Conservationists call for nature to be ‘right next to where people live’

Nature should be “right next to where people live”, conservationists have said, as communities push for more wildlife-rich green spaces.

Research cited in the report found that many people do not have access to parks, woodlands or wetlands within a 15-minute walk of their homes. Time in nature can support health and wellbeing, while natural spaces can help address extreme weather, climate change and wildlife loss.

The Wildlife Trusts have urged the Government to make improving access to nature a priority. A coalition led by the Horticultural Trades Association and the Gardens Trust has also called for trees, plants, gardens and parks to be recognised as “essential infrastructure” and supported with long-term investment.

Projects in Greater Manchester, Lancashire and London are demonstrating how urban green spaces can be restored for both people and wildlife.

At Cutacre in Lancashire, the Lancashire Wildlife Trust has transformed land on a former open-cast coal mine near Salford. The site now includes diverse meadows, grazing areas with longhorn cattle, ponds, trees and hedges.

Local wildflower species, including dyer’s greenweed, have been grown with Cheshire Wildlife Trust and planted at the site. The species had become functionally extinct in Greater Manchester before being reintroduced.

Cutacre is home to threatened grey partridges, lapwings, skylarks, grasshopper warblers and willow tits. Its wetland areas attract snipe in winter, while reed buntings, weasels, kestrels and butterflies are also found at the reserve.

Much of the landscape is managed as lowland meadow under a biodiversity net gain scheme. Credits from the scheme support wildlife restoration and can be bought by developers seeking to meet requirements to increase overall biodiversity through their developments.

Stephen Cartwright, the trust’s nature reserves senior officer, said the reserve’s location was central to its purpose. The site is next to a housing estate and close to deprived parts of Salford, as well as Bolton, Wigan and Manchester.

“If you’re a child growing up in a school over there, the majority of them won’t travel to nature reserves, we need to bring reserves to them,” he told the Press Association. “We need the places right next to where people live, that are scrappy bits of land.”

Lancashire Wildlife Trust’s Alan Wright said engaging people in nature was best achieved by creating projects next to where they lived.

The local community is involved in Cutacre through school visits, daily checks on the cattle by residents and the work of about 90 volunteers.

More than 150 miles south, the community-led Friends of Lordship Rec group has transformed Lordship Recreation Ground in Haringey, north London. The park sits in a heavily urban area with high levels of deprivation next to the Broadwater Farm estate.

When the group formed in 2001, the park was described by its chairman, David Morris, as a “neglected, unsafe eyesore”. Its buildings were derelict, the tightly mown recreation ground had little biodiversity and the council was considering cutting down woodland to address antisocial behaviour.

With the help of £7 million in lottery and other funding, the park now has a community-run hub, play areas, sports facilities, meadows, woodland, an orchard and a food-growing garden.

A channel restoring part of one of London’s buried rivers runs between willows and wildflower meadows. The park also has woodland paths, a former boating lake managed as a nature feature and areas supporting butterflies and other insects.

The Friends of Lordship Rec group co-manages the park with Haringey Council. Morris said the transformation in biodiversity had led to the park being designated a borough-level site of importance for nature conservation.

“Being in nature has an amazing positive effect, immediate effect,” he said, adding that vegetation and biodiversity could also help cool areas during periods of heat.

The group runs bat walks, a birders’ group and “bioblitzes” with local school pupils. Dozens of regular volunteers help care for the park.

Morris, who is also chairman of the National Federation of Parks and Green Spaces, said there was enthusiasm for developing biodiversity in public green spaces. He called for the Government to provide more funding to local authorities and ensure parks were properly maintained.

“Every neighbourhood should have access to a public green space,” he said.

A Defra spokesperson said the Government was focused on restoring nature, improving access to green spaces and increasing access to nature and the countryside. The spokesperson said nine new National River Walks were being delivered, including the Mersey Way and a coastal path that both pass through urban areas.