Southall Square to be developed into a “pocket park”

Ealing Council is to transform Southall Square into a “pocket park” having secured funding from the Mayor of London’s Growing Back Greener fund.

Pocket Parks provide a small green space within urban areas for local people to spend time in and enjoy nature with additional greening including trees being planted.

According to Ealing Council, it has been given £56,880 from the Mayor’s £2m fund and the council will contribute an additional £14,220.  The council says the work to be done “will see concrete pavement removed in favour of green areas, which will support local nature, provide a cooler space for people in hot weather and support sustainable drainage of rainfall in this part of Southall.”

Councillor Deirdre Costigan, cabinet member for climate action said: “I am very excited that we have secured this funding from the Grow Back Greener Fund to support our plans for a new pocket park in Southall.”

She added: “Taking away hard paving and replacing it with green planting will help create cleaner air, and adding sustainable drainage will support our climate emergency actions by taking water to where it is needed in the park. This will also be a much-needed cooler space in hot weather and will be a lovely place for residents to sit and enjoy a little bit of nature in the middle of a buzzing town centre.”

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “The positive impacts of rewilding and green spaces on the environment are significant, which is why I am proud to be awarding a further £2 million to tree planting projects in the capital.”

He added: “The extreme temperatures and devastating fires that raged across our city this summer laid bare London’s vulnerability to the consequences of climate change, proving that we can no longer afford to be indifferent or complacent about this issue. That is why I’m doing all that I can to tackle the ecological problems that we face by investing into vital projects to improve our climate resilience.”