Islington Council calls for residents to “get greening” with new nature based initiative.

The scheme, Islington Greener Together, encourages locals to put forward ideas to improve biodiversity, build climate change resilience and create more attractive neighbourhoods.

Residents, businesses and community groups are eligible to submit ideas, including on-street planting, tree pits, rain gardens and parklets.

The council will help to design and build approved ideas, while residents will need to maintain the space moving forward.

Applicants will be automatically enrolled as Islington Greener Together Champions, run by council partners Groundwork London, which will provide training and support in how to maintain the green spaces created.

The scheme presents a unique opportunity for the local community to “get involved in improving their neighbourhood, planting up areas to create a corridor of biodiversity for pollinators and other wildlife right across the borough,” says Cllr Rowena Champion, executive member for environment and transport.

Champion goes on to say the scheme also works to “encourage residents to get creative, get involved and get greening!”

Applications are open until 12 April 2024, with successful applicants to be contacted in June. The design and delivery of the chosen ideas will be complete by the end of 2025.

Islington Greener Together is part of a wider effort to green up the borough, which also includes the planting of nearly 1000 trees this year and an annual horticultural competition, Islington in Bloom, which launches in May this year.