The Mayor of London has announced that funding has been awarded to projects supporting green and resilient spaces, as part of a drive tackle the climate and ecological emergencies.
Overall, the funding amounts to around £3.9 million, with £2.55 million being allocated to four large-scale projects to be completed by March 2025. The first of these parks, improvements to Down Lane Park in Haringey, will see the north east of the park transformed thanks to a grant of £750,000. Improvements will see new biodiverse rain gardens and new footpaths being implemented to allow green routes to connect residents of Tottenham to the Lee Valley.
In Harrow, £600,000 has been allocated to open up the Silk Stream in two parks. This will help to create new flood storage areas as well as wetland habitats. Further plans are improving community access to the parks, with entrances, footpaths, a footbridge, signage and boardwalks to support the Action for Silkstream project. This project is developing nature-based solutions to the address flood risk across the community, providing environmental, social, health and amenity benefits for the area.
The third project allocated funding from the first group is in Ealing, with the Northolt Green Ring. Thanks to £746,125 of funding, a ‘Green Ring’ pathway is to be established to connect six parks in Northolt. This will create safe, green walking and cycling routes as part of plans to deliver improvements in areas where projects such as this will activate and enhance the Green Ring. Another part of this wider project sees flooding tackled through de-culverting a water course to create a new wetland flood storage area in Belvue Park. Local food production, green skills and community cohesion will all be supported through this.
In Southwark, £450,000 has been allocated to create a new green space between Consort Park and Dr Harold Moody Park. This will be done by closing a road to all motor traffic, then merging the two parks together. The grey space that is eliminated will be made into green space that helps to encourage sustainable, active travel. New tree planting, play facilities and pathways will also be introduced to improve the quality of the parks.
Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, said:
“Trees, green spaces and the natural environment have a critical role to play in tackling the climate and ecological emergency, and planting 100,000 new trees, including 50 hectares of publicly accessible woodland will help make London a better, greener and safer place for everyone.
“I’m doing all I can to boost London’s climate resilience and have awarded almost £30 million in funding to vital tree planting and green space projects across the capital since becoming mayor in 2016. I will continue to take bold action, particularly in the areas of the capital most vulnerable to climate change impacts.”
Further to the major projects being supported, nine projects are being awarded grants of up to £40,000. These grants are for project development purposes, with the projects being supported to continue working on designs as well as engaging with communities. The funding is hoped to be able to support the projects to a point where they are ready to apply for funding in the future. Areas benefitting from this funding include:
- Tower Hamlets
- Brent
- Hammersmith and Fulham
- Westminster
- Islington
- Newham
- Kensington and Chelsea
- Lewisham
- Camden
With green spaces being supported to this extent, the Mayor has also allocated grant funding to benefit tree planting. This funding will support woodland creation projects in Barnet, Enfield and Newham and is expected to result in 100,086 new trees being planted. The projects are delivering new trees in the autumn/winters of 2023/24 and 2024/25 with a view to being completed by March 2025.
