Newham’s residents have come up with a range of inspired ideas on how to make the borough’s green spaces better and more accessible.
The residents, from Newham’s first permanent Citizens’ Assembly, presented their ideas in a report to a meeting of Full Council. Their ideas included increasing safety, recycling and community engagement to improve Newham’s green spaces.
Newham is the first borough in the country to hold a permanent assembly to help improve resident participation in local democracy.
Rokhsana Fiaz, Mayor of Newham said:
“Listening to the inspired suggestions made by those involved in the Citizens’ Assembly, shows how important it is for our residents to have a voice on the issues that matter to them. Their ideas have provided us with some exciting suggestions to improve our green spaces and help make the borough a healthier and happier place to live.
“By working together, we can secure our borough’s future and ensure we have beautiful, safe green spaces that we can all enjoy. The recommendations are also very much in line with the thinking of the Council and the policies which we are already developing to make our borough greener and cleaner.
“We will consider all the recommendations carefully and respond in detail as part of my commitment to making Newham Council an open, transparent council which residents can trust.”
The Assembly’s recommendations covered the following themes:
- Steps to make parks and green spaces safer and more inclusive
- Ideas to extend collaboration with the community and local businesses to fund and improve green spaces
- Using digital to get more people developing activities in green spaces
- Protecting and expanding well-designed accessible green spaces
- Rewilding areas and increasing biodiversity to re-connect people with nature
- Maintaining and de-littering green spaces
- Creating facilities that are comfortable and sustainable
- Looking at how proposals can reduce the borough’s carbon footprint, to help address climate change
Cabinet will formally respond to the Citizens’ Assembly suggestions in December.