£300,000 for community environment projects

Another 14 locally led community projects have shared almost £300,000 to help boost quality of life for tens of thousands of people across the West Midlands and improve the region’s environment.

The money from the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) will be used to stage a community climate festival, create a green therapeutic garden, champion awareness of climate change in diverse communities, and run a citizen science project to monitor river water quality.

The WMCA has now provided £1.6 million to 55 grassroots environment projects right across the region, with the potential to improve the lives of more than 500,000 people by making it easier for them to spend time in nature, promoting repair and reuse schemes, and making their neighbourhoods more resilient to the impacts of climate change.

Richard Parker, Mayor of the West Midlands and WMCA chair, said: “People across our region are taking real action to improve their local communities, from transforming green spaces to addressing climate change. It’s inspiring to see residents working together to create better, more sustainable neighbourhoods.

"This funding supports those efforts, allowing communities to take the lead in shaping their own surroundings. The impact of these projects will be felt not just today, but for years to come, leaving a lasting legacy for future generations.”

EKHO Collective in Brierley Hill, Dudley, are among the latest projects to get funding from the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) Community Environment Fund.

The full list of grants from the latest round of environment funding from the WMCA is:

• The Ryecroft Centre in Walsall - £8,202 to run a climate festival, climate training, and host guided walks and bike rides to encourage people to spend more time in green spaces.
• Birmingham Botanical Gardens - £24,990 for a pilot research project to understand the impact of climate change on the city’s tree canopy to help raise awareness of the impact of heat, drought and flood.
• Birmingham Settlement Nature & Wellbeing Centre, Ladywood – Green Minds project - £19,526 to develop a three-acre site at Edgbaston Reservoir into a natural, safe, and welcoming community green therapeutic space with Living Well Consortium (LWC).
• EKHO Collective in Dudley - £25,000 to improve facilities at Hawbush Gardens so they can run more community activities and regular share shack sessions, offering free use of gardening, crafting tools, helping to improve well-being of participants.
• Growth Path (formerly Kingstanding Regeneration Trust) in Erdington, Birmingham - £13,148 to increase biodiversity and community use of Brookvale Park through a programme of planting and events and offering training and qualifications to young people not in education, training or employment.
• People for People - Smethwick Community Garden - £21,878 to create a nature focused community garden to get more people from diverse communities involved in green projects.
• BME United in Wolverhampton - £24,760 to raise awareness of the need to adapt to climate change among BME communities.
• Aspire 4u - Dudley Support Circles - £8,033 to reclaim an abandoned garden near to the town centre by establishing a gardening group that will teach local people new horticultural skills, improve the mental well-being of volunteers and visitors, enhance environmental awareness, and open up more local green space.
• Castle Bromwich Hall and Gardens Trust in Solihull - £21,292 to run a repair cafe, host home food growing drop-in days, and foraging and cooking sessions.
• Severn Rivers Trust in Coventry - £36,500 to support the Coventry Rivers Citizen Science project that will train volunteers to help monitor water quality along the River Sowe.
• The Ramblers Association in Dudley - £24,549 to improve footpaths in Cotwall End to improve access and run dedicated wellbeing walks.
• RSPCA Coventry District Branch - £17,200 to restore and maintain a pond in Coundon Wedge and open it up to the public and schools.
• Father Hudson’s Care in Sandwell - £24,740 to expand Brushstrokes Community Allotment Garden where isolated refugees and asylum seekers can enjoy a green space and grow vegetables for a local foodbank and community cafe.
• Sandwell African Caribbean Mental Health Foundation - £15,588 to transform part of a car park into a community garden growing vegetables and pollinator friendly plants, improving the wellbeing of adults, young people, and carers struggling to cope with or directly impacted by mental illness.​

The WMCA is supporting local green schemes through the Community Green Grants programme and the Community Environment Fund, which is part the WMCA’s and Government’s Commonwealth Games Legacy Enhancement Fund.

Later this month, representatives from all funded projects will gather together to celebrate their contribution to protecting, enhancing and restoring the natural environment and to share their experiences.

Find out more about how the WMCA is leading and funding work to protect the natural environment and some of the community led projects that have benefitted from grants on the WMCA website.