Cash to enhance green spaces across Lambeth

By Jacob Paul

More than £120,000 will go towards enhancing green spaces and biodiversity in Lambeth after the government announced a scheme to fund five projects in the borough.

City Hall’s £700,000 Grow Back Greener scheme has allocated £120,000 to be shared across five Lambeth projects, which was welcomed by local London Assembly member Florence Eshalomi MP.

She said: “The pandemic has underscored the stark inequalities that exist in our capital when it comes to ready access to communal green space.

“This funding will help to boost our local recovery from the pandemic, and is a step towards transforming pockets of the borough, so they can be better enjoyed by the community and allow biodiversity to flourish.

“It’s positive to see that City Hall has a plan to address this through initiatives such as the Grow Back Greener scheme.”

One of the projects, Incredible Edible Lambeth, plans to create spaces for nature and food growing on six housing estates.

They want to develop a template of engagement between housing officers, residents and grounds maintenance to transform how housing land is managed across the borough.

Janie Bickersteth, chairwoman of Incredible Edible Lambeth, said: ”At IEL we are really excited to have received this funding to support six estates Grow Back Greener.

“We have realised for some time that many estates are being managed for convenience, not for the health and well-being of the community – and most green spaces are merely over-mown lawns with harshly pruned shrubs.

“We hope that this funding will enable residents on six estates (and hopefully more will flow from this) to think differently about their land – and that the land can be managed for and with the community for biodiversity, food growing and climate change resilience.”

Pictured top: Children on the Vauxhall gardens Estate