Biodiversity and Green Spaces
Our vision is that Hackney is a place where parks and green and blue spaces are sustainably managed and enhanced to achieve their optimum potential for harbouring wildlife and supporting human health and wellbeing. Public green and blue space management should be brought together with wildlife-friendly gardening to create climateresilient, cohesive and liveable neighbourhoods in which residents and wildlife can thrive. In this way public authorities, communitybased bodies and individual residents can act in concert to strengthen neighbourhood ecological networks for important wildlife species.
Help drive biodiversity more green space in Hackney and join this group
By joining this group, you'll keep up to date on the latest relevant news posted on the Sustainable Hackney website. If you want to get more involved and support our work, contact the group leave. You can leave groups at any time.
Greenprint for Hackney
-
Protecting Green and Blue Spaces - Ensure all new developments, including the Spitalfields development, avoid any negative environmental impact and damage to SINCs, green and blue spaces and wildlife habitats. Ensure developments deliver Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) through the appropriate design, restoration and management of habitats in their vicinity and BNG is not offset elsewhere. Ensure rapid and effective implementation of council commitments to appoint biodiversity officers, create a herbicidefree borough, and deliver biodiversity and sustainability staff training.
-
Nature Recovery - Improve the plant species richness, structural diversity, condition and connectivity of valuable habitat mosaics to recover nationally and/or locally declining or threatened species. Monitor the impact of habitat restorations on the richness, abundance and distribution of species of principle importance in the borough.
-
Education & Engagement - Establish an inclusive and effective forum to support nature recovery which brings together public authorities, educational establishments, community and resident groups, local businesses, conservation bodies and other stakeholders. Raise awareness about the value of local biodiversity and green spaces and provide guidance on nature-friendly behaviours, environmentally responsible pet care, and sustainable gardening practices to help nature recover. Facilitate research and ‘citizen science’ approaches to understand local biodiversity better and identify conservation priorities. Support schools and other educational establishments to develop and implement natural environmental curricula and other environmental teaching.
Our work programme
-
Sustainable Hackney works with Hackney Council and other public and private landowners and managers to protect and improve valuable habitats and monitor their impact on biodiversity. We connect people who want to garden together for nature in public and private green spaces. We support efforts to connect fragmented habitats through wildlife corridors that help nature recover, facilitate green transport, and create inclusive, healthy environments.
-
We will assist Hackney Council in reviewing supplementary planning documents and push for public space protection orders to be renewed and enforced to ensure Hackney’s green spaces and Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation are protected from environmental and wildlife damage.
-
We advocate, provide advice and information, and organise and attend events, fora and other activities. We want Hackney’s residents to reap all the personal and community wellbeing benefits that actively connecting to nature and to each other brings.