East Ham Nature Reserve enhancement for local residents - £11,000
From "East Ham Community Assemblies"
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The project will benefit people in the whole of Newham, by increasing the amenity value of the open space, making it more attractive to visit. There are problems at the moment with antisocial behaviour on the site. Increasing the number of visitors would have a deterrent effect on this and increased footfall would help to stop areas becoming overgrown. We desperately need more volunteers to maintain the site, but many people don’t even know that there is a nature reserve in East Ham. More visitors might mean more people would take an interest and offer to help.
The addition of seating makes it accessible to people who have difficulty visiting at the moment. This is particularly important for older people, who may be lonely and experiencing mental health problems and would benefit from sitting in natural surroundings.
Planting more wild flowers and bulbs improves the environment for people and would support pollinators like bees and butterflies, whose numbers have declined sharply.
Reinstating the pond would create a new habitat, bringing in more wildlife. This would give more scope for educational activities.
East Ham Nature Reserve is already an exceptional site for reptiles, with an exceptional population of slow worms and a good population of common lizards (Froglife criteria). The addition of water would definitely bring in frogs, toads and newts and possibly grass snakes, making it a very important site for reptiles and amphibians, not just in the local area but in Greater London. There would be a possibility of having it designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).