Rewilding London

Sustained and sustainable action is needed asap. Look at examples in other cities around the world e.g. the tower blocks in Milan that are covered in trees and plants. We need a lot more green walls and roofs in London and parks, roadside verges etc to be rewilded. We need a lot more community education to encourage people to unpave their front gardens, plant trees etc and a lot action in local parks.

This is a great idea, which would benefit flora and fauna as well as London residents and visitors. It could be an excellent opportunity to make the city a more attractive and pleasant place to be.
I'd personally love to see a range of different approaches such as making the most of 'unused' spaces, such as office and council building roofs, public buildings such as libraries and schools make the most of any space they have by allowing for green roofs and walls, bird boxes and bug hotels. In addition to letting some parts of existing green spaces like parks re-wild on their own by having a more hands off approach.
I would also hope that a project such as this takes into account nocturnal wildlife such as bats and pollinators that are in sharp decline due to the high level of light pollution. Some interesting research has shown that adjusting the type of light used at night can make a huge difference to nocturnal animals and migratory birds: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/07/light-noise-pollut…

I agree with some of the comments below on educating/raising awareness among the general public in respecting and taking care of these spaces are critical for its success.

Where new builds absolutely must be built they should allow for more biophillic designs, rather than the standard concrete blocks we see everywhere.

how can you rewild a area when green areas and other areas are beign over developed by multiple high tower blocks of flats etc, wipeing out huge areas of habitat for animals etc. common get real. you cannot rewild concrete areas, and once its gone the damage is done. stop the building and maybe the wild will come back onits own accord.

Love that this effort is being made in London. We need more initiatives like this! Will add quality of life for Londoners and hopefully contribute to tackling climate change

What is a weed?
All Begonias came from a tiny red flowered one brought back in Victorian times from a Yemeni island next to Socotra.
It certainly arrived looking like a 'weed' - the size of a scarlet pimpernel (Europe) - But no longer! WHERE is the division between a plant grown purposely in a flower bed and a 'weed'!

How long does it have to have a history of inhabiting the UK to be indigenous?
Roman nettles?
Hedera? - the Roman name for ivy. Well they come from all over the world.

Kew Gardens will give you the best advice - no need to spend money on consultants. As soon as it is known there is £600,000 available every Tom, Dick and Harry will offer their services in these tough economic times. So stick to Kew Gardens.

Beware packets of wild flowers - they mostly come from outside the UK - if you really want to naturally Rewild just fence off a patch - you won't be able to keep out rats, cats and foxes- but we don't live in a perfect world.

Buddleias (named after the Rev Adam Buddle 1660-1715) are a bit like Mr Putin, they have been scheming well ahead of our time on how to take over our urban buildings long before Mr Khan's arrival on the scene! A small crack and they are in.....

Do you discriminate against poisonous plants? They can Rewild the most successfully. Beware wild-life!
Pamela M North B.Pharm.,M.P.S., M.I.Biol. wrote an excellent small book in 1967 Blandford Press "Poisonous Plants and Fungi in Colour" Published in co-operation withe the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain"
And since 1967 many others have arrived. Dr June Chatfield can tell you about them.....

If you don't discriminate against the poisonous plants, put up warning notices.
This is particularly important in urban areas where children's parents and teachers will not have pharmaceutical knowledge.

Another problem if you allow people to ramble through you Re-wilded areas is tick bite fever, established in Richmond Park.

Julia Couchman

While over 1000 planes a day are allowed to approach Heathrow and City Airport low over central London trailing their toxic pollution over people, wildlife, insects and plants, talk of re-wilding seems like gesture politics. If nature is to restore itself at least give it a clear sky to do so under.

This may be an opportunity to take over pieces of land that are too small, undesirable, irregularly shaped, or otherwise unprofitable or unfit for development, and which are currently neglected, and use them to string together chains or corridors across the city that promote native species of plants, as well as smaller animals like birds and insects.

Not all natural space has to be a big park or reserve, and there are plenty of spots around the city that may not be what we want for our (i.e. human) purposes, but could be right for other animals.

Of course, education of the public would need to be a key part of this, so people understand what’s being done and why it’s valuable and important.

Yes, we need to rewild the whole of the UK. We have created an artificial environment in which nature has become unbalanced, leading to nuisance problems and a disconnection with our natural environment.
Rewilding should provide a background for nature to restore its balance, and where species have disappeared from the environment they should be reintroduced to regulate the natural world.
In the short term, some level of protection will be necessary for existing human populations and for the expanding rewilding populations. Acceptance of some level of risk from the hazards in the natural wild is necessary, and education on how to co-exist safely should be mandatory in schools.
Rewilding is likely to most successful by establishing "protected zones" and allowing these to naturally and gradually expand throughout the present occupied environment. The large parks would be good places to start: beavers and wolves would be good choices to restore and ramp up the natural food chains.

I'd like to see more vacant land actively targeted for rewilding. E.g. there are grassy spaces that are not appropriate as "parkland" (e.g.close to busy road). I'd love to see these "rewilded".

At the same time in Greenwich very little maintenance is done on pedestrian walkways with regards to weeds. If everything is just allowed to grow everywhere then it looks lazy rather than intentional (and surely creating future expensive repair problems).

I'd like to see high-density areas like Islington freed from the requirement to build lots more housing until the rest of London has caught up with our population density. We know greenspace and natural areas are important for health and wellbeing whilst concrete and overcrowding are very bad for us. Why should we have to suffer disproportionately
when we need more not less greenspace and the rest of London isn't sharing the load?

Need to revise your questionnaire- ambiguous questions. Am I worried about untidiness? Do you mean litter and graffiti- yes, lots - or long grass and weeds (wildflowers) - not at all.

Allowing rainfall to lay in parks etc will stop sewage being ditched into rivers during heavy rains and killing fish etc its a scandal

The Mayor should start immediately, by e.g. pulling in the Planning permission for a huge detrimental plan by Peabody to destroy a conservation area behind Holloway Prison. The plans take no account of the awful impact, buildings are far too close together, too tall and too dense. Rewilding should take place in Holloway and throughout Islington.
Other areas are roads throughout London that are far too wide. The Central Reservation of all A roads that are wider than two lanes, should be dug up and waterfeatures and trees to be installed. Example Holloway Road, Tottenham Court Road, Camden Road, Finchley Road. This would create cooler environments, especially in ever worsening heatwaves.