£6m to revitalise rundown parks and green spaces in the capital, says London mayor

The Mayor of London has announced a £6 million funding package to clean up and improve London’s rundown green spaces with Londoners getting the final say on which areas will benefit. The money for this programme comes from further savings made from the former administration’s publicity budget following the scrapping of The Londoner newspaper.

Whilst many of London’s parks, commons, heaths and public gardens are attractive and welcoming, there are many green spaces in the capital that are not being used because they are shabby, and people feel unsafe in them. The ‘Priority Parks’ funding - promised by the Mayor in his election manifesto - will help to regenerate the most deserving of London’s green spaces across the capital over the next four years, providing a boost to local communities and making neighbourhoods safer.

Londoners will have the chance to vote online for which green spaces will benefit from the funding.

Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: ‘Having been elected on a promise to improve London’s environment, I am today pledging £6 million from the previous Mayor’s publicity budget to revitalise rundown parks and green spaces in the capital.

‘Although most of our borough councils are doing their best to maintain green spaces, the funding they work with is often limited. By cancelling The Londoner newspaper, we will instead be able to inject much-needed money into improving the most neglected parks and gardens across London as well as planting 10,000 new street trees.

‘This will have a host of benefits, not only making these areas more pleasant places to spend time, but also helping to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour. Often simple improvements, such as more bins, more entrances, increased lighting and litterbins, can help local people re-claim their local parks and gardens.

‘Londoners know best which areas are most deserving of this cash boost, so I am going to ask them to vote for the places they want to see become greener and cleaner.’

The Mayor announced in May that he would direct a portion of funding from The Londoner to fund 10,000 street trees across London.

Background

1. The Priority Parks programme will use a portion of the funding saved by the ending of the Londoner publication introduced by the previous Mayor, which had a budget allocation of £2.9 this year. The Mayor announced in May that money saved by the scrapping of this publication will also fund 10,000 street trees across London.
2. The Priority Parks funding package of £6 million will be spent over four years.
3. Londoners will be able to vote on the Internet for the sites, which will benefit from this funding.