Chiswick House Trust Wins Rewilding Funding
Will help increase biodiversity in two areas of woodlands
The Kitchen Garden at Chiswick House.
Picture: Chiswick House & Gardens Trust
March 17, 2024
Following on the heels of its announcement of plans for a creative campus, the Chiswick House & Gardens Trust has revealed that it is one of three projects in West London to have been awarded a grant from the Rewild London Fund.
This scheme aims to help make the capital more resilient to climate change and it has given £50,000 to the Trust’s Woodland Wilderness project.
The grant will help Chiswick House & Gardens begin to transform 3.5-hectares of two existing woodlands into species-rich, biodiverse areas. The first step will be to undertake ecological surveys to identify species with low populations to increase, and high population species to protect and enhance. The project will plant at least 100 trees and up to 250 shrubs to support a variety of biodiversity.
Rosie Fyles, Head of Gardens at Chiswick House & Gardens says, “The gardens at Chiswick House are rich in life. We want to help the spaces flourish, both for environmental benefit and for our community and visitors from West London who enjoy the park so much. The Rewild London grant will help us make huge strides in our commitment to biodiversity and conservation in this much loved local space.”
Overall, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan has given out £1million to 21 projects in the latest tranche of grants from the fund.
This brings the Mayor’s total investment in rewilding London to over £2.4 million, which includes £750,000 from Amazon’s Right Now Climate Fund. In total, the fund will have helped to create or restore over 350 hectares of wildlife habitat - the equivalent of nearly 490 football pitches.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan said: “This new rewilding funding will support the restoration of some amazing spaces in the capital, enabling Londoners to benefit from nature on their doorstep and help us to combat the impacts of climate change.
“I believe that all Londoners should be able to enjoy green spaces and that access to nature is a social justice issue. So I’m doing all I can to ensure that Londoners can enjoy wildlife wherever they are in the city.
“Once again we have worked very closely with community groups and organisations across London to find out what support they need rewild the city. By bringing back beavers, restoring river banks and proving spaces for wildlife to thrive, we are making London a greener and cleaner city for everyone whilst also making the capital more resilient to the effects of climate change. This is one important way we are building a better London for all."
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