Beckton Parks Masterplan Co-design with Newham Council

In December of 2021, we were emailed by the Principal Environmental Improvement Officer for Parks and Green Spaces in the London Borough of Newham, to let us know about the co-designing opportunities for an extensive, 112-acre green space redesign taking place in the south of the borough.

The draft Masterplan focuses on a number of parks, one of which includes a lake; a sports field, woodland, a green corridor linking urban areas and the site of a former community farm, in the Beckton and Custom House wards.

A couple of ClimateYouChange members, representing the group attended the Co-design workshops which took place towards the end of 2022. We weighed in with various suggestions to improve carbon drawdown, biodiversity and the reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We made a strong case for the inclusion of food forests*. We suggested pockets of wildflowers be present as much as possible to support biodiversity, including pollinators. We requested permeable surfaces where ground covering is required. (We asked that the sports field did not get covered with concrete for any of the activities it supports/will support.)

When discussing the community hall in the Will Thorne Pavilion in Beckton Park, we urged the council and architects to work with the local community on using the space for sustainable practices. We asked for the hall to be used as a drop-off point for donations of pre-loved items to be given to residents. We suggested swap events and upcycling classes within the space, to help local people keep more of their belongings in circulation for longer.

We were alone in many of our suggestions, as the other people involved in co-design tended to come from different disciplines and areas of interest, focussed on sports, spaces to engage local youth, SEND provision etc.

Yet despite, approaching the parks and green space redesign solely from the perspective of climate change mitigation, including carbon drawdown retention and augmentation, we were met with positive responses from the Community Engagement and Co-Create Team. From one set of Co-design workshops to the next, we have seen uptake of our ideas as the process starts to unfold. We have had our suggestions repeated back to us as areas of interest. There are very real, positive signs that our ideas are being taken on board for inclusion within the finished redesign!

* perennial food growing spaces, containing plant support species to aid the wider food growing system and help bio-diversity