- London Biodiversity Partnership
- Darwin at Downe
- Wildspace
- Neighbourhoods Green
- London Parks and Greenspaces Forum
- Wandle Valley Regional Park
- Olympics
- Thames Gateway
- Local Area Agreements
London Biodiversity Partnership
Natural England is one of the key partners of the London Biodiversity Partnership. The partnership brings together organisations to benefit wildlife and boost the capital's greenspaces and delivers the London Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) for important habitats and species within the Greater London area.
Darwin at Downe
The proposed World Heritage Site is a mix of public and privately owned land managed by a number of organisations and individuals. The World Heritage bid is being submitted by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport; the London Borough of Bromley has led in the management of this project. The Council is supported in this role by a core partnership of key organisations, including English Heritage, the Natural History Museum, Downe Residents' Association, Natural England, The Charles Darwin Trust, Greater London Authority, London and Kent Wildlife Trusts, London Development Agency and ICOMOS-UK. A wider partnership of stakeholders including the local community, Residents’ Associations, landowners, schools and businesses are also involved.
A steering group oversees the work of a number of subgroups covering the following themes: landscape & biodiversity, interpretation & education, visitor management, community consultation, business planning and funding.
The vision of the partnership is to use and manage sustainably the natural and built landscape of the Darwin at Downe proposed World Heritage Site to develop access to, learning and understanding of Darwin’s insights into natural life and their universal significance.
www.bromley.org/ciswebpl/darwin2/index.asp
Wildspace
The London Borough of Havering, Thurrock Unitary Authority, Cleanaway Ltd, the Port of London Authority, Natural England, Environment Agency and the RSPB (the Partners) propose to develop land at London Riverside as a flagship conservation park centred around the Inner Thames Marshes SSSI (also known as Rainham Marshes) Together this has the potential to transform the area and provide an internationally celebrated ecological and leisure resource for the emerging communities of London Riverside – Wildspace for a World City.
The land between Rainham, Purfleet and the River Thames will be joined and managed as a single unit, which celebrates the unique natural and cultural heritage of the Thames Marshes. This historical landscape and its diverse natural and cultural heritage will be protected and made accessible to all through high quality access, facilities and interpretation.
Wildspace, together with developments in transport, business and new housing within the wider London Riverside regeneration area, will have transformed the area and a made significant contribution to improved quality of life, attracting new businesses and new residents to join the thriving community in the heart of the Thames Gateway. Wildspace will be setting new standards in nature conservation as a centrepiece of the multifunctional East London Green Grid “sewn into” the urban fabric of London Riverside.
www.ltgdc.org.uk/media/wildspace/
www.london.gov.uk/mayor/auu/docs/riverside_strategy.pdf 
Neighbourhoods Green
The quality of people's homes is influenced by the spaces around them. There is increasing recognition that well-designed, well-managed green spaces next to housing developments are crucial to contributing to people's quality of life and making neighbourhoods liveable.
The Decent Homes Standard is focusing the minds of housing associations and other social housing providers. The Standard, introduced in July 2001 with the intention of improving the quality of social housing in England, is set to ensure that such accommodation is fit for the 21st century. Government expects all social rented homes to meet the Standard by 2010.
Neighbourhoods Green aims to highlight the importance of green spaces for the residents of social housing, and to raise the quality of their design, management and safe use within social housing providers. It is a 3-year partnership project which will provide guidance, support and tools for housing associations, local authority housing departments, ALMOs, tenants associations, and their partners.
www.neighbourhoodsgreen.org.uk/ng/
London Parks and Greenspaces Forum
The London Parks and Green Spaces Forum was established in 2001 through the combined efforts of a number of organisations that shared an interest and involvement in the delivery of park and green space services in and around London.
The Forum was established in response to an increased awareness of the importance of green space among those responsible for making and delivering national, regional and local policy. The objective is to maximise the opportunity that now presents itself and to make sure that London secures its fair share of resources that are being directed towards green space – now and in the future.
