Donate what you can and help to complete Newham's first local community 'food forest' !
14 Aug 2025
At ClimateYouChange, we have been working hard to increase understanding of the climate crisis within our communities, through direct, grass roots action and involvement with our local council. Earlier this year we were given the Green Champion Award, as part of Newham Councils Civic Awards.​​​
Our work revolves around expressing the urgency of our global situation and highlighting the vanishingly small window of opportunity within which we have to act, alongside involving local people in climate change mitigatory measures. We use both education and legacy infrastructure to achieve this.
Through our work on the Fair Share Food Forest, based at the Katherine Road Community Centre, we have been teaching local people how they can reduce their green house gas emissions and become better custodians of the Earth using a 'closed loop' perennial food growing system.
We are educating residents on both the how and the why, explaining the myriad benefits for the natural World, enhancing bio-diversity, increasing numbers of pollinators and beneficial insects, decreasing pests, reducing loss of topsoil, alongside improved soil health.
We have run the project using Newham Council allotted funding from their People Powered Places initiative, starting by preparing the site in early 2024. We have already planted a number of fruit bushes, support species plants, food growing understory plants and perennial vegetables. We however require extra plants to complete the planting plan; especially at one end of the site.
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So, we have set up a Crowdfunder page to help us raise the £1,000 we need to ​complete this community perennial, 'food forest', including final planting and accessibility infrastructure.
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Please give what you can and use your networks to share the climateyouchange.org website with others.
Join us on 14 Sep 2025 to celebrate our pilot community collaboration with a FREE fun-filled family event
14 Aug 2025
ClimateYouChange, is celebrating its pilot community collaboration project to combat climate change with a special community event to showcase the workshops, and legacy infrastructure our group and local volunteers have created using People Powered Places funding from Newham Council. Hosted at the Katherine Rd Community Centre, E7 8PN from 2pm to 4pm on Sunday, 14 Sep, the event will celebrate the many project elements that have been undertaken during 2024-25 including:
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Experience Newham’s first food forest and rainwater irrigation system
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Fashion Upcycling short course display
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FREE Climate Kids fabric print craft session and bug hotel making PLUS FREE Sustainable home products and seed starter pack giveaways
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Discover how to maximise food growing in urban areas and learn about food waste reduction and plant-based eating.
Sustainable food growing workshop
01 June 2025
We had a great second session of our climate change combating food growing workshops. Participants were super engaged and keen to learn.
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We started off by giving everyone a tour of the food forest, explaining why low/zero external input, perennial food growing systems are needed and introduced workshop attendees to the different plants, including giving tastes of delicious hard-to-get foods being grown that they had not previously tried.
Workshop participants were then shown the newly installed rainwater system with information given by George, our ex-Thames Water member on key considerations when installing rainwater harvesting, including as part of a wider irrigation system
We then moved over to the instructional raised beds which were constructed for hands-on food growing education.
We detailed important considerations when growing annually planted/sown food crops, such as pest deterrents, sowing times etc. Attendees were taught methods by which they can maximise yields of food being grown; particularly relevant for smaller urban gardens and allotments. Information was provided on how to grow food organically and affordably.
We ended the session by giving everyone the chance to get some seed sowing experience, using two of the yield maximising practices that we had already explained.
Thank you to everyone who attended, including our members and the lovely volunteers who kindly gave their time.
Finished installation of educational raised bed and netted cage
23 May 2025
We now have both educational raised beds installed in the back garden of the Katherine Road Community Centre. They are constructed from larch wood, meaning that without treatment they would last around fifteen years. One of the raised beds has however been treated with a wood preservation technique called Shou Sugi Ban. (Ideally, if we had time we would have treated both.)
Shou Sugi Ban involves flaming wood to char the surface, wick away water and close capillaries in the wood. This greatly reduces the ability of micro-organisms to enter the wood, preventing rot and preserving it for substantially longer than if it weren’t treated.
From a sustainability standpoint we did require some gas during the flaming process but more than offset this by not needing to use a chemical wood preservation treatment.
We filled the beds with a mixture of soil, compost and various amendments, to provide optimal growing conditions.
Once both beds were in place, we attached wooden fox and cat protection cages which we covered with UV ray protected net.
