MD3061 Green and Resilient Spaces Fund (Round Two)

1.1 The Mayor has committed to make London a world leader in improving the environment locally and globally, taking the lead in tackling climate change, reducing pollution, developing a low carbon economy, consuming fewer resources and using them more effectively and ensuring all Londoners have access to a high-quality biodiverse environment. To address these challenges the Mayor wants to make London a zero-carbon city by 2030 and is committed to improving London’s network of green corridors and open spaces so that all Londoners live no more than a 10-minute walk from green space. The Mayor has also committed to a Green New Deal for London, combining strong economic recovery with action to tackle the climate and ecological emergencies creating green jobs and opportunities for all Londoners. 

1.2 The London Recovery Board, chaired by the Mayor of London and the Chair of London Councils, has set out a programme for the capital’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic that seeks to build back better and make London a fairer, more equal, greener and more resilient city. Accelerating the delivery of a cleaner, greener London is one of the Board’s five key outcomes for the recovery programme.

1.3 As part of the Recovery Programme, the Green New Deal Mission, jointly developed by the GLA and London Councils, aims to tackle the climate and ecological emergencies and improve air quality by doubling the size of London’s green economy to accelerate job creation for all.

1.4 Making London’s public realm greener, enhancing and improving access to green spaces, and increasing the capital’s preparedness for, resilience to and recovery from the impacts of a changing climate are critical to achieving the aims of the Green New Deal Mission. The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated more than ever the importance of green infrastructure for Londoners’ wellbeing, reinforcing the extensive existing evidence base.

1.5 It has, however, also highlighted the inequalities and inequities in access to green space. Half of London’s households are in areas of deficiency of access to green space, with Londoners on low incomes and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) Londoners much more likely to live in these locations. Since 2016, the Mayor’s programme to improve London’s green infrastructure has already supported 280 green space and tree-planting projects, improving over 400 hectares of green space. The Green New Deal Mission provides an opportunity to further tackle these inequalities and inequities, moving towards the Mayor’s ambition for no Londoner to live more than a 10-minute walk from a green space. In high-density areas of London, it will not always be possible to create significant new parks and open spaces. Therefore, there is a need to look creatively at ways to bring the benefits of green space to the people who need it most.

1.6 London’s green infrastructure is also vital for enhancing the capital’s resilience to the impacts of a changing climate. Increasing and enhancing our green and blue spaces (such as rivers, canals, lakes and other water features) can help to reduce flood risk; keep the city cooler by reducing the urban heat island effect; provide shade; improve water quality; and promote active travel through walking and cycling. Climate change will disproportionately affect those least able to respond quickly and recover from it, including Londoners on low incomes, older people and children – groups also severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic – as well as those with pre-existing health conditions such as asthma, cardiovascular disease, etc. The impacts of climate change are also unevenly distributed across the city, with neighbourhoods with income and health inequalities, and high concentrations of vulnerable populations at greater risk.

1.7 Providing the greener, better-connected and more climate-resilient public realm needed to meet the objectives of the Green New Deal will require increased capacity and skills at every level. Developing green-space skills is a core part of the Mayor’s Green Skills Academy Hub.

1.8 The Green and Resilient Spaces Fund (the Fund) is one of three green infrastructure grant funds managed by the GLA Environment and Energy Team. It supports large-scale green and blue infrastructure projects. The first round of the Fund (approved under MD2824) awarded £4m of funding to 19 projects (six project grants and 13 development grants). The large projects are due to complete in March 2024, and the development work to be completed by March 2023.

1.9 This MD seeks the Mayor’s approval to spend £3m on a second round of the Fund consisting of £2m in 2023-24 (£1m of which is capital and £1m revenue funding); £0.97m in 2024-25; and £0.03m in 2025-26 (revenue funding). Funding is from the Climate Resilient and Healthy Streets Infrastructure budget allocation for 2023-24, 2024-25 and 2025-26, subject to future GLA Mayoral Budget confirmation. The £3m will be supplemented by £0.8m allocated for additional tree-planting projects as part of the Mayor’s Trees for London programme (£0.8m approved under MD3032).

1.10 This will form part of the overall package of measures supporting the enhancement of London’s green spaces and improving its climate resilience as part of the Green New Deal Mission. The programme will be delivered by the GLA Environment and Energy Team, building on lessons learned from the Green Capital Fund and from the first round of the Fund. These include the need to offer support for the early stages of project design and development with smaller development grants to create a pipeline of high-quality, fundable projects; and to provide external evaluation of the programme to better understand and articulate the collective impact of projects across the grants programme.

