New Delhi: The UK government has invited local authorities and community partners to apply for grants between £250,000 and £1 million under a new partnership between the National Trust, The National Lottery Heritage Fund, and Natural England, working closely with NatureScot, Natural Resources Wales, and the Northern Ireland Environmental Agency.
The initiative aims to enable 100 towns and cities across the UK to improve access to green spaces for urban residents. According to a government press release, Councils will be supported to put green infrastructure at the heart of their plans and priorities, improving the climate resilience of their places and enabling access for all.
The grants are designed to provide organisations with the capacity and headspace to think and plan their urban green space for the long term, the release added.
Nature Towns & Cities is set to make £15 million in National Lottery Heritage Fund grants available to local authorities and community partners, to enable them to put nature and green spaces at the heart of their plans and priorities.
The initiative is being launched in a ‘beta phase’ to enable councils, communities, partners, and funders to shape it together, stated the release. It will seek to attract further investment and support for greener and fairer urban communities, improving people’s health and wellbeing, creating better connected and more climate-resilient neighbourhoods, and focusing on areas currently lacking nature and access to parks and open green space.
Hilary McGrady, Director-General of the National Trust, stated that there is overwhelming evidence that access to green space improves our mental and physical health and wellbeing. “Yet in England well over 40 million people don’t have access to green space close to home. Councils are uniquely placed to tackle this, working with their communities and local partners,” McGrady added.