Thank you very much to all of our lovely members and volunteers who helped to ensure successful delivery of this much needed educational infrastructure!
New PPP project sign added for Newham's first Food Forest at Katherine Road Community Centre
18 May 2025
As part of our Food Forest project for the Katherine Road Community Centre in E7, we have installed this sign today to formely titled the new 'Fair Share Food Forest'.
Funded by People Powered Places, the food forest is for anyone from the local community to get involved and help do some gardening in the food forest and gain their fair share of the food produced.
If you would like to be involved with the food forest project or interested in joining Climate You Change at any level, please contact us via our contact us form.
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We will be having a celebration today later in the Summer 2025 with all sorts of activities and free sustainable giveaways for families and indviduals to enjoy and learn more about growing food and how we can all make a difference to stop climate change.
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ClimateYouChange’s proposal leads to a new 6,000 tree pocket forest
13th April 2025
In July 2021 ClimateYouChange was approached by Nicola Mackie from Newham Council in her previous role as the East Ham Neighbourhood Community Ward Manager.
Nicola asked for advice on what would be best to plant in East Ham’s Gooseley Playing Fields where it borders the A13. We gave the only sensible answer...Miyawaki!
We couldn’t in good conscience recommend that food be grown close to a busy motorway but could suggest a way of achieving incredible levels of carbon drawdown whilst also combatting pollution for nearby residents.
Miyawaki is a dense tree planting technique. It mimics naturally occurring forests where trees grow closely and shade out weeds. Trees can be planted up to ten times more densely than conventional planting and can grow up to ten times faster than monocultures. Crucially, Miyawaki can sequester up to 30 times more CO2 than conventional tree planting!
Diverse species help to improve soil structure, whilst the density of the planting provides good water retention. Fallen leaf litter breaks down and feeds the trees, resulting in a *closed loop system. Native habitats are restored using diverse native species.
We first found out about the technique in January of 2021 during a phone call and subsequent emails with Carol Edwards, Community Ranger for Eastbrookend and Barking Parks. Carol had told us about the 32,000 trees that they were planting at Parsloes Park which was expected to sequester a staggering amount of co2. (Unfortunately, the predicted amounts are no longer to be found on Barking Council’s website.)
We told Nicola Mackie about potential planting partner and Miyawaki experts ‘Sugi’, and connected her with Carol Edwards, Community Ranger for Eastbrookend and Barking Parks. The rest is history!
Further to Nicola Mackie’s promotion to Parks Operation Manager, 6,000 trees are now being planted in the Gooseley playing fields! So for anyone who thinks that they cannot make a difference in the fight against climate change and cannot impact local authority decision-making...it can be done. It just needs diligent research of the solutions which work for your area and respectful conversation with the people in a position to implement suitable suggestions!
*a closed loop system is one where nature provides the ingredients required for plants to thrive without the need for external inputs
Meeting with MP Sir Stephen Timms at Newham's First Food Forest
11th April 2025
Thank you to everyone who helped to pave the way for today’s visit with our MP, Sir Stephen Timms! Countless man (and woman) hours went into maintaining the site, further to our initial ground prep and planting days, including extending the site from its original boundary and installing the large rainwater harvesting system.
Between us we have added new plants, weeded, removed litter, watered during hot spells and helped keep pests at bay. Fortunately, we will see less such work required as the food forest gets further established with mature plants, we install an anti-littering mesh barrier, plus passive irrigation system for times of drought.
The meeting with MP, Sir Stephen Timms went well today. We would have liked to have been able to include all our members but didn’t do too badly for a weekday.
Thank you to Sir Stephen Timms for kindly requesting a meeting to see the food forest for himself, with explanation from us. We were happy to have this opportunity with Stephen, a serving minister in the government cabinet, to show him the first Newham-based example of this truly sustainable, perennial food growing system which will not require chemical inputs once established. We find ourselves in the fortunate position to be able to communicate to our MP just how important food forests are to our long-term food security and why we need more of these throughout the UK.​
World Autism Awareness (WAAW) Climate Friendly Food Growing
06 April 2025
We had a fantastic first session in our series of food growing workshops, teaching residents how they can help to combat climate change through growing food and providing plants for pollinators/beneficial insects.
We ran this event not only for the autistic community, as part of WAAW, but for a wider audience to include people with special educational needs with or without autism, plus any carers for those with additional support needs.
