THE Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT) is to get £90,000 to connect disadvantaged communities with nature across the three counties.

The money is part of a £5 million grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to The Wildlife Trusts, being announced today, aimed at improving the lives of people from some of the most disadvantaged areas across the UK and leaving a lasting natural legacy in honour of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022. The money will be shared between local trusts like BBOWT across the country.

Nextdoor Nature 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.

In particular, BBOWT is hoping to work with urban communities in Reading and Slough. We would like to work with local residents, community hubs and businesses in the towns, with emphasis on young people and communities at risk from poor wellbeing, for example those living with isolation or poor mental health. Nature connection in these groups can really have a positive impact.

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. Nextdoor Nature 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.

Liz Shearer, Community Engagement Director at BBOWT, said:

“We know that people want to take action to improve their neighbourhoods but often it’s hard to know where to start. Nextdoor Nature will let communities set their own agenda about the environmental issues they want to tackle and we’ll be looking at different ways of bringing people together and giving them support, skills and confidence to take the next step.”

Simon Thurley, Chair of The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said:

“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.”

The team at BBOWT have already helped communities across the three counties to make their local areas more wild with targeted projects:

▪ Wild Bicester has worked with community groups in the town to help make green areas better for nature, advised local businesses on nature-friendly schemes and put on educational events such as swift walks

▪ Engaging with Nature in Berkshire has worked with adults with learning difficulties, taking them on visits to nature reserves and putting on nature-themed activities aimed at improving wellbeing

▪ The Hedgerow Havens project worked with more than 100 volunteers and supporters in and around Aylesbury and created or restored 5km of hedgerow for wildlife, 12 wildlife ponds and helped enhance eight hectares of land for wildlife

Now BBOWT is hoping to work with a whole new group of people who might not otherwise connect with nature in the same way. 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.”

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