Groups across the UK are kickstarting a grassroots response to the climate emergency and nature loss.
Nextdoor Nature is one of the latest initiatives in The Wildlife Trusts’ mission to inspire and support 1 in 4 people to take action for nature.
Fifty new Community Organisers have started in post from Scotland to the Isles of Scilly. They are enabling communities to take charge of creating and restoring wild places, improving nature connectedness for people and providing much-needed habitats for wildlife.
The projects, made possible with £5 million funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, include:
Please see Editor’s Notes for project details.
Nikki Williams, Director of Campaigning and Communities for The Wildlife Trusts, says:
“If people take action for nature, we can help our natural world to recover, which is critical for halting wildlife loss and tackling climate change. Nextdoor Nature focuses on responding to communities’ needs for improving nature where they live. The variety of work undertaken shows the many different ways people can help wildlife. This work is making a real difference for nature and communities around the UK and we hope it will inspire many more people to make meaningful changes in their own neighbourhoods.”
Eilish McGuinness, Chief Executive of the National Lottery Heritage Fund, says:
“We have provided a £5 million grant to support this pioneering project because communities and nature are at the heart of it. It is so important that local communities take an active role in environmental projects and provide inspiration to others to get involved and care for our precious natural heritage. We wish all the organisers well and are delighted that their vital work will form part of a lasting legacy for the Jubilee year.”
2023 is a pivotal year for the Nextdoor Nature programme as it seeks to address inequalities of access to greenspace and nature. This is vital because 94% of people want to see increased biodiversity where they live, yet only 57% of adults in Britain live within five minutes’ walk of green space. That figure falls to just 39% for people from a Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic background.
The Government has committed to a new target that everyone should live within 15 minutes’ walk of a green or blue space. Spending time in nature is proven to benefit people’s mental and physical health, and evidence shows that people who connect with nature every day are more resilient, experience reduced social isolation and loneliness, and have better all-round health and happiness.
The Hendon Revolution Project: Durham Wildlife Trust working in Hendon, Sunderland
The coastal town of Hendon has attracted thousands of pounds in investment to regenerate the main street and surrounding areas. Durham Wildlife Trust is working alongside vibrant local organisations such as Back on the Map to help local residents ensure that wildlife and nature is not forgotten in the area’s redevelopment. A pollinator corridor of planters means that insects can move from the growing garden at the bottom of the road to Barleymow Park at the top. The locals are planning to reopen an unused and gated sensory garden, rewild the bowling greens and install birdboxes made in the local Dad’s Labs. They are also clearing waste land to create allotments which are offered to local people as a staggered introduction to growing vegetables: they start work on a shared bed, then progress to a bed of their own, before finally taking on a full allotment when they feel ready. This is in conjunction with cooking lessons at a local workshop to help them make full use of the fruits of their labours.
Turlin Moor: Dorset Wildlife Trust working in Poole
The internationally protected coastal marshland of Lytchett Bay is the dramatic backdrop to Dorset Wildlife Trust’s work in the small community of Turlin Moor. With the support of the local council, Poole Museum has trained fifteen volunteers to record oral history. The Nextdoor Nature project aims to link up young people and student filmmakers with the older generations to capture the seafaring history of the local community, and explore ways that nature can be the connection between the generations.
Welcome to English: Yorkshire Wildlife Trust working in Hull
The charity Welcome to English supports refugees and asylum seekers in Hull. Many of the participants come from subsistence farming backgrounds, and working with Yorkshire Wildlife Trust has opened up new ways for these people to connect with their new area. Nextdoor Nature worked with the charity to obtain new premises near some greenspace in the city centre and the participants have taken on the stewardship of the land. They have planned a ten-year partnership which includes allocating a minimum of 30% of the land set aside for nature.
Find out more about this, and their other projects in Hull and Doncaster, in their video here.