1.11 It will focus on innovative enhancements to green and blue spaces (such as rivers, canals, lakes and other water features), and the wider public realm to strengthen climate resilience, increase biodiversity, improve accessibility, build green skills and help reduce health inequalities. The tree-planting element of the Fund will be a call for large-scale tree planting for shade in the public realm and woodland-creation sites, as part of the Mayor’s response to the extreme heat experienced in Summer 2022. The aim will be to plant at least 50,000 new trees over two planting seasons, by March 2025. This was detailed and approved under MD3032.

1.12 The Fund will be managed as a competitive grants programme, open to local authorities and civil society organisations, managed in accordance with the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code. It will follow a single-stage application process, opening in December 2022 with grants announced by the end of March 2023. There will be two types of grants on offer: project grants and development grants. Project grants will include a call for a small number of exemplar, iconic street tree planting projects at a transformational scale for climate resilience and other benefits. Applicants will need to provide at least 30 per cent match funding (a proportion of which can be in-kind). The exact split between project grants and development grants will depend on the applications received, but provisionally we aim to allocate the £3m Fund as follows:

i. Project grants: £2.5m for projects to be delivered by March 2025 – grants of between £250,000 and £750,000.

ii. Development grants: £0.4m to support projects to get to RIBA stage 3 or equivalent by March 2024 – grants of up to £40,000.

iii. Project support and advice: £30,000 for project support from the Urban Design London Environmental Design Review Panel and the Mayor’s Design Advocates to ensure delivery of high-quality exemplar projects and dissemination of good practice to share knowledge more widely.

iv. Grant administration and evaluation: £70,000 for admin support to help manage the Fund over the two years, based on an average of 0.5 days/week; and for an external evaluation to understand the impact of the Fund and inform future funding programmes. This will add capacity to develop a common set of numeric indicators across the programme, support grant recipients to collect monitoring data particularly around social impact and develop case studies of good practice to share knowledge more widely. This will enable us to communicate the impact of these grants connected to strategic outcomes in addition to quantum delivered on the ground.

Objectives

2.1 Funded projects will be expected to contribute to the four overarching objectives of the Green New Deal Mission:

i. to improve London’s natural environment, improve air quality, and tackle the climate and ecological emergencies

ii. to promote and incentivise activities that sustain and grow London’s green economy

iii. to prioritise interventions reducing health inequalities and social injustices

iv. to engage Londoners and businesses in the journey to become a zero-pollution and greener city.

2.2 The Fund will also aim to:

i. enhance London’s green and blue spaces and make the built environment greener to help the capital adapt and respond to the climate and ecological emergencies; this may include creating or enhancing habitats for biodiversity, reducing flood and heat risks, or providing shade

ii. support innovative public space projects that primarily deliver climate resilience and greening outcomes, but also contribute to air quality and active-travel objectives

iii. address the environmental and health inequalities highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic by prioritising interventions that target the areas of highest need due to climate vulnerability, multiple deprivation and access to green space

iv. build capacity and green skills as part of the Mayor’s Green New Deal ambition to double the green economy in London including through learning and evidence generation that will be disseminated more widely via workshops and guidance.

Outcomes

2.3 The Fund will support projects that deliver across the following key outcomes:

i. improved access to green space to support physical and mental health, and reduce health inequalities, especially among Londoners who live further than 10 minutes’ walk from a green space

ii. increased resilience to the impacts of climate change, including through providing shade, reducing the risk of overheating, reducing surface water and fluvial flood risk, and conserving water resources

iii. improved air and water quality, and reduced exposure to air pollution

iv. enhanced biodiversity and ecological resilience, creation of wildlife habitat and increased tree canopy cover

v. increased green skills, local community capacity and cohesion

vi. enhanced connectivity between green spaces, encouraging walking and cycling.

Outputs

2.4 The Fund will support around six large-scale, green, public-space projects that will act as exemplars of good design and management. Development funding for up to a further 10 projects will also support them to get to RIBA Stage 3 or equivalent by March 2024, helping develop a pipeline of future fundable projects.

2.5 The types of projects that might be funded include:

i. creation of new high-quality green public spaces, especially in locations where current access is poor and where this would help reduce health inequalities

ii. better management of water and reduced flood risk through sustainable drainage and natural flood-management measures, local water storage and reuse, restoring waterways, and creating wetlands

iii. restoration and creation of wildlife habitats to help support London’s Nature Recovery Network – especially creating and restoring priority habitats, including species-rich woodland and flower-rich grassland

iv. improvements to the accessibility of green spaces through new entrances, access routes and green connections between sites, or by opening up currently inaccessible sites

v. improvements to the design of green spaces to make them more inclusive to all Londoners, especially those from communities who are under-represented in the use of green spaces

vi. improvements to streets and other public spaces by retrofitting green and climate-resilient infrastructure including sustainable drainage, trees, cool roofs and outdoor cool spaces, and pocket parks

vii. activation of underperforming open spaces, such as those on many of London’s housing estates (including making them more welcoming to non-residents), or poorly used amenity green spaces.

