Our impact in 2024

We had ambitious plans for 2024. We wanted to maximise our impact on climate change, biodiversity, and improving the health of Londoners through access to green space. And despite being a small team, CPRE London has had some big wins. 

Here are some of our highlights:

• We have now gathered details on over 200 potential specific treescape creation opportunity sites through our London Tree Ring project.  This specific sites information is being used by other London Tree Ring Steering Group partners to help inform their work and is being actively shared with local authorities and other landowners to help with accelerating their contribution to sensitively growing London’s urban forest with a strong commitment to right tree right place principles.  We’ve got linking Epping to Hainault Forest, and on to the Thames Chase Community Forest, into the updated London Urban Forest Plan – a key priority segment of the proposed outer tree ring. Steering Group partner Trees for Cities has planted its first London Tree Ring demonstrator site.  For an inspiring video about this see here.  We also secured funding to appoint our first London Tree Ring Director

• Our Hedgerow Heroes project enabled 2,698 metres of hedgerow to be planted or restored in 29 locations across London Jan to Dec 2024, exceeding our 2,000m target. This included 1,699 metres of newly planted hedgerows, 455 metres of planting in gaps in existing hedgerow, 440 metres laid and 104 metres of dead hedge (made from cut branches, saplings and foliage that provides a habitat for wildlife and recycles pruning waste). Around 925 people attended hedgerow events, mainly led by friends groups. A number of school groups, including 2 special needs groups, were involved.  A young, female, hedge laying apprentice was trained up and will continue to support other groups in future years.

• Through our Go Parks London project, we now directly support 581 friends of green space groups.  Our London Friends of Green Spaces Network Coordinator increased capacity of these groups by linking them up to funding and free resources, helping form new borough forums for mutual support, running capacity building sessions, and providing bespoke advice and support.  We promoted an article on our website showcasing the impact of Friends of Enfield Chase encouraging the formation of new groups.  Our London Friends of Greenspace Network Coordinator also ran our first online session on how to set up a friends of green space group.

• The Urban Tree Festival was the biggest to date, celebrating the joy that green spaces can bring to all. What was six years ago a weekend of walks was this year a nine-day spring festival comprising 112 events attracting over 3,200 visitors from diverse groups across London. Widening access to nature is a key focus and highlights of the festival included an accessible nature cycle for people with mobility difficulties with Wheels for Wellbeing and a walk in Epping Forest for refugees and asylum seekers with Fences and Frontiers and also with Black Girls Hike.

• CPRE London has worked with JustSpace to develop an action plan for the housing crisis with targeted measures that help address the core issues of affordability.  The evidence shows that building on Green Belt won’t have a meaningful impact on making house prices or rents affordable.  Action needed includes ending Right to Buy which has led to the mass loss of social housing stock, investing in new social housing – which will ultimately be an income generator, taking action on empty homes, and bringing in measures to better protect those renting in the private sector. To learn more click here.

• We supported 67 local campaign groups standing up for green spaces under threat – with key successes including Warren Farm, one of our Ten New Parks sites, being granted Local Nature Reserve status.  Once mainly used as community playing fields, from 2013 due to neglect the site naturally rewilded and became a haven for copse bindweed, skylarks, barn owls and butterflies. When the council proposed leasing the site as a training ground to QPR locals were up in arms. After years of campaigning and legal battles, locals have been told by Ealing Council their 61 acres of public land will be saved for future generations.  According to the Council, the site will have ‘the best of both worlds’ becoming both a Local Natural Reserve and new sports pitches will be created on additional land provided by Imperial College

.

• Alongside local campaigners, we responded to 13 local plan consultations. This included a response to the Ealing Local Plan in 2023, which helped reverse some of their plans from earlier drafts which threatened significant swathes of protected Green Belt and Metropolitan Open Land. However, the council is still proposing to allow development on some more limited areas, so work to challenge this continues.

• Following the publication of our Green Defenders Report examining the state of London’s green spaces, we launched the Green Defenders Network in March. This is bringing together campaigners from across the capital who met 4 times across the year to learn from one another, share successful approaches, and provide mutual support.

• We organised the Mayoral Environment Debate in March between candidates or their representatives. This was part of our campaign around London’s mayoral election on behalf of the More Natural Capital Coalition to make candidates more aware of key environmental issues.  Former CPRE London Chair, Tony Burton, grilled candidates, or members of their team on the GLA’s Environment Committee, on their plans on everything from protecting the Green Belt to shifting to more sustainable forms of transport and boosting water quality in the capital. The debate took place in front of a packed house, including representatives of environmental charity groups, and an additional online audience.

• We led the Healthy Streets Coalition to publish the fifth Healthy Streets Scorecard in July. This prompts London borough councils to deliver action on healthier streets. We recognised Islington and Waltham Forest as this year’s top inner and outer boroughs and encouraged other boroughs to learn from their example.

• We helped win one more streetpark for London. Following our 2022 campaign to turn St John Street near CPRE London’s office in Farringdon into a park, Islington Council have now announced plans to do just that. Street parks are an ideal way to improve access to green space for Londoners, as well as help mitigate the effects of flooding and rising temperatures.

• We now have more than 30 regular and skilled volunteers contributing more than 140 hours a week, giving us more capacity to achieve our goals. We also grew our sustainable funding by adding the Big Give Green Match Fund to our funding mix. Matched giving appeals raised nearly £40,000 over the year.

Get involved with CPRE London’s work next year and help us create a greener city.