£5m lottery funding for disadvantaged communities to ‘rewild’ their local areas

The National Lottery Heritage Fund is putting the money into the “nextdoor nature” scheme, which will be delivered by the Wildlife Trusts, as part of £22 million from the National Lottery to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

The funding will support around 200 community-led “hyper-local” projects, such as creating wild habitats in deprived built-up areas, encouraging councils to let wildflowers grow on verges, rewilding school grounds, or greening up front gardens to provide more space for nature along a street.

Conservationists warn the UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world, and research shows 85% of people in areas deprived of greenery say more natural spaces would improve their quality of life.

The project will see the Wildlife Trusts working with communities including young people from ethnic minority backgrounds, those with disabilities or who live in disadvantaged areas and places where there are isolated groups due to language barriers.

Nikki Williams, from the Wildlife Trusts, said it would support schemes that reconnect people with nature on their doorstep, such as a project in Portsmouth which saw people growing plants for wildlife and fruit and veg in small front yards that schoolchildren were free to pick on their way to school.

Ms Williams, who is director of campaigning and communities for the Trusts, told the PA news agency: “Nature doesn’t have to be big, it doesn’t have to be a nature reserve, in fact those things are quite intimidating for most people.

“It’s about what is nature on your doorstep and how do you bring it to your doorstep, so you get to enjoy it, and feel part of it.”

She said the Wildlife Trusts was putting community organisers into each trust around the country to do outreach and help people to begin doing these projects in their own spaces.

She added: “We’ve been through such a rough couple of years, if this can help people have a little bit of space and feel better and have a little bit of quality of life, that’s brilliant.”

Actor Cel Spellman, ambassador for the Wildlife Trusts, said: “There’s a growing awareness that we really are becoming disconnected from natural world, in my opinion we’re more disconnected than we’ve ever been before, and we’ve lost our place in it.

“I think we need to all look to try to reconnect with nature because it reminds us that we are a part of it just as much as it is a part of us.

“If people realise that, maybe we’ll learn to love and care for it and spend a bit more time in it.”

Getting access to nature and green spaces was very difficult for some people, particularly in cities such as London or communities that have been forgotten a little bit, he said.

But he said: “There’s a real growing trend of realising nature is so wonderful in so many ways, none more so for our physical and mental wellness.”

He said it was of “paramount importance” that the schemes were local and community-led, saying: “It’s a lot more powerful and stronger when it comes from the people themselves.”

“Once people have made it for themselves, they’ll want to spend time in it, care for it, look after it and protect it,” he said.

Simon Thurley, chairman of the National Lottery Heritage Fund, said: “We wanted to do something that was very accessible to lots and lots of people.

“There’s so much interest and concern about nature, and it’s one of our priorities and has been for a while.

“So it seemed like a really great idea to help the Wildlife Trusts put money into hopefully hundreds of community nature projects, that don’t just have a brief life but endure.”

The projects aim to leave a physical legacy, but also a human one with people getting involved with nature projects in their local area, he said.

“It will give people who haven’t had a chance to do it before a love of nature or a hobby or interest that perhaps they haven’t had before.”

And he said: “There are communities up and down the country who don’t have an opportunity to get involved, get their hands dirty with a bit of nature, and it’s quite an inspiring thing if we can bring it to people.”