London’s open space is provided and managed by over 35 different organisations. Better networking and cooperation is essential if open space planners and managers are to address current issues; particularly as many new initiatives from which they may benefit are taking place at a regional or sub-regional level.
www.green-space.org.uk/london/
Wandle Valley Regional Park
The Wandle Valley follows the course of the River Wandle from Croydon through Sutton, Merton and Wandsworth to the River Thames. It has been identified as a potential regional park in the London Plan as this part of South London is deficient in this respect. Regional Parks in London are identified as large areas (over 400ha) of linked open space that can provide and combine a range of functions.
The current review of the London Plan recognises the Wandle Valley’s potential to address London’s identified deficiency in open space and contribute to regeneration of the south sub-region. This project will facilitate the next stage of the Wandle Valley Regional Park’s development, by developing a spatial vision and implementation framework shared by all.
Olympics
The focus of the London 2012 Games will be the Olympic Park in east London, which will house the new sport venues. The Lower Lea Valley, the area in and around the Olympic Park is a site of huge regeneration potential.
Much of the site itself is contaminated, derelict and abandoned. The waterways in the area have suffered from years of neglect: water quality is poor, river walls are in a bad condition and the landscape is scarred by urban dereliction and a legacy of post industrial and utilities infrastructure.
The 2012 Games will help to revitalise this part of London and open the east of the capital to development opportunities.
The aspiration is for a new park that will be connected to the tidal Thames Estuary to the south and the Hertfordshire countryside to the north. It will be designed to enrich the local ecology, restoring wetland habitats and planted with native species. The canals and waterways of the River Lea will be cleaned and widened, and the natural floodplains of the area will be restored to provide a new wetland habitat. The river system of the valley will be restored, canals dredged and waterways widened. The communities surrounding the Park will enjoy access to the open space via a network of canal towpaths, footpaths and cycleways.
www.london2012.com/plans/olympic-park/index.php
Thames Gateway
The Gateway stretches 40 miles along the estuary from Canary Wharf in London to Southend in Essex and Sittingbourne in Kent. It is Europe’s largest regeneration programme dealing with the twin drivers of industrial decline and demand for new housing and infrastructure to service the London’s financial sector and the logistics/high-tech industries locating within the east Thames corridor Local, regional and national authorities are working closely with the private and voluntary sectors to reverse the impact of industrial decline and help them take advantage of their unique location and landscape.
The components of Thames Gateway of most significance to Natural England are the concepts of Parklands and ‘eco-region’. These concepts aim to ensure that natural environment and sustainability objectives are integral to the regeneration of Thames Gateway by building on the success of the green grid networks and addressing wider issues of: urban design and sustainability; establishing the Gateway as a low carbon region; developing the area as a new model for the management of waste and water resources; and working with the natural environment to minimise and mange flood risk.
At the sub-regional level, Green Grid partnerships have been established in East London, North Kent and South Essex to promote and implement green infrastructure plans.
www.thamesgateway.gov.uk/
www.designforlondon.gov.uk/projectELGG.html
www.london.gov.uk/mayor/auu/green-grid.jsp
Local Area Agreements
LAAs strive to improve local and national priorities in order to deliver a service that will enable a better quality of life, and all 33 boroughs in London have signed an LAA.
The current agreements are structured around four key themes:
- Children and Young People
- Safer and Stronger Communities
- Health and Older People
- Economic Development and Enterprise
Authorities and their partners negotiated clear targets and outcomes for their areas with GOL, but have the freedom to decide how best to achieve them. Councils and partners in LAA areas benefit from less ring-fenced funding, less red tape and more flexibility in how they work. There is a simplification of funding streams, allowing greater discretion with the use of funding and reduce the bureaucracy attached to multiple funding streams.
GOL is responsible for negotiating the London LAAs on behalf of central government, as well as monitoring them and providing support and advice. We also ensure that all relevant partners and stakeholders are given the opportunity to contribute to the process.
There are specific LAA Indicators which are of particular relevance to NE, including indicators relating to biodiversity, well-being, climate change adaptation and flood management, and opportunities for NE to promote and support initiative that deliver our natural environment objectives whilst addressing the four key LAA themes.