The workshop was tailored to attendees’ different requirements and lack thereof, to allow something for everyone! All participants were given a tour of the food forest and the rainwater harvesting areas, followed by hands on seed-sowing experience.
Where autism was not accompanied by any special needs we gave a separate talk on advised food growing practices to maximise the yield of organically grown food.
We had a very positive session with plenty of engagement and new skills learnt.
We hope to run more inclusive workshops in the future, reaching out to all sectors of our society, helping everyone to see the part that they can play and the difference they can make in combatting climate change!
Civic Award from Newham Council helps to promote our climate change education work
06 February 2025
We have just received the Green Champion Award at Newham Council’s Civic Awards, held in Stratford’s old town hall.
It was an honour being given the award, and the evening was a glamorous affair.
However, we did not lose our focus on why we were there and why the work to tackle the climate crisis is so urgently needed.
For us, the main benefit to the recognition from Newham Council is the increased awareness it brings to our work!
Below is an extract from the thank you speech:
The work we do at ClimateYouChange is a group effort. We could not do this without the contributions of a number of individuals, all selflessly giving their time, and without the meaningful engagement of our communities.
Our work focuses on climate change education, on explaining the urgent nature of tackling this crisis, and teaching one another how we can practically and affordably lower our individual and collective carbon footprints.
Without urgent and radical lifestyle change from everyone in society we could be permanently crossing the 1.5 degrees warming target by 2030.
Breaching this critical threshold would render the climate crisis unstoppable.
Food Waste Reduction Cooking Classes
22 June 2024
Both events on 15th and 22nd June were really well received by residents. They were so much fun to run, owing in no small part to the fantastic engagement from members of our community who rolled up their sleeves and worked hard to make delicious meals, together with ClimateYouChange members and volunteers. There was such a lovely feeling of camaraderie!
We were lucky to be helped by CYC member, Mandy whose experience as a chef really helped make the first class a success and provided us with best practice in the kitchen to apply to the second. Thank you Mandy!
Working in small teams we cooked up a variety of meals using ingredients commonly discarded, showing residents how to reduce kitchen waste whilst whipping up tasty, nutritious, affordable meals.
We enjoyed sitting down together and sharing the food in the adjoining hall, alongside other residents who weren’t able to fit in the kitchen. We took the opportunity to educate everyone on what we had made and why; sharing practical tips on food waste reduction and eating a climate change combatting diet, including increasing plant-based food.
Community Sustainability Fairs, including ‘Climate Kids’
21 June 2024
We had a fantastic time over two separate afternoons in the main hall at the Katherine Road Community Centre with two community sustainability fairs. Each event had different zones which introduced members of our community to affordable, practical, and creative ways in which they can lower their carbon footprint. We offered a variety of free product samples and initiatives which really helped demonstrate ways to combat climate change at a household level.
Residents took advantage of the energy-saving advice delivered by a community partner expert. They then had the option to choose seeds for their food and wildflower food growing starter packs, alongside gardening advice offered by ClimateYouChange member, Janet, who brings her extensive experience from years of running the nearby Dorset Road Community Gardens.
Samples were given of both cost-effective sustainable toiletry plus cleaning products which can be purchased commercially and easy-to-make homemade recipes of the same so people were empowered to make their own.
The hall was buzzing with conversation as residents gleaned new information. Meanwhile, children and parents sat together for the ‘Climate Kids’ activities. Children printed on pre-prepared fabric to decorate their reusable tote bags and present wrapping fabric, saving fabric otherwise destined for ragging, landfill, or incineration. We followed this with a fun, interactive Q&A on climate change with prizes which ended up being offered to all the children!
Fashion Upcycling & Clothes Mending Course - Workshops 9 & 10
June 8, 2024
Course attendees were talked through different techniques to impart textural elements where desired. This led to the inclusion of a few final design elements.
Everyone was inducted in machine sewing thanks to the lovely making-volunteers. Participants were provided with plenty of one-to-one time during their forays into machine stitching. Confidence levels markedly rose as attendees found their feet and realised that they could comfortably sew when provided with good support and the right tools for the job!
As participants neared the end of their upcycling journeys finishing touches were starting to be added. We did none-the-less decide to offer another session to allow all he needed it a bit of extra time with hands on support and machine access.
