Greening of London Vital to City's International Status

LONDON, UK, February 24, 2004 (ENS) - London's status as a desirable city in which to live and work and hold the Olympic Games depends on flourishing green spaces and protected wildlife, three official agencies said Monday at the launch of a new guide for property developers to help them keep London green. The city is presently going through a regeneration phase, and London officials want to ensure their tranquil spaces do not disappear and that new ones are created.

Mayor of London Ken Livingstone said, "Two-thirds of London is made up of green space and water, which makes London one of the greenest cities in the world and I want to keep it that way. I welcome this new brochure as an important way of highlighting how we can achieve development with no net loss of wildlife sites in London."

Pelican on the bank of a pool in St. James' Park, London (Photos by Ian Britton courtesy FreeFoto)

"London is in constant competition with cities around the world to attract and retain successful businesses and a skilled workforce. A green and attractive environment is vital to the health and well being of Londoners and the economy, said Honor Chapman, who chairs the London Development Agency, one of the three agencies behind the new guide, "Design for Biodiversity."

The other two sponsors are the Greater London Authority and English Nature, the UK government's environmental advisory agency. The guide is intended to help property developers how to achieve best practice in their work and comply with biodiversity legislation as they build.

"It is important that new developments such as the Thames Gateway and Kings Cross set a positive example by protecting biodiversity, incorporating wildlife features into landscaping and buildings and providing a higher quality of life for everyone living and working in London," Mayor Livingstone said.

A housing regeneration and renewal project in the London Gateway district will have a new bridge as its link to the rest of the city. Announced in January, the bridge is scheduled for completion by 2012. A local river crossing with public transport and measures to manage traffic, the bridge is one of a package of four new river crossings for the East Thames which includes the Docklands Light Railway and Crossrail.

The George Green Sweet Chestnut is thought to be 200 years old. (Photo courtesy Trees For London)

The International Olympic Committee is expected to announce its choice in July 2005.

Sir Martin Doughty, Chair of English Nature said, "An innovative approach to conserving wildlife and providing people with access to nature should be a hallmark of a great city. As London embarks upon a major process of urban regeneration and renewal "Design for Biodiversity" will help developers and planners provide space for nature when planning and delivering built development."

The 33 Greater London boroughs cover nearly 158,000 hectares (over 600 square miles). More than 40 percent of the total land area is green open space and nearly half of that is considered valuable as wildlife habitat.

London encompasses the famous ancient woodlands of Oxleas and Ruislip, which have existed for hundreds of years, says the London Biodiversity Partnership, the flowering chalk grasslands of the North Downs, the amenity grasslands of the central London parks, the reservoirs of the Lea Valley and the Thames Estuary, the wet meadows of the Ingrebourne Marshes in Havering and the dry, disturbed land of the inner city wasteland. There are the created habitats of the new Wetland Centre at Barnes and the wildlife havens provided by private gardens.

Flowing through the heart of the city is the River Thames, London’s best known natural asset.

These habitats support a broad diversity of species. The hawfinch, bluebell and small blue butterfly, are remnants of native animals and plants that survive in encapsulated fragments of semi-natural habitat.

A black redstart on a bush in London (Photo courtesy Samuk Khodkaew)

Cormorants and herons fish along the Thames, spring brings carpets of bluebells or wood anemones, butterflies flit across the summertime meadows.

The purpose of our action plan, says the London Biodiversity Partnership, is to ensure that Londoners are able to experience nature in their local environment. "After all, it will be the activities and aspirations of some seven million of us that will shape the future of biodiversity in the capital," the partnership says on its website.

The legacy of London’s trading history includes some plants that were accidentally or deliberately introduced. For example, the butterfly bush Buddleia, which originated in China, now grows throughout London and shelters native wildlife. London rocket, which flowered profusely after the Great Fire of 1666, is now confined to a few sites in the center of the city.

The mayor's controversial program of charging a fee to vehicles that travel into the city's center area was adopted in February 2003, and a year later, Mayor Livingston says it is working.

Spring flowers at the Royal Exchange on the north bank of the River Thames (Photo courtesy FreeFoto)

The London Development Agency, the mayor's agency for business and jobs, is working to transform the Lower Lea Valley in east London, where the Olympic Games would be held.

But with or without an Olympic Games, the agency says, "doubling the amount of green space in area by creating one of the biggest urban parks in Europe, bringing local waterways back to life and developing wildlife habitats" is something worth doing.

The London Development Agency is also working with the mayor to revitalize 100 public spaces around London, as well as creating a "green grid" across East London and helping to transform the Thames Gateway into a green, attractive place in which to live and work.

The agency is supporting an number of initiatives to increase levels of waste recycling and reprocessing in London while encouraging public and private sector organizations to buy more green products.

Referring to the newly launched brochure, Chapman said, "It is very important that we create and conserve green spaces and ensure development is sensitive to the local landscape, ecology and wildlife. This new document is an important tool for developers in London to help them to further London's biodiversity and create a better environment for everyone."

The London Biodiversity Partnership was set up in 1996 to take forward the London Biodiversity Action Plan. The Partnership is a group of public, private and voluntary organizations that aim to conserve the capital's wildlife and natural places for future generations to benefit from and enjoy. There are now 60 organizations participating in 10 Habitat Action Plans and 12 Species Action Plans.

Find out more about the London Biodiversity Partnership online at: http://www.lbp.org.uk

Visit Wild London at: http://www.wildlondon.org.uk/