TOM MYTTON COLUMN: Wandsworth is not only "The Brighter Borough", it's The Greener Borough

This article is part of our monthly column series, where Nub News has given a campaigner the opportunity to write about what they have done over the past month. We have asked campaigners/councillors from both the Labour party and the Conservative party to contribute.

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Tom Mytton's monthly column

Wandsworth really is a fantastic place to live, particularly when it comes to green open spaces and the local environment. Did you know that 40% of Wandsworth is covered by parks, commons, green spaces and gardens? We have some of the best green spaces in the whole of London. Five of our parks have been awarded the green flag award, which is an international mark of quality for well managed parks and green spaces. In the last three years Wandsworth Borough Council has planted over 1,200 trees to add to the 60,000 plus we already have in the borough and there are many more to come. It's one of the reasons why I moved here when I first came to London over seven years ago - I had to be near green open space, somewhere I could walk and get my balance of 'countryside' as well as that of living in a city. It has certainly helped create that balance over the last 18 months!

May and June in particular have seen a real focus on how we are and will make our borough even greener and even cleaner. During May we had the national campaign, 'No Mow May', which aimed to encourage people not to mow their lawns and allow wildflowers and grass to grow, which supports pollinators and the improvement of overall biodiversity. I was delighted to see Wandsworth Borough Council also supporting this campaign by not mowing green open spaces throughout the month and I am even more delighted to see that the council have committed to scheduled mowing beyond the month of May on Tooting Bec Common, which maximises the improvement of biodiversity and can only be seen as a positive.

It is completely right that Wandsworth Borough Council should be leading the way locally, on making our borough even greener and they have shown their commitment by launching a number of green strategies in the last few weeks. However, this can't just be achieved by the council alone. It is really heartening to see so many local volunteer groups pushing their own positive action, whether that's out picking up litter on the commons, working with the council to encourage the planting of more trees in our local area or the active encouragement of residents through local campaigns to plant more flowers for the summer months and making our local area a more vibrant place to live.

Speaking of, June saw the conclusion of the Beautify Balham's local campaign, Balham In Bloom. This invited local residents and businesses to take part in "the beautification of Balham through living floral displays." It was fantastic to see so many people and business owners get involved in this campaign and I think it's fair to say that we all noticed how many front gardens were out in full bloom more so than in previous years. Although I live in a flat and couldn't completely take part, I enjoyed getting down for the awards ceremony and it was lovely to see so many come out to support and celebrate both the winners and runners up - a huge congratulations again to everyone.

I want to use this monthly article to promote the positive action that is taking place locally but by no means detract from all of the work we still have ahead of us to make Wandsworth the greenest inner London Borough by 2030. It will be a challenge but I am fully behind achieving this goal and I will be doing my bit at every opportunity to help us achieve this.

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Tom Mytton is a local volunteer, trustee and Conservative candidate for South Balham in the Wandsworth local elections in 2022.