Vision & Plan
Introduction
Central London’s largest property owners are working together to encourage birds, bees and bats back into the heart of London, and create greater connections with nature for residents, visitors and workers to enjoy. Wild West End is a unique partnership between Capital and Counties, Church Commissioners for England, The Crown Estate, Great Portland Estates, Grosvenor Britain & Ireland, The Howard de Walden Estate, The Portman Estate, and Shaftesbury. Wild West End is endorsed by strategic partners London Wildlife Trust and Greater London Authority, and supported by technical partner Arup.
Our vision for a Wild West End
The West End will be home to green stepping stones between the existing areas of surrounding parkland, through a combination of green roofs and walls, planters and flower boxes, street trees and pop-up spaces. This green urban infrastructure will create a habitat for birds, bees and bats, and fill the air with the sounds and smells of nature. People will be encouraged to walk outside and spend more time in green spaces.. This will result in lower stress levels, and higher levels of satisfaction and wellbeing, ultimately creating a better environment for people to live, work, and visit.
Aim
Through our shared vision, we aim to work with key stakeholders to focus on environmental, economic, and social outcomes to create a resilient network of connected green spaces and corridors in the West End of London that will:
Raise awareness and promote the benefits of green infrastructure, inspire others to participate and create similar initiatives, and be a global demonstrator project for urban greening.
Enhance biodiversity and ecological connectivity, i.e. better connect existing areas of green space through establishment of green corridors and restoring natural ecosystems.
Improve the health and wellbeing of residents, workers and visitors in the West End by increasing use of green space, participation in greening projects and connection to nature.
Create a better place to live, work and visit by making streets and spaces that are greener, create local employment opportunities, are more attractive and support local economic recovery.
How
We will achieve this by:
Partnering with and supporting our stakeholders, including the local community, to participate in urban greening and deliver shared outcomes. This will include:
Run Wild West End and individual partner community and occupier greening projects.
Promote access to local green space.
Improve walking/cycling connections between green spaces through way-finding.
Target establishment of new areas of green space and habitat structures
Target and maintain multi-functional value of new and existing green space over the long-term. Green spaces should deliver a minimum of two functions, including biodiversity, climate, microclimate, wellbeing and social.
Create a network of green corridors throughout the West End by creating ecologically valuable stepping stones (defined as green spaces over 100m2 in size) separated by no more than 100m between new and existing areas of green space.
Encourage novel and innovative green enterprises
Sharing data and knowledge with our stakeholders and linking with aligned initiatives regionally and globally. This will include:
Establish baseline of green space and its condition, birds, invertebrates, and bats in the area and target an observed increase by monitoring every 2 years
Promote value of green infrastructure at Wild West End partner events, via the website and social media.
Collate data on value of green infrastructure to support the business case
Provide public access to Wild West End green space data.
Provide information on how others can contribute to urban greening or engage with local groups through initiatives such as National Park City.
A vision for the Wild West End
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Understanding the function and value of green space in Wild West End
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