Communities across the UK empowered to let nature flourish thanks to £5m National Lottery funding.
Nextdoor Nature – a new natural legacy to mark the Queen’s Jubilee – will help nature flourish in Surrey.
The National Lottery Heritage Fund today announced a £5million investment in a ground-breaking initiative to create a huge matrix of community-led rewilding projects – improving the lives of people across the UK and leaving a lasting natural legacy in honour of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. The funding is part of The National Lottery’s £22million investment to mark the Jubilee and Surrey will benefit with its own project.
Delivered by Surrey Wildlife Trust as part of its Wilder Communities project, the funding will give people the skills, tools, and opportunity to take action for nature. This could include establishing wild habitats and green corridors in areas of economic and nature deprivation, rewilding school grounds, or naturalising highly urbanised or unused areas. The pandemic has demonstrated just how important access to a well-cared for natural environment is to communities across the UK.
Examples of communities that Surrey Wildlife Trust will work alongside include:
- Urban communities in Sheerwater and Maybury in Woking and Westborough and Stoke in Guildford
- Young people under 25
Surrey Wildlife Trust will also be linking with other community groups across the County and encouraging them to connect nature across Surrey.
The UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world and research shows 85% of people in nature-deprived areas say more natural spaces would improve their quality of life. The majority also say that having access to local natural spaces is more important post-pandemic. The National Lottery Funding will enable people to make this happen and in doing so, take steps to tackle the nature and climate crisis whilst also addressing important health and wellbeing needs.
Simon Thurley, Chair of The National Lottery Heritage Fund, says:
“As part of The National Lottery family’s £22m investment to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, we are delighted to launch Nextdoor Nature, a transformational initiative which will give access to the natural environment to thousands of people who may not have fully enjoyed or appreciated it before. We hope that many people will, for the first time, get hands on with nature creating a new generation of champions for our precious natural environment.”
Liz Bonnin, President of The Wildlife Trusts, says:
“We humans are key to solving the climate crisis and restoring our natural heritage. The UK is one of the most nature depleted countries in the world, but Nextdoor Nature is working to set that right, putting local communities at the heart of helping our wild places to recover, and making sure that no matter where we live, we can be part of this crucial endeavour.
“The Wildlife Trusts are firmly rooted in communities and can provide support and advice to those willing to lead the charge in bringing wildlife back to homes and workplaces – in turn inspiring those around them to do the same. we can achieve incredible things when we work together!”
Aimee Clarke, Director of People Engagement at Surrey Wildlife Trust says:
“Thanks to the funding from the Heritage Fund, Surrey Wildlife Trust will help urban communities to identify and connect wildlife across a network of green spaces over the next two years. Evidence shows that people are increasingly disconnected from nature, with profound consequences for health and it also means they are less likely to protect their natural heritage.”
In the words of Sir David Attenborough, President Emeritus of The Wildlife Trusts, “No-one will protect what they don’t care about; and no-one will care about what they have never experienced.”
Surrey Wildlife Trust has experience in rewilding communities:
The Trust was founded on the support of volunteers and communities coming together to protect wildlife. We continue to work with communities, offering advice and training to empower them to restore and connect land for nature in their local areas.
We have worked with many communities across Surrey to restore and mange community orchards, re-wild burial grounds, create wildflower meadows, and develop community gardens.
These spaces create an essential network of nature highways, so that wildlife can travel and thrive.