To be continued...
Fashion Upcycling & Clothes Mending Course - Workshops 7 & 8
June 1, 2024
With the work beginning in earnest, course participants were able to roll up their sleeves and get stuck in. With assistance from the course tutor and volunteers the attendees were helped to change garment proportions and discover how to fit the upcycled designs around their body shapes and proportions. Consideration was given to how to work towards the desired end results, allowing for changes to be made according to design-led whim!
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This is where a bit of staying power pays for itself. Laborious tasks such as unpicking seams and carefully pinning together fabrics around new design lines provided the basis for breathing new life into old garments!
All of this was interspliced with careful measurements, calculations and some paper pattern work, with technical help of course :)
Fashion Upcycling & Clothes Mending Course - Workshops 5 & 6
May 18, 2024
Course participants were given technical instruction, arming them with factors worthy of consideration before embarking on the cutting and sewing leg of their upcycling journey. This was done to provide basic cutting and stitching instruction alongside helping the attendees avoid certain making pitfalls, to work towards the best finished pieces!
Participants were advised on which upcycled design elements they might wish to avoid for complete beginners, to aid them in creating achievable and attractively finished outcomes. They were further educated on different types of fabrics with explanation given on how they behave during the making process.
Everyone was shown how to fit garments to one of the different sized dressmakers’ mannequins.
Now the real work begins, as attendees start to implement their upcycling designs with the help of the dressmaking volunteers and fashion design tutor!
Invitation to be a Newham Council Community Changemaker
May 13, 2024
Group founder, Celia Wain-Heapy has been invited to represent ClimateYouChange within the Newham Council Communiy Changemaker programme. According to Newham Council:
‘We are relaunching our ‘Changemakers’ programme to celebrate people who go above and beyond to improve the health and wellbeing of their communities in Newham. This will be a constantly growing community, where people can meet, share ideas and inspiration, network and make connections. Changemakers will be celebrated at our annual health event and have the opportunity to access free training and capacity building.’
Below is the article from the council changemaker page on Celia and ClimateYouChange:
Meet a Changemaker: Celia Wain-Heapy, representing ClimateYouChange
Celia set up ClimateYouChange.org in 2019 with the aim of addressing the climate emergency through community education and individual lifestyle changes.
ClimateYouChange is an inclusive group of people who all share the same goals. They are involved in wide-ranging educational projects – from food forest planting, which aims to change people’s relationship with how and where food is grown, to running food-waste cooking sessions, teaching fashion upcycling and leading fun, creative ‘Climate Kids’ sessions. They also give out food and wildflower growing seed packs, alongside sustainable alternative product samples.
The group appreciates the impact of different voices and perspectives tackling climate change together, as can be found in Newham’s diverse population.
Fashion Upcycling & Clothes Mending Course - Workshops 3 & 4
May 03, 2024
We are now moving on to upcycling and deciding on personal projects. This is a stage which cannot be rushed!
Everyone is encouraged to play with fashion, to discard previous notions of what fashion should be and how clothes ‘are intended to be worn’. We are not looking for crazy and out there but rather upcycled styles which reflect the true spirit of the wearer and their individual creativity.
The fashion volunteers and tutor were on hand to help with ideas and pinning! Guidance was given on properties of fabrics and other technical aspects of how to implement the ideas.
Fashion Upcycling & Clothes Mending Course - Workshop 2
April 20, 2024
This is where the fun begins! The next stage of our time together focusses on harnessing our creativity. This was a chance to see that everyone has a well of creativity that they can tap into; to understand that it is not just the designers and artists in society who have access to this precious commodity.
Before moving onto upcycling and making we needed to first look at how to wear and style clothes differently to reinvigorate the pieces already owned. The short course tutor demonstrated this principle to show how flexible certain garments can be, creating new and attractive looks.
Participants were given access to massive piles of pre-owned clothing, many of which had been saved from being destined for ragging at best, landfill and burning at worst. Together with garments some attendees had brought in there was a chance to ‘play’ with fashion and experiment with different possibilities, assisted by the tutor and the course volunteers (all with relevant fashion and making skills).
Fashion Upcycling & Clothes Mending Course - Workshop 1
April 13, 2024
We had a good first session with lots of positive engagement from the course participants.
