Support our call for the present or future Mayor of London to investigate the options, benefits, costs, and opportunities for making London the world’s first National Park City.

We invite you to join us and become a Founder of the Greater London National Park, the world’s first National Park City.

London is an inspirational city. It’s well known for its built and cultural heritage, but it has an incredible natural heritage too. With 8 million trees, 3.8 million gardens, 3,000 parks and 142 local nature reserves, the capital enjoys a wealth of green spaces that add value to London. This invaluable mosaic of gardens, woods, parks and nature reserves covers 47% of the capital. They make our city more resilient, enjoyable, healthy and prosperous, whilst providing homes to over 13,000 species of wildlife.

Together we can make far more of our city’s natural potential.

The purpose of a Greater London National Park would be similar other UK National Parks. It would conserve and enhance its natural and cultural heritage, promote opportunities for the understanding and enjoyment of London’s green spaces, and foster the economic and social well being of local communities. 

A Greater London National Park would be a new kind of national park. Working in partnership with all Londoners to inspire, enable and support the creation of a better environment, a better economy and a better quality of life for visitors, residents and workers. Unlike rural national parks, it would not need planning powers to achieve these aims.

We’ve identified SIX key areas where delivery will make the greatest change. 

1. Children - Growing up in a National Park City would have a profound influence on our children. It would open up new opportunities for young people to be healthy, spend quality time with family, improve their outdoor education and grow up as creative citizens. 

2. Health - Actively enjoying quality green space improves our mental health, physical health and well-being. It not only saves money on the health services money, but can also improve productivity in the workplace.

3. Wealth- The Greater London National Park will put London on the map as the birthplace of a new National Park City movement. It will not only inspire new kinds of business in the capital, but actively work to promote opportunities for recreation and tourism in London’s outer boroughs.

4. Recreation - London is an incredible, inspirational and accessible landscape to explore. The Greater London National Park would promote the city’s long distance footpaths, 50 canoe clubs and numerous other often forgotten opportunities to enjoy open-air recreation.

5. Environment - The National Park will create a common vision for the city that all Londoners will understand. Activities will lead to better management of the capital’s green and blue infrastructure and as a result, increased resilience against pollution, flooding, climate change and other risks.

6. Nature - Londoners share a long history appreciating and protecting wildlife. The Park would both celebrate our achievements in conserving green space and inspire a generation to think creatively about our future relationship with nature.

This is an opportunity to be part of a shared and transformative vision for London. From children to pensioners, teachers to gardeners, artists to architects and walkers to hotel owners, we can all take inspiration from a London National Park to make the capital even greater.

We are calling for the present and future Mayor of London to investigate the opportunities, costs, benefits and options for making London the world's first National Park City.

In addition to over 85 organisations, George Monbiot, Sir Terry Farrell CBE, Camila Batmanghelidjh, Zac Goldsmith MP, Murad Qureshi AM, Jenny Jones AM, Chris Packham, Griff Rhys Jones, Professor Michael Depledge, Michael Rosen, Melissa Harrison and Robert Macfarlane are among those supporting our call.

Join us and become a Founder of the Greater London National Park by signing our petition.

 

Thank you for your help. Together we can make this happen!

Please consider joining us for Reimagine London, a special event at Southbank to reimagine imagine London as a National Park City.

To become more involved in the campaign please click here.

Like the pictures? Thank you for the duck Iain Green, hedgehog Ian James and reservoir Simon de Glanville.