Lockdown has taught us the true importance of London’s local green spaces to physical and mental wellbeing. But we also know that these benefits are not evenly distributed amongst Londoners. About half of London households live more than 400 metres walk from a local green space. And both Londoners living in more deprived neighbourhoods and Black Asian and Minority Ethnic Londoners are more likely to live in these “areas of deficiency in access” to open space.
Making London a greener, healthier city, and ensuring everyone benefits from these green spaces, has been a priority for the Mayor since before the pandemic. In 2019, London became the world’s first National Park City, and the Mayor set a target in his Environment Strategy for at least half of the capital to be green or blue by 2050.
To help achieve these goals, the Mayor’s Greener City Fund has invested £13 million in projects to create and improve green spaces and plant trees, helping Londoners connect with nature and building the capital’s resilience to the impacts of climate change. In total, the programme has planted 330,000 trees and funding is now committed to planting another 92,000.
At the heart of this programme are the Community Green Space Grants, which awarded almost £3.5 million to more than 180 locally led projects in areas most in need of green space improvements. This included creating community gardens, greening school playgrounds, improving parks, greening housing estates and restoring waterways. When all the planting is done, they will have improved the equivalent of over 400 football pitches of green space – and involved over 60,000 Londoners.
And despite the challenges of lockdowns and social distancing, many of these community projects have become even more important in the last year. Haseley End and Talmage Close Greening Project, led by local Lewisham residents working with Lewisham Homes, transformed 5,000 square metres of space across a housing estate, renovating flower beds and planting trees, a hedgerow and a new meadow.
But just as importantly, the project has provided a vital means for residents to come together safely over the last year, with 25 adults and 15 children taking part in socially distanced planting days and setting up a new residents committee to help look after the site. In the words of one local resident:
“During lockdown in spring 2020, working (at a safe distance) with neighbours on planting, watering and weeding really helped me to feel less isolated, and to love my neighbourhood more than ever before in the 18 years I have lived on this estate. I've got to know neighbours I probably wouldn't have spoken to otherwise. Now we're in a winter lockdown I can see the bulbs we planted in the autumn coming up, which is so encouraging, and I know they will do this every year for years to come. It has been a wonderful project.”
The Mayor has placed the environment at the heart of the London’s recovery from COVID-19 and has already started to deliver a green recovery through the Green New Deal mission. In December the Mayor awarded £700,000 to 34 more green projects through his Grow Back Greener Fund.
90 per cent of these projects are in areas of deprivation, and 80 per cent are in neighbourhoods where more than half of households lack good access to open space. As we start to emerge from lockdown over the coming months, Londoners will be coming together to bring their plans to green their communities to fruition – now is the time to find a project near you and get involved.