Everyone shared their expectations and motivations for being there. A number of the workshop attendees came with the desire to make a difference to their carbon footprint by seeing how they could keep garments in their wardrobe for longer. Everyone wanted to increase their skills and creativity.
We had a packed, hands-on session where participants learnt different mending skills. We discussed whether it is always desirable to hide garment mending or whether it could also be applied creatively, as if a badge of honour, to show the time and care taken to keep a garment in use for longer!
Following the tutor demonstrations, course attendees practised three different hand mending techniques, to give them new skills which they can incorporate into their clothes care.
Everyone was told what to expect from the following sessions, starting with enhancing their creativity!
Food Forest Planting - Day 1
March 9, 2024
After all the wet weather from the site preparation days, we had good weather for our first planting day. Throughout the day we welcomed over 20 volunteers to help start the planting of the Food Forest.
After the health and safety briefing, we ran through how we were transferring the scaled planting plan to the membrane-covered area and how to plant the different varieties.
You can view the planting plan portfolio here:
CYC-PPP-Food_Forest_Planting_Plan [PDF, 1.3MB]
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Everyone seemed to enjoy the day and those who hadn't planted before got a real kick out of seeing the fruits of their labour. By 5pm, when the community centre was closing, around half of all the plants had been bedded in and a good day's work had been accomplished.
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Thank you to all those who volunteered to join in and make the day possible - good work everyone!
Food Forest - Site Preparation Day
March 2, 2024
After strimming the site in the days beforehand, we had a successful site preparation day with over 15 volunteers turning up to help clear the site of brambles and litter. Everyone powered through despite rain and the increasingly muddy conditions.
One high point of the day was winning the battle with a very stubborn old tree root that was growing under the concrete fence between the community centre and the school next door.
Eventually we were ready to install the biodegradable weed membrane using biodegradable pegs. This will ensure that the new plants coming in for the food forest can get established without being taken over and smothered by weeds and grasses.
A big thank you to all who turned up to help - a really good community effort!
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Food Forest Public Consultation
February, 12 2024
Thank you to members of our community who participated in the food forest planning consultation that we held at the Katherine Road Community Centre. It was a well-attended event with positive contribution from local people.
We kicked off by outlining what makes a food forest, explaining the benefits, why they should be included within our green spaces, the advantages over conventional food growing and how they combat climate change.
We discussed how we make the space work, outlining the steps to implementation and how to get involved.
Then we moved onto design planning, looking at plant selections and possible alternatives. We spoke about the practical considerations governing which plants are suitable and where they might be placed.
We have already created a prototype design as part of the funding application process. This allowed us to see what could work with space, light etc. and to create a basic costing.
The consultation process gave us the opportunity to discuss where we could change the provisional plant selection, with thought given to practical considerations, such as soil type and moisture levels.
There was really useful feedback on plants which could be introduced into the system, to perform additional ground cover functions. These ideas will be taken forward! The rest of the design was approved by the public to be taken forward from the prototype stage.
Now we just need to get moving, turning our work together into a reality!
UPDATE: Beckton Parks Masterplan
December, 21 2023
In September 2023, we were invited back to join the Beckton Parks Working Group to support implementation of the Beckton Parks Masterplan. Members, Jyotsna, and Celia went to represent ClimateYouChange. In the new 112 acre Beckton parks and green spaces design plans, we were happy to see a number of our recommendations:
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the creation of two food forests; one of which is to include an outdoor learning area
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food growing capacity increased with more allotments
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phasing out of annual planting and replacing with climate resilient wildlife friendly perennials, including new perennials around pathways
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more trees and patches of wildflower planting
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composting facilities for green waste and food waste
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phasing out of petrol driven vehicles and tools for park maintenance and more cycle parking
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the re-use and refurbishment of existing buildings where possible
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reduced hard standing through naturalising an existing area of concrete to create more parkland
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phasing out of single use plastics from all facilities.
We were also told that the plans for the Will Thorne Pavilion included using this space to support the circular economy through the ideas that we previously put forward; namely providing space for residents to share unneeded belongings and to attend mending and upcycling learning activities.
Some of the incorporated design ideas listed above were also requested by others involved at the co-design stage. There were however certain suggestions which were only really proposed by ClimateYouChange. We had worked hard to explain these elements and why they are needed. It is really encouraging to see how open Newham Council are to taking these suggestions on board.
