Machinery drivers, all of whom have the necessary industry recognised safety and training qualifications. This gives us the capability to deliver any project on time, within budget and to a professional standard.

 

We are approved by Constructionline as well as being CHAS accredited.

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About Us

To exist in the Commercial World, it is essential we can provide the evidence that our Staff are trained to the correct standard that will permit them to work at all levels whilst on site. Thus the site based staff have CSCS cards and the plant and machinery operatives have NPORS cards. Behind the scenes, Johnathan, our operations director, makes sure all site managers are issued with relevant RAMS before we attend the site, and that all induction courses have been done. We also make sure all our personnel have the required level and specification of PPE demanded by their site manager.

Health & Safety Policy

Historically, Landscape Gardening hasn’t been the most environmentally friendly industry. However Wilkinson’s offer a refreshing new approach to the problem. We are aware of the environments we are working with and try to advise our customers of improvements in working methods which will reduce environmental impact.

Some areas of our business can easily be controlled to mitigate the environmental impact of our activities. Firstly we will always use local products for projects if they are available. So we get turf from Southport, plants and shrubs from Churchtown, Southport and our building materials come from merchants in Longridge, whom we know source locally if possible.

Secondly, our choice of machinery is important. There is always a trade-off between which machine to use, light or heavy, large or small. The decisions of which size and type of machine to use are made with the environment and economics in mind. As we have a wide range of machines we can always pick the correct one for the job in hand.

Waste disposal is another area where we can massively reduce our environmental impact. Re-cycling is carried out wherever possible, with spare soils being assessed for use in other projects. All plant containers are recycled, pallets are re-purposed and all metal containers returned to the nursery for further use.

Herbicides and Pesticides:

We know about the controversy of using pesticides and herbicides. As landscapers and gardeners, no one is more aware of the decrease in wildlife the planet has suffered in the last few years. Pesticides and herbicides have their part to play in Landscaping. They make controlling weeds and invasive plants simple and cost effective.

However we do try to take a different approach.

So what do we do differently?

Firstly, we train all our teams in the environmental impact spraying involves.

We then train them to assess each particular task individually, to help them decide the best course of action.

Their decisions will be driven by a desire to preserve wildlife at all costs. Sometimes, hopefully more often than not, this will lead to a decision not to spray.

Next, we train them to select the correct equipment. This impacts on spray drift, dosage and getting the spray to the right area of the plant.

Finally they are trained to select the correct chemical and to apply it at the correct dose.

As a last measure, all our sprayers are trained and certified to legally binding standards, which allows them to operate in all situations at all sites.

So, you can rest assured that we do our best to help the environment when confronted with a spraying situation.

 

So this is our commitment to you:

  • We will take action to identify, then eliminate or reduce, as far as practicable, any actual or potentially adverse environmental impacts.
  • We pledge wherever practicable, to use appropriately recycled or recyclable materials.
  • We  train our employees to work in an environmentally responsible manner.
  • We will obtain support from our customers in our quest to be environmentally friendly by providing them with services that will have the least impact on the Environment.
  • We promote a purchasing policy which will give preference, as far as practical, to those products and services which cause least harm to the environment.
  • We minimise the generation of waste, we promote the use of sustainable resources and we recycle all materials where possible.
  • We continue to encourage and facilitate modes of transport by staff which minimise environmental impact. To this end we have invested in vehicles with “crew-cabs” to reduce the number of vehicle journeys to and from site.
  • We give the staff the power of implementation of the policy and thus they must ensure that environmental issues are given adequate consideration in the planning and day-to-day working activities.

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W J Wilkinson & Sons (Landscaping) Ltd are doing their best to enhance the environment of Lancashire, Cheshire and Greater Manchester.