Newham Meadows

Thanks for checking in on the website. It is coming up to the very busy season of festivities and family and friends and work and deadlines. So, we wanted to say a quick hello and thank you for your support of the biodiversity project, Biodiverse Corridors, funded by the Community Assembly arm of London Borough of Newham.

To get more funding for biodiversity projects in Newham we need to be persistent in contacting our councillors. Through community gardens, rethinking adding pavers and making better use of existing public spaces we can create biodiverse corridors throughout Newham.

We are bordered by some fantastic green spaces and several rivers that need our voice taken to Newham Council to ensure their survival. Thank you.

We start this month with several residents having joined our project and our first large-scaled space in the Romford Road!

We are working on our first mailing list update to all the locals who chatted with us at the Woodgrange Market.

Later today we’ll be speaking to residents and Newham council through the Community Assembly online meeting—maybe we’ll see you there.

??It is not too late to plant wildflower bulbs in your gardens.??

Greetings and welcome to the fabulous first five front gardens to participate in our project.(maybe too many F words) We’ve met with you all and seed choices, container locations and bug motel building is all underway.

No surprise that we will be relying on the butterfly effect to get us to the next Fabulous Flyer Front Garden Responders.

We are still waiting to hear from residents on Cranmer Road, Osbourne Road, Woodgrange Road and beyond…

We can help clean the air we breathe everyday with planting a variety of plants in our front gardens–together. My garden may have poppies and next door you may have lavender and across the way our neighbour loves yarrow and verbena. Over time our entire road becomes a garden with various plants that we enjoy growing and that together create a supportive space for all the beetles and butterflies and bees we need to pollinate our veg patches.

If you like reports and research: Phyto-Sensor-Toolkit

This week we begin the outreach campaign to residents living in Forest Gate North–specifically those residents on the corridors–streets–that we listed in our original proposal to the Community Assembly Funding proposal team.

These roads include: Forest Lane from Magpie Close to Woodgrange Road. This stretch presents a few challenges because the residents must pave their front gardens if they want to park their vehicles close to their homes. Removing just a one metre square of pavers and adding containers will make a huge difference to bees and butterflies.

If you live on Forest Lane, please contact us for assistance with removing pavers, talking bees and butterflies or anything else about this project.

And if you know anyone who lives on Forest Lane, please let them know that this project will provide physical support in lifting those pavers–and will provide all the wildflower seeds you need to join us. Thanks!

This project creates meadow-flower corridors connecting existing green spaces throughout North Forest Gate. This project builds on the Low-Traffic-Zone containers and creates meadows along roads associated with our schools and the the Healthy Streets initiative. Combating the pollution created by auto-traffic, new pavers with no tree allocation spaces and asphalt that cover most of the spaces around our schools.

We would seed existing green spaces with meadow plants that support diverse insects, recruit local businesses and residents to contribute outdoor space planters. Using the planting space from Forest Lane Park, along the streets passing Forest Gate Community School (FGCS), Earlham Primary School, St. James School, Woodgrange Infant School and Godwin School and reaching Wanstead Flats. Creating loops of green corridors from Forest Lane Park.

Conducting workshops/seed distribution events to bring together stakeholders. Then we would seed existing green spaces with meadow plants that support bio-diversity.

The creation of corridors of meadows will work towards improving air quality, will give wildlife the safe havens and utilise neglected spaces. Creating meadows that are not manicured landscapes allows for pollinators and wildlife to nest and created homes that are not disturbed with damaging chemicals etc.