During Working Group meetings, we spoke about how the various stakeholders could work with the Council and the Engagement Team. We discussed areas that we would like to be involved in and help to deliver. This help was due to be in the form of finessing different elements with relevant advice from us as part of this equation.
We keenly expressed support for the roll out of the food forests and other greening initiatives, to achieve sustainable food growing practices, increase biodiversity and maximise carbon drawdown. We also volunteered to get involved in the setting up of circular economy initiatives and education at the Will Thorne Pavilion.
Sadly, after attending meetings to discuss how we would like to support the Masterplan implementation, the Parks Team decided to no longer continue with the Working Group. There had been a couple of combative individuals (unrelated to ClimateYouChange) who weren’t working respectfully and had been using their inclusion within the group to challenge members of the council. This is a real shame, but we are still happy to know that many of our suggestions were chosen to be taken forward and we were able to affect the Masterplan design outcomes!
Success! Our People Powered Project funding has been voted in!
December 14, 2023
After some great work by group members: Celia, Dirk, Jyotsna, Anitha, George, Mikey and Stewart our project proposal has been voted in and has secured the £20,000 funding to run a varied programme of sustainability fashion and living courses and to create Newham's first food forest with a gravity-fed watering system!
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In the new year we will start organising the first steps to deliver this project and will post updates here and also on the Co-create platform here:
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Co-create People, Powered, Places project proposal
September 10, 2023
ClimateYouChange has submitted a proposal to Newham Council's People Powered Places to fund a £20,000 project in 2024. The project aims to run Sustainable fashion and living workshops and also create Newham's first food forest at the front of Katherine Road Community Centre.
You can view the proposal and vote by following this link:
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Designing and teaching children’s climate change education programme
December 30, 2022
Back in late 2019 when ClimateYouChange was in its infancy, group members contributed to the group plan, whereupon priorities were finalised. One such priority and aim was to include children’s climate change education as part of the group offer. Owing to working on various projects this was not realised until now!
In July of this year, group Founder, Celia, met youth coordinator, Joseph, at a local event. She told him about the group’s work and invited him to join the group. Celia suggested that ClimateYouChange could contribute children’s climate change education at youth sessions (that he was due to run) which was met with a positive response.
Joseph subsequently became a ClimateYouChange member. Later in the year he suggested involving the group in a children’s Christmas holiday programme, alongside activities such as arts and crafts, cookery, indoor sports etc. which he was schedules to run.
This was for his work at the Renewal Programme, a Newham based charity focused on assisting and empowering members of the community facing challenges such as food poverty, housing problems, language barriers etc.
As part of the work they do, free support is given in building new skills and confidence which also extends to their youth programme. Families in hardship additionally benefit from help with holiday childcare, with children attending their programmes receiving a warm meal.
After research and careful consideration, Celia drew up a children’s climate change education programme with a range of activities to be carried out over the holiday period, culminating in a climate change game and prize.
Each activity was designed to teach young people about the climate crisis in a clear, assimilable fashion, without scaring them. We focused on positive messaging and young people having agency with fun, practical, and engaging activities.
ClimateYouChange’s programme was created to cater for an age 8 – 12-year-old age group. Celia had wanted to involve other ClimateYouChange members in the delivery but was asked to singularly represent the group, alongside Renewal Programme youth team, for this first time working with the Renewal Programme, and the pilot for the ClimateYouChange education programme designed for children.
ClimateYouChange’s initial experience of working with youth was a success, with children showing positive levels of engagement and keenness to demonstrate their knowledge of this crucial subject.
The fun, interactive nature of our programme provides the foundation upon which we can develop further climate change education initiatives for young people. The group look forward to continuing this as part of our wider work and building upon this successfully delivered pilot!
Beckton Parks Masterplan Co-design with Newham Council
December 03, 2022
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
Meeting with council officer responsible for extensive market regeneration project to discuss sustainability outcomes
August 06, 2022
Towards the end of July we met with the Green Street Programme Manager, Clive Kershaw who is responsible for the development and delivery of the £5.3M Queens Market ‘Good Growth programme’, jointly funded by Newham Council and the Mayor of London.
This programme was set up by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. It is being implemented in Newham as a borough-wide initiative working on supporting economic development and community well-being. As part of this, significant funds have been allocated to support the regeneration and redesign of a well-loved but rather run-down undercover market. The market currently has 164 trading pitches, 62 small shops and 20 kiosks. It has a mock-Brutalist exterior which has seen better days.
The project aims to improve the look, feel and function of the market, with improvements to the adjoining outside space, Queen’s Square and the construction of an affordable workspace building within the generous-sized parking space to the back of the site. There will also be restoration of Hamara Ghar, a large, sheltered housing block for elderly residents, which will help the council meet their climate emergency obligations. A community creative workspace is planned for the ground floor of Hamara Ghar, as is potentially a new library.
Clive is working with various stakeholders, council colleagues and architects to deliver a market redesign which works for as many interested parties as possible.
We were involved early on with co-design where we shared a number of ideas for how to ensure sustainability within the overall finished redevelopment. We had subsequent contact with the council and one of the commissioned architects before being invited to meet with Clive to discuss climate change mitigatory initiatives.
ClimateYouChange members Jyotsna, Henrietta and Celia attended with Sameer Kassam from Refill Abell in Oxhey Village in Hertfordshire, just north of London. We invited Sameer to attend after contacting him to see whether he might like to express an interest in having a refill store within the finished market redesign, or at the very least join us to provide a commercial perspective on integrating zero waste practices within the market.
We covered a lot of ground during the meeting, warranting the need for a fairly in-depth follow up document being sent by us to Clive, to provide him with a written record of our suggestions for the many areas we discussed.
In this document we came up with proposals for promotion and signage to encourage conscious consumption, buying locally grown etc. We detailed ideas for zoned areas within the market, to create powerful messaging around climate-friendly buying choices, from zero waste and sustainable ingredients/materials to circular economy goods and services. We gave suggestions for how to zone, cleanly with easy to understand, appealing wording, alongside ideas for how to increase the attractiveness of these sustainable product offerings and services.
We put forward suggestions for climate-friendly food practices and food waste minimisation, woven into the positive sustainability themes and signage proposed for the market. We suggested themed days and events to further promote community lifestyle changes, celebrating the proposed enhanced, sustainable Queens Market product and service offering. We also offered sustainability workshop/event ideas for the creative wellbeing space and suggested green initiatives for the workspace.
For the Hamara Ghar, sheltered housing block and what will be new build workspaces, we offered a number of suggestions on materials, water management, green electricity storage, thermal mas improvements and reuse ideas.
Finally, we touched on active travel before covering greening solutions, including how these could engage the community. Where things go from here, we are as yet uncertain, given that the regeneration planning involves many stakeholders and is an ever-changing, dynamic process. Only time will tell what can come from the meeting and follow-up document.
ClimateYouChange partners with the Stay Warm in Newham project
September 01, 2022
We are partnering with StayWarm in Newham for the next year to help local people access Energy-related support and advice from Groundworks Green Doctors including information on grants and FREE eco-products such as LED light bulbs. Support also includes FREE Hot meals every Wednesday and weekly Warm Bank sessions for tea, coffee and good company!
Talk on climate change at the Dorset Road Community Garden
October 10, 2021
Thank you very much to Varsha Patel, Janet and Kenn Vickers for inviting us to give a talk on climate change at the Dorset Road Community Garden in the Green Street neighbourhood. This is as part of a series of educational events that they are hosting as a council funded initiative.
We gave a speech outlining the extreme nature of climate change already being experienced across the globe, showing the frequency and degree to which the related disasters are escalating.
We then outlined how everyone can play an essential part in combatting climate change, with details on how we can all make practical and affordable lifestyle changes.
The ten-minute talk somehow stretched out to half an hour with the flurry of questions from engaged community garden members! Everyone wanted to know as much as they could on the how, where and why.
We gave details on a host of climate change mitigatory measures, with everything from how to make affordable plant-based milk, to homemade, petroleum free cleaning recipes and where to find the best/lowest cost preloved clothing.
The intended outcome of this event is that people will start to incorporate these changes into their own lives and share with their networks of friends and family.
Update: Sadly, a few months after we met Varsha Patel, she passed away. Our condolences to her family.
Presentation at Newham Council’s Citizen’s Assembly on Greening the Borough
July 11, 2021
Further to an invitation from Newham Council to speak at the Citizen’s Assembly on Greening the Borough we have given a speech and interacted with the assembly members with quick fire Q & A.
The event to which we contributed was held in partnership with the Democratic Society who were supporting the council in the assembly delivery. The aim was to provide a cross-section of Newham residents with the opportunity to give their thoughts and recommendations on borough-wide greening initiatives and strategy.
The online session began with an introduction by the Democratic Society and the Council, followed by four speakers (including us) being moved into ‘breakout’ rooms. Once here, we gave a brief introduction to our work at ClimateYouChange followed by a PowerPoint presentation. We started by placing strong emphasis on why we all urgently need to address the climate crisis, to urge the assembly members to factor this into their decision-making.
We first highlighted the rapid acceleration in extreme weather events, using comparable data from different countries to build up a picture of ever-increasing climate change induced disasters, showing noticeable escalation in frequency and severity. We pointed to our own vulnerability in the UK, from past climate change induced events and how this can change. Then, we moved on to solutions, giving a brief overview of lifestyle changes and the need for honest, brave conversations, before delving into greening proposals,
We outlined several workable environmental initiatives, from tree planting strategies, including much needed food forests* and dense, Japanese tree-planting technique, Miyawaki, to measures designed to increase biodiversity and reduce plant pest populations, alongside pollinator restoration practices. We suggested increased community ownership of green spaces, and active travel corridors to community food growing spaces, plus the inclusion of physical examples of affordable and sustainable food growing mediums.
Some of the other considerations we mentioned included how to bring nature and food-growing into the more urban areas. We made suggestions looking at how the council can work with developers to maximise greening solutions for new developments, potential de-paving strategy, and considerations factoring sustainability into physical infrastructure.
*Perennial food growing spaces, which mimic natural forests, therein employing nature-inspired solutions to food growing problems
Let's Grow! Brampton Park
June 12, 2021
We have been contributing to the Brampton Park community meetings that started in October 2020, as part of the community engagement programme run by the East Ham Community Neighbourhood Team. 
The aim is to create a community garden and growing space that makes use of unused parkland. ClimateYouChange members have been working on how to effectively include climate change mitigatory and adaptation measures, plus environmental protections. These include using the project as an educational resource, incentivising increased food and wildflower growing in home gardens, maximising carbon drawdown, using sustainable infrastructural materials, effective water management, soil improvement, bio-diverse plant promotion, pollinator help, wildlife corridors and reducing flood risk.
We have written and shared detailed documents with the council on the above, alongside practical considerations to help ensure the project’s success and guard against potential obstacles. These include containerised perennial plant solutions for an existing hard standing area, avoiding barriers to implementation, site security and resident management, anti-theft measures, including the use of unrecognisable plants, disease and pest mitigation, tree and plant selection criteria, maximised harvest output, diverse promotional tools and creating local buy-in, to name but a few.
Greenway tree planting proposal
May 07, 2021
ClimateYouChange submitted a proposal to Thames Water via Stephens Timms MP for a new tree planting project along the Greenway in East Ham, Newham UK.
We have already sourced the trees from charitable sources and are just waiting for Thames Water to respond to our proposal and see the positive community, climate change and PR benefits
£1.5m Public space community co-design improvements in London Borough of Newham
March 04, 2020
In 2019 Newham Council launched the Shape Newham initiative, led by architecture practice AOC. The three-year ‘place-making’ project was created to revitalise the public realm* within roughly half of the borough’s neighbourhoods.
Founding ClimateYouChange member, Celia attended a series of workshops across the borough aimed at choosing the locations and priorities for each project. She participated in discussions and decision-making with a view to encouraging the uptake of climate change mitigatory measures.
Different locations were presented to the attendees, with varying degrees of possibilities for sustainability and greening measures, amongst other potential outcomes (aesthetic improvements, civic pride, youth engagement/activities etc.). In her role representing ClimateYouChange, Celia championed for the locations within which the greatest climate change combatting opportunities exist. She urged for the climate and environmental/bio-diversity crisis to be made a priority.
Suggestions presented on behalf of ClimateYouChange included extra tree planting (ideally in-ground to improve carbon drawdown), increased public food growing offers, