Latest news with #NatureTownsAndCities
BBC News
6 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Sunderland handed Lottery grant to develop nature access
A lottery grant of £490,000 will help a city improve access to green spaces, the local council is among 40 areas nationally awarded money from the National Lottery Heritage Fund as part of the Nature Towns and Cities include a focus on boosting transport and linking community green spaces including the city's coastline and Mordey, leader of Sunderland City Council, said residents would be consulted in the coming weeks and months to help develop schemes. Nature Towns and Cities is a partnership between Natural England, the National Trust and the National Lottery Heritage council will also work with Durham Wildlife Trust and organisations from the voluntary sector as it looks to allocate the are set to include new conservation and horticulture courses, ecological surveys for local Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), such Tunstall Hills and Claxheugh Rocks, and community grants. Welcoming the funding, Mordey said the aims of the forthcoming projects were "all about improving our residents' access to nature and helping them to enjoy some of the fantastic greenspaces, coastline and riverbanks on their doorstep".He added: "As we all know, getting out into the fresh air can really help us to clear our minds and take time for ourselves."So we'll be looking to work with residents and partners over the coming weeks and months to help us develop the plans further and make sure that we're making the most of this grant funding." Follow BBC Sunderland on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
The Guardian
17-07-2025
- General
- The Guardian
Green mission aims to raise £1bn to bring nature into UK towns and cities
A coalition of environmental and heritage bodies has launched a billion-pound mission to bring nature into the heart of urban areas in the UK. The first phase of the Nature Towns and Cities initiative will involve £15.5m being invested in 40 towns and cities across the four nations. Schemes that will be funded range from the launch of a large regional park to improving micro green spaces on the banks of canals and rivers. Innovative projects include a 'greening permit' scheme allowing citizens to cultivate public spaces, and an 'environmental justice map' to pinpoint areas of greatest need. The mission, billed as the first of its kind, is led by a partnership between the National Trust, Natural England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund, which is providing the £15.5m. Its ultimate aim is to grow a bigger coalition and attract £1bn from private, philanthropic and public sources by 2035 to give at least 5 million people access to green space a short walk from home and provide 1 million children with an opportunity to play in nature close to their front doors. Hilary McGrady, the director general at the National Trust, said: 'Everyone, everywhere should have easy and local access to nature and green spaces. When 85% of the UK population lives in built-up urban areas, it is our duty to reach them.' The partnership points out that over the past decade, cuts to local authority spending mean that green spaces have been neglected. Two-thirds of households in England, for example, do not have access to a decent-sized green space within a 15-minute walk of home. Areas benefiting from the first round of funding include Portsmouth in the south of England, Fife in south-east Scotland and Port Talbot in south Wales. Ealing in west London will receive almost £1m to ready the borough for the creation of a 586-hectare (1,448-acre) regional park. In Lewisham, south-east London, projects will focus on historically underserved Black, African and Caribbean communities. A greening permit scheme modelled after 'le permis de végétaliser' in Paris is to be launched in Bristol, allowing residents and associations to cultivate public spaces. In Bradford, West Yorkshire, where life expectancy can differ by 11 years between urban and rural wards, grant money will be used to increase nature-based social-prescribing. North Lanarkshire in central Scotland will use its new funds to create an environmental justice map, pinpointing areas of greatest need, while in Belfast funds will be spent on initiatives including improving the city's network of alleys, and areas around its peace walls. As part of the announcement, Birmingham was declared the UK's first 'nature city' and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole in Dorset (BCP) collectively named the first 'nature towns'. Sign up to Headlines UK Get the day's headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning after newsletter promotion Birmingham and BCP councils received grant funding in 2019 in a precursor programme to Nature Towns and Cities. BCP has made a series of improvements to green spaces, with just one, Hoburne wildlife pond in Christchurch, a good example of the sort of scheme that, while relatively modest, can make a difference to people's lives and nature. More than 50 volunteers and local business people helped create the small pond and a house martin tower designed to provide a nesting site for the migratory bird. Janna Bloice, the urban greening project manager, said there had been a positive response to the project. Neighbours looked after the pond and it had inspired some to introduce wild areas to their gardens. 'People come and spend a few peaceful minutes here. Having access to a little bit of nature makes a huge difference,' she said.