Wild Rumpus and Always Ahead: Cheshire Wildlife Trust working in Crewe
The Flag Lane Baths in Crewe stand abandoned, surrounded by parkland and bordered by the Valley Brooke, an important habitat that links Valley Park to Queen’s Park. Always Ahead, a local charity, have the support of the council to regenerate the building and Cheshire Wildlife Trust will be working alongside them and the local community to ensure the grounds benefit both people and nature. A short distance from this site, a second project is underway, spearheaded by Wild Rumpus, to create a nature-based adventure playground in a patch of urban woodland. Watch their video here.
The Scottish Wildlife Trust
The Pioneers Programme is at the heart of Nextdoor Nature in Scotland. Aiming to give people the understanding, resources and confidence to organise action for nature where they live, the programme includes a mix of online learning, interactive webinars and in-person sessions. During the two years of Nextdoor Nature, the Scottish Wildlife Trust will take three cohorts through the Pioneers Programme. The first cohort is currently underway, involving 12 participants from seven communities in the Greater Glasgow area. The second cohort will focus on the Forth Valley, and the third cohort will work with communities located between Dundee and Aberdeen. Applications for the second cohort will open at the end of March 2023.
The Friends Meeting House Burial Ground: Teesside Wildlife Trust working in Norton, Stockton-on-Tees
Most of the Quakers worshipping at the seventeenth-century converted barn in Norton are over eighty years of age. The barn is set in a large plot of land in the heart of a community with one of the widest disparities between incomes anywhere in the UK. They want to make sure the land is used to its best advantage for local people, but in a way that will also benefit wildlife. An added complication is that the land was used for burials in the past, and no one knows where the bodies are. The land is currently a simple mown lawn, and digging is not allowed. Nextdoor Nature is forging a link between the Friends and the local youth group, and planning meetings have been taking place, as the young people and the elders all decide how they want to move forward to create raised beds, planters, bird feeding areas and more. Watch their video here.
The Hadhari Community Centre: Derbyshire Wildlife Trust working in Derby
The Hadhari Centre in Derby provides culturally sensitive support to older people in the African and Caribbean communities. They are working with Derbyshire Wildlife Trust to regenerate the unused grounds surrounding their city centre building. This will create a place for their day centre users to sit and also to grow vegetables that will be used in the meals served at their luncheon club. This is just one example of the many communities around the UK who are exploring how their immediate area can be used to provide food in a way that also improves habitats for wildlife. Watch their video here.
Nextdoor Nature is bringing communities together to help nature flourish where they live and work. Thanks to £5 million funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, Nextdoor Nature will provide people with the advice and support they need to help nature on their doorstep, and leave a lasting natural legacy to mark The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
Nature for mental health - Research cited in the press release includes:
Accessing wildlife-rich places benefits both physical and mental health for people of all ages and backgrounds. It’s an easy way for people to feel more in control of their own health and wellbeing:
30 Days Wild from The Wildlife Trusts: Evidence of impact on wellbeing in the 5 year review from University of Derby found that those taking part in The Wildlife Trusts’ annual month-long nature challenge were found to have sustained increases in happiness, health, connection to nature and pro-nature behaviours. Two months after taking part in 30 Days Wild, the number of people reporting their health as excellent increased by over 30%. Those that gain the most are those with low connection to nature initially.
85% of people in nature-deprived areas say more natural spaces would improve their quality of life – the majority also say that having access to local natural spaces is more important post-pandemic. See poll data in “New campaign calls for legal right to local nature in Levelling Up reforms” here.
The health and wellbeing benefits that come with having more nature around homes and neighbourhoods are immense and well documented. Read some of the evidence here and, for example, Doses of Neighborhood Nature: The Benefits for Mental Health of Living with Nature here.
Evidence shows that people are increasingly disconnected from nature, with profound consequences. It negatively impacts our health and wellbeing and leads to a long-term reduction in people’s affinity to nature, which means they are less likely to protect their natural heritage. See Human-nature interactions and the consequences and drivers of provisioning wildlife, Cox & Gaston, 2018). Also see A Growing Disconnection from Nature Is Evident in Cultural Products here.