2.6 All projects would be expected to take into consideration the following aims:

i. act as exemplars of good design and management and contribute to knowledge-sharing events and resources that will be of value more widely

ii. support the green economy by creating and/or retaining high-quality green jobs

iii. provide training and skills opportunities as part of project delivery, for example through traineeships or placements

iv. be delivered in partnership with communities with opportunities for co-design, participation and engagement, with a focus on engaging communities that are under-represented in the use of green spaces

v. promote accessibility for all by ensuring that the design of schemes, including footways, considers everyone’s needs

vii. include plans for long-term management, maintenance, and funding

viii. provide an evaluation of the project benefits including adaptation outcomes

xi. provide evidence of the ability to deliver on time and to budget, with appropriate risk management

x. align with relevant borough strategies such as transport strategies, air quality action plans and green infrastructure strategies.

2.7 The table below details the proposed budget profile:

2.8 The funding includes capital (£1m in 2023-24) and revenue funding and is subject to future budget confirmation and related approvals.  

3.1 Under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, as a public authority, the Mayor of London, TfL, boroughs and other public bodies must have ‘due regard’ of the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation; and to advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations, between people who have a protected characteristic and those who do not. This involves having due regard to the need to remove or minimise any disadvantage suffered by those who share a relevant protected characteristic; taking steps to meet the different needs of such people; and encouraging them to participate in public life or in any other activity where their participation is disproportionately low. The GLA and boroughs will be expected to comply with the public-sector equality duty concerning schemes in their project development, approval and implementation processes. 

3.2 The Fund outlined in this decision form stems from the policies and proposals in the London Environment Strategy (LES), which have been informed by a full integrated impact assessment, including a consideration of equalities. The Equalities Assessment Report for the LES noted that exposure to poor environmental conditions is much higher among BAME Londoners.

3.3 Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic and lower-income Londoners are more likely to live in areas of deficiency of access to green space, or in areas where green-space quality is poor. GLA research has found that women, adults under 25, lower-income Londoners and social renters visit parks less often than other Londoners. National research has found that BAME people are least likely, within this group, to visit green spaces. Similarly, 21 per cent of households in London lack access to a private or shared garden; and across England, BAME people are less likely to have access to a garden than White people.

3.4 Climate change will disproportionately affect those least able to respond and recover from it. Lower-income Londoners will find it more difficult to recover from flooding and will suffer more from the impacts of the overheating. Extreme heat events will have a greater impact on older people; very young children; socially isolated people; and people with existing health conditions. Many BAME Londoners live in multi-occupancy and other homes that are not fit for London’s future climate, putting them at greater risk from the impacts of climate change.

3.5 Round one of the Fund is supporting six projects that aim to tackle these disparities, and when complete, will create over 57 hectares of improved public green space and almost 2.5 hectares of new public green space in areas of highest risk for London’s most climate-vulnerable communities. Round two of the Fund will support further projects to help address these disparities by improving access to green space for Londoners who currently benefit less from the capital’s green infrastructure, engaging them in the co-design of projects, and helping to support climate resilience in locations where there is high exposure and vulnerability to the impacts of climate change.  

3.6 Recipients of funding will be required to outline how projects will provide environmental and community benefit. This includes information on the intended beneficiaries. They will be required to advertise their training and job opportunities, and proactively reach out to currently under-served groups where appropriate.

Key risks and issues

4.1 The key risks and issues are outlined in the table below.

Links to Mayoral strategies and priorities

4.2 The Fund outlined in this MD will support green infrastructure policies in the London Plan 2021, and will align with:

i. LES policies, objectives and proposals:

• Policy 4.2.1: reduce emissions from London’s road-transport network by phasing out fossil-fuelled vehicles, prioritising action on diesel, and enabling Londoners to switch to more sustainable forms of transport
• Objective 5.1: make more than half of London’s area green by 2050
• Policy 5.1.1: protect, enhance and increase green areas in the city, to provide green infrastructure services and benefits that London needs now and in the future
• Proposal 5.1.1.f: the Mayor will back greater community involvement in the improvement and management of London’s green spaces and natural environment
• Policy 8.2.1: reduce the risk, and manage the impacts, of surface water, sewer, fluvial, reservoir and groundwater flooding in London
• Policy 8.2.3: increase the amount of sustainable drainage, prioritising greener systems across London in new development, and also retrofit solutions
• Policy 8.3.1: reduce London’s water consumption and leakage rate
• Policy 8.4.1: ensure Londoners can prepare, respond to and recover from the impacts of extreme heat events in London
• Policy 8.4.3: minimise the risk of new development overheating
• Policy 8.4.4: reduce the impacts of heat on streets.

ii. The Healthy Streets approach of the Mayor’s Transport Strategy, including the following policies:

• Policy 2: the Mayor, through TfL and the boroughs, and working with stakeholders, will seek to make London a city where people choose to walk and cycle more often by improving street environments, making it easier for everyone to get around on foot and by cycle, and promoting the benefits of active travel
• Policy 7: the Mayor, through TfL and the boroughs, and working with stakeholders, will seek to make London’s transport network zero-emission by 2050, contributing towards the creation of a zero-carbon city, and also to deliver further improvements in air quality to help meet tighter air quality standards.

iii. The London Recovery Board’s high-level outcome to accelerate delivery of a cleaner, greener London, and its Green New Deal Mission to tackle the climate and ecological emergencies and improve air quality by doubling the size of London’s green economy by 2030 to accelerate job creation for all. The Fund will also support the objectives of the High Streets for All, Mental Health and Wellbeing, and Healthy Food, Healthy Weight (Healthy Food Environments strand) Missions. It complements the Future Neighbourhoods 2030 fund and could support projects within Future Neighbourhood locations.

4.3 In addition, the Fund aligns with objectives from two other Mayoral strategies:

i. Inclusive London Strategic objective 12: to work with partners to help ensure our approach to improving green spaces is inclusive

ii. London Health Inequalities Strategy objective 3.3 for a greener city where all Londoners have access to good-quality green spaces.

Conflicts of interest

4.4 GLA officers are not aware that anyone involved in the drafting or clearance of this form has any conflicts of interest with the proposed programme.

4.5 If any conflicts of interest arise during the delivery of the programme (i.e., a GLA officer has links with an organisation that applies for a grant) they will declare that interest and not take any part in assessing that grant application or awarding funding to that organisation.

5.1 The sum of £3m is required for the second round of the Fund, which aims to tackle the capital’s most vulnerable climate locations.

5.2 The sum of £1m will be dispensed as capital grants with the balance being issued as revenue; as such this expenditure will be accounted accordingly. The profile of this can be seen below:

5.3 The £3m expenditure can be funded by the indicative budget allocated to the 2023-24 Climate Resilience – Infrastructure budget, where sufficient headroom exists. However, as this is yet to be finalised, this may be subject to change – therefore no contracts will be entered into until this has been formally agreed. Any contractual commitments beyond 2022-23 will include the appropriate break clauses and any deliverables, milestones and/or output requirements should be structured so as to enable the GLA to withdraw from such schemes without incurring undue abortive costs.

5.4 If agreed, the total value of this fund will be £3.8m in which £0.8m is being contributed from the Mayor’s Tree Planting Programme (MD3032).

6.1 The foregoing sections of this report indicate that the decisions requested of the Mayor concern the exercise of the GLA’s general powers, falling within the GLA’s statutory powers to do such things considered to further or that are facilitative of, or conductive or incidental to, the promotion of economic development and wealth creation, social development or improvement of the environment, in Greater London.

6.2 In implementing the proposals in respect of which a decision is sought, officers should comply with the GLA’s related statutory duties to:

i. pay due regard to the principle that there should be equality of opportunity for all people

ii. consider how the proposals will promote the improvement of health of persons, health inequalities between persons and to contribute towards the achievement of sustainable development in the United Kingdom

iii. consult with appropriate bodies.

6.3 In taking the decisions requested, as noted in section 3 above, the Mayor must have due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, namely the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010; to advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic (race, disability, age, sex, sexual orientation, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity, and gender reassignment) and persons who do not share it; and to foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it. To this end, the Mayor should have particular regard to section 3 (above) of this report.

6.4 Section 1 of this report indicates that part of the sought budget will amount to the provision of funding and not for the payment for services. Officers must ensure that the funding is distributed fairly; transparently; in accordance with the GLA’s equality policy and subsidy control rules; and in a manner that affords value for money in accordance with the GLA Contracts and Funding Code. Officers must ensure that an appropriate funding agreement is put in place and executed by the GLA and the recipient before any commitment to funding is made.

7.1 The following table sets out a timetable for delivery of the Fund: