Greening the grey in Hackney: last chance to have your say
As the consultation on plans setting out how Hackney Council will boost green space in the borough draws to a close, residents celebrate new street trees and rain gardens, which are just beginning to bud and bloom.
The Council is committed to improving green space and encouraging greater biodiversity across Hackney. It intends to develop its networks of green infrastructure that can deliver physical health, mental health and environmental benefits for residents.
Hackney has an expansive network of parks and green spaces, but it is also a densely built borough where many individuals and households do not have green space on their doorsteps and benefit from interventions such as street trees and rain gardens.
In addition to adding beauty and interest to a street, rain gardens create wildlife corridors between green spaces, and help to reduce surface flooding.
Over 40% of the borough is currently covered by green infrastructure, with trees and woodland covering 23% of the borough. The green infrastructure strategy aims to protect and enhance these features, and significantly increase greenery in areas where it is most needed, like: Shoreditch, Haggerston, Hoxton, Dalston, Hackney Central, London Fields and De Beauvoir.
I’m looking forward to seeing the outcomes of this consultation and at how we can work together with all of our local communities to create new habitats, increase biodiversity and better connect our parks and waterways, greening the grey areas of our borough.
Hackney has a long-tradition of conserving wildlife, much of it led and delivered by
community groups and volunteers. Alongside the strategy, the Council is releasing its nature recovery plan which has been developed with input from those leading and implementing actions for nature across the borough.
Residents can have their say on the Green Infrastructure Strategy at: https://consultation.hackney.gov.uk/chief-executives-office/green-infrastructure-strategy/
The consultation closes on 23 March 2022.