Communities across the UK empowered to let nature flourish thanks to £5m National Lottery funding

Nextdoor Nature – a new natural legacy to mark the Queen’s Jubilee

This press release was updated in June 2022

The National Lottery Heritage Fund today announced a £5million investment in a ground-breaking initiative to create a huge matrix of community-led rewilding projects –empowering under-represented people living in areas which have often been overlooked. The funding is part of The National Lottery’s £22million investment to mark the Queen’s Jubilee and will leave a lasting natural legacy..

Delivered by The Wildlife Trusts, Nextdoor Nature will give people the skills, tools, and opportunity to take action for nature.This could include mean establishing wild habitats and green corridors in areas of economic and nature deprivation, rewilding school grounds, or naturalising highly urbanised or unused areas. The pandemic has demonstrated just how important access to a well-cared for natural environment is to communities across the UK.

Examples of communities that The Wildlife Trusts will work alongside include:

Young people from minoritised ethnic communities, young people with disabilities and those who live inareas of London with lower economic development
Aspiring leaders in Scotland, who will have the opportunity to develop the skills needed to inspire and support their local communities to take action for nature
Multicultural communities in Derby where up to 71 languages are spoken, forging links between groups to address residential segregation and social isolation

The UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world and research shows 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. Nextdoor Nature will enable people to make this happen and in doing so, take steps to tackle the nature and climate crisis whilst also addressing important health and wellbeing needs.

Two young women are building bird boxes in an urban nature reserve

Building a bird box © Broni Lloyd-Edwards

Chantelle Lindsay, Dr Simon Thurley and Bobbi Benjamin-Ward walking on a woodland path

Craig Bennett and Dr Simon Thurley sat on a bench having a discussion.

Chantelle Lindsay and Bobbi Benjamin-Ward are sat at a picnic table building bird boxes. Cel Spellman is standing next to them also building a bird box.

Dr Simon Thurley — © Broni Lloyd-Edwards

Simon Thurley, Chair of The National Lottery Heritage Fund, says:

“As part of The National Lottery family’s £22m investment to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, we are delighted to launch Nextdoor Nature, a transformational initiative which will give access to the natural environment to thousands of people who may not have fully enjoyed or appreciated it before. We hope that many people will, for the first time, get hands on with nature creating a new generation of champions for our precious natural environment.”

Liz Bonnin, President of The Wildlife Trusts, says:

“We humans are key to solving the climate crisis and restoring our natural heritage. The UK is one of the most nature depleted countries in the world, but Nextdoor Nature is working to set that right, putting local communities at the heart of helping our wild places to recover, and making sure that no matter where we live, we can be part of this crucial endeavour.

“The Wildlife Trusts are firmly rooted in communities and can provide support and advice to those willing to lead the charge in bringing wildlife back to homes and workplaces – in turn inspiring those around them to do the same. We can achieve incredible things when we work together!”

Nikki Williams, Director of campaigning and communities at The Wildlife Trusts, says:

“We know that people want to take action to improve their neighbourhoods but often it’s hard to know where to start. Nextdoor Nature will let communities set their own agenda about the environmental issues they want to tackle, and we’ll be looking at different ways of bringing people together and giving them support, skills and confidence to take the next step.”

Thanks to the funding from the Heritage Fund, The Wildlife Trusts will support around 200 new groups over the next two years to rewild communities who currently see their local area deprived of natural places to enjoy. Evidence shows that people are increasingly disconnected from nature, with profound consequences for health and it also means they are less likely to protect their natural heritage.

In the words of Sir David Attenborough, President Emeritus of The Wildlife Trusts, “No-one will protect what they don’t care about; and no-one will care about what they have never experienced.”

The Wildlife Trusts have experience in rewilding communities:

Lancashire Wildlife Trust’s MyPlace project helps people with isolation or mental health problems reconnect with nature through bushcraft, practical conservation and wildlife walks

Gwent Wildlife Trust’s My Wild Newport helped people live healthier and more fulfilled lives though improved access to the outdoors for health and well-being in a partnership project with Newport City Council and Natural Resources Wales

Led by the Scottish Wildlife Trust, Cumbernauld Living Landscape has engaged communities to enhance urban greenspaces. Thanks to a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund the project is working with local schools and communities to improve important wildlife sites.

Anyone interested in finding out more can register to receive information.

Editor's Notes

Additional quotes

Gillian Burke, Vice President of The Wildlife Trusts, says:

“Most of us want to help nature and connect with nature, but it can be difficult to know where to begin or how to make a difference, especially when green spaces are a long, long way from home. The Wildlife Trusts’ new Nextdoor Nature scheme wants to change all that by providing advice and support so that everyone has a chance to create and enjoy wilder spaces in their neighbourhoods. Thanks to National Lottery players, Nextdoor Nature has enormous potential to see lots of small actions scale up to make a big difference for health and wellbeing, as well as tackling the climate and ecological crises we face.”

Dr Amir Khan, Vice President of The Wildlife Trusts, says:

“We all need nature, but nature also needs us! To help solve the climate, nature and health crises, its important people are given the knowledge, support and tools to really make a difference – giving them the confidence to take action to help wildlife wherever they live. The knock-on impacts of this can result in better personal wellbeing, improved community spaces and more nature. It’s a win-win! That’s why I’m supporting the partnership between the National Lottery Heritage Fund and The Wildlife Trusts to create a lasting natural legacy for the Jubilee.”

Research cited in the press release

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.

The Wildlife Trusts have experience in rewilding communities

Lancashire Wildlife Trust’s My Place project is here.
Gwent Wildlife Trust’s My Wild Newport project is here.
Scottish Wildlife Trust’s Natural Connections project is here.

Other examples of where Wildlife Trusts have enabled communities to reconnect with nature include:

Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust worked with a care home to create a wildlife garden – more here.
Yorkshire Wildlife Trust worked with groups including Welcome to Great Horton to access the Slovakian Roma community in one of Bradford’s most deprived areas.
The Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales worked in partnership with New Horizons in Swansea to consult people with a learning disability on their Clear Streams Project.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund

Using money raised by the National Lottery, we Inspire, lead and resource the UK’s heritage to create positive and lasting change for people and communities, now and in the future. www.heritagefund.org.uk.

As part of the National Lottery’s £22million investment to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, The National Lottery Heritage Fund is investing £7m to create a lasting legacy for communities and nature across the UK. The funding will empower disadvantaged communities to take action for nature on their doorsteps and enable 70 young people to undertake paid placements in the nature heritage sector.

Follow @HeritageFundUK on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and use #NationalLotteryHeritageFund #PlatinumJubilee

The Wildlife Trusts

The Wildlife Trusts are making the world wilder and helping to ensure that nature is part of everyone’s lives. We are a grassroots movement of 46 charities with more than 870,000 members and 38,000 volunteers. No matter where you are in the UK, there is a Wildlife Trust inspiring people and saving, protecting and standing up for the natural world. With the support of our members, we care for and restore special places for nature on land and run marine conservation projects and collect vital data on the state of our seas. Every Wildlife Trust works within its local community to inspire people to create a wilder future – from advising thousands of landowners on how to manage their land to benefit wildlife, to connecting hundreds of thousands of school children with nature every year.