Bethnal Green Nature Reserve Trust, working in partnership with Hollybush and Teesdale Residents Association and local schools, has received £15,050 to restore the wetlands areas at Bethnal Green Nature Reserve. Local London Assembly Member, Unmesh Desai AM, has welcomed this investment through City Hall’s Grow Back Greener scheme and said that pandemic has “underscored the stark inequalities” that exist when it comes to accessing green space.
This comes as Barking & Dagenham missed out on being named as one of the top ten boroughs for parks in the capital in the latest Good Parks for London report.
Figures published by the Office of National Statistics (ONS), during the first lockdown, reveal that a fifth of London’s households have not had access to a shared or private garden during the pandemic. Those from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds are almost four times less likely to have access to an outdoor space.
The Mayor’s new London Plan contains measures to ensure London has over fifty per cent green cover. However, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Robert Jenrick, has refused to sign-off the latest version of the Plan - submitted to him a year ago.
Local London Assembly Member, Unmesh Desai AM, said:
“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.
“The pandemic has underscored the stark inequalities that exist in our capital when it comes to ready access to communal green space.
“It’s positive to see that City Hall have a plan to address to this through initiatives such as the Grow Back Greener scheme, but it is the Mayor’s New London Plan that will make the biggest difference. The Secretary of State needs to sign it off and stop blocking its publication, so that we can really improve London’s biodiversity.”
Notes to editors
- A breakdown of the funding allocations for each borough and project through City Hall’s Grow Back Greener scheme can be found here;
- The latest Good Parks for London report can be read here;
- Figures published by the Office of National Statistics (ONS), in May 2020, reveal that a fifth of London’s households do not have access to a shared or private garden during the pandemic. Those from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds are almost four times less likely to have access to an outdoor space.
- The latest ‘Intend to Publish’ version of the New London Plan can be read here;
- Unmesh Desai AM is the London Assembly Member for City & East London.