A report published today reveals the striking results of a National Lottery Heritage Fund £5 million Nextdoor Nature programme which enabled The Wildlife Trusts to work with communities across the UK for two years. The programme originally intended to reach 200 communities – but instead exceeded that 8 times over, reaching more than 1,600.

Nextdoor Nature has worked with four diverse community groups across inner city Bristol to provide skills, tools and opportunity to take action for nature.

In Redcliffe, local community leaders Sarah and Marky led residents in converting a neglected area of land on the estate into a community garden, growing vegetables, fruit trees, and wildflower areas that attract butterflies and insects like red admiral and damselflies. Not everyone in the community has access to the internet and so there was a real reliance on door knocking and word of mouth in order to to reach all members of this community, a crucial element to this community organising approach. Woodworking training provided residents with essential skills to build planters that now support food growing, providing fresh produce for community meals at Faithspace.

Sarah offered this advice for anybody interested in starting a community garden: “Don’t stop before you start. People will tell you ‘It will get vandalised’ and ‘nobody is interested’ but on the whole people will be really pleased and pat you on the back to say good job!”

At the Beehive Community Centre in St George, Amber and volunteers created an accessible garden where flowers and herbs bring in bees, birds, and other wildlife, connecting the residents with nature on their doorstep. Weekly gardening sessions reduce isolation, particularly among older adults, while the garden’s produce contributes to the centre’s lunch club.

Amber said: “Working with Avon Wildlife Trust has enabled us to get further out into the community.

 “We’re growing together, we’re harvesting that food together, and then making meals out of that food together.

“We now have a bed that we maintain and populate in the park as well and that’s got loads more people from the community involved in gardening with us.”

Over at the Wellspring Settlement, older people’s charity Alive Activities  reached out to the Nextdoor Nature project to help their gardening group achieve its dreams. The group have achieveda huge amount, installing a wildlife pond teeming with tadpoles as well as creating a small oasis in the dense urban area of Barton Hill, with beautiful beds filled with alliums, daffodils, tulips and other native plants in the areas surrounding the settlemement. The impact of this group’s work is visible within a minute of being in the area.

Volunteer, Ruth expressed her pride in the project and said:“I love working as a group, making a difference. It’s good for my mental, social, and physical health.”

Led by resident Estelle, a community project on Camerton Road saw households come together to install 12 wildflower planters, creating habitats for pollinators. Inspired by Avon Wildlife Trust’s 2015 “My Wild Street” initiative in Easton, where streets were transformed with planters and green roofs, Estelle organised planters, soil and flowers from Shedzone and Grow Wilder.

The community spirit shone through, with donated cakes, celebratory beers, and homemade baps fueling the volunteers. “It feels beautiful doing something for your neighbours,” said Estelle.

The community leaders in all of these projects continue to advocate and work tirelessly for their communtiues. All of these initiatives showcase the impact of community action on urban wildlife, creating habitats that increase biodiversity while strengthening social bonds and environmental stewardship.

At a time when a recent UK Government evaluation of green prescribing showed that connections to nature can bring about big reductions in symptoms of anxiety and depression, and impressive improvements in well-being*, the benefits of the Nextdoor Nature programme for people are significant. Extraordinary transformations have taken place across the country over the last two years in communities that have been traditionally or historically excluded from making decisions about nature and the environment in their local areas. The benefits of nature connectedness have never been better appreciated.

95% of the participants in the national Nextdoor Nature programme said that as a direct result of the project, there is now greater collaborative working between residents, local organisations and groups, and 82% feel there is now greater decision-making about wildlife in the hands of local people.

Julie Doherty, Head of Communities and Engagement, Avon Wildlife Trust, said:

“When communities are supported to make a difference for nature, creative things happen, connecting nature and people together. I’m excited by the knowledge that these changes form part of a sustainable legacy as more people become inspired to take action for nature where they live. Avon Wildlife Trust believes that nature is for everyone, and is committed to bringing communities to the heart of decision-making, bringing tangible benefits to wildlife, nature and people across the West of England.”

Eilish McGuinness, Chief Executive, The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said:

“We were delighted to support this transformative project as it so strongly supports our vision for heritage to be valued, cared for and sustained for everyone.  This project delivers on our ambition to connect people and communities to heritage and the natural environment. I am delighted so many people are taking an active role in caring for nature and it has ignited a passion and commitment which will have positive impact for people and our environment into the future.”