How your business can help transform our unloved spaces
Find out how your business can get involved in Waste of Space.
There are many spaces around our towns and cities that are grey, unused, and uninhabitable for wildlife. In other words, these are a #WasteOfSpace. In the last year, the importance of where we live has come sharply into focus; People value the natural and green spaces around them more highly than ever before.
We want to work together with councils, businesses, and community groups to adopt a local Waste of Space and transform them into places where children can play, people can breathe, and wildlife can make a home. By creating more wild and green spaces in our towns and cities, we are creating natural stepping stones through which our wildlife can traverse our urban areas and thrive.
Layers
What next?
Scroll down to find out how your business can get involved in Waste of Space.
Allow communities to adopt ‘Wasted Spaces’
Over the next few months, communities will be finding spaces that are unused and unloved that they think are a #WasteOfSpace and could be improved for both people and wildlife.
Once people have identified wasted spaces, we will encourage them to join forces with their friends and neighbours to create green spaces and breathe natural life back into our towns and cities. We will provide support and advice to individuals and communities, including ways to identify what wildlife might already be living in their community and how to make a space which works for people and nature.
If a community member approaches you about rewilding a Wasted Space that you own, we'd love for businesses to work with their local community to transform these spaces into places that everyone can benefit from. This might be as simple as installing wildflowers planters for people to enjoy as they walk past your offices.
Support and work with your communities to take action
We have seen the enthusiasm and willingness of local people to take action to improve their local area. Through our ‘wilder communities’ projects and through supporting Wilder Community Leaders as part of Team Wilder, we know that amazing things can happen with just a little help and support.
By empowering individuals and communities to take action and ownership, it is possible to create real and sustainable change, and businesses can act as enablers to this action. You could help to provide permissions or resources for communities to rewild a wasted space or sponsor our Team Wilder programme.
If you would like to get involved with Waste of Space or Team Wilder, we would love to hear from you. You can contact us at corporates@hiwwt.org.uk
Share our message
Our voices are stronger together! Let your community know that you are supporting Waste of Space and that you are open to having communities adopt and rewild Wasted Spaces that your business owns. You could even advertise Wasted Spaces for adoption!
Want to go one step further?
FAQs
What do we mean by a Waste of Space?
Any area, no matter how small, will contribute to a Nature Recovery Network, and help rewild where we live. We are asking people to identify small pockets of land which could be improved rather than existing green space. Examples of this include pieces of grass between houses or concrete planters that hold one tree and the rest is muddy ground. We recognise that people may identify larger areas of land, and we will share these with local councils and landowners too, as there may be opportunities to work together on these, but this is not the focus of the appeal.
What happens after people have mapped wasted spaces?
Once the spaces have been identified we will encourage people to join forces with their friends and neighbours to create green space for urban dwellers and breathe natural life back into our towns and cities. Our Wilder Communities Officers will provide support and advice to individuals, including how to talk to their local council, ways to identify what wildlife might already be living in their community, and how to make a space which works for people and wildlife. Everyone who takes part will become part of Team Wilder, 1000s of people across the two counties who are taking action for wildlife.
Find out more about Team Wilder: hiwwt.org.uk/team-wilder
What happens if someone maps a space that can’t be adopted?
We recognise that not all of the spaces mapped will be able to be adopted for various reasons. We’ll be engaging with local councils and landowners to get their support so councils, landowners and communities can work together to make changes which create better urban spaces for everyone.
Who will be responsible for the ongoing management of these spaces?
As part of Team Wilder, our Wilder Communities programme will provide ongoing support, ensuring that community groups have the skills and commitment to look after these spaces. As we’ll be working with local councils, we will be able to ensure the right spaces are adopted and that the communities involved are invested in the area on a long -term basis.
Get in touch
If you're at any point unsure, contact us at corporates@hiwwt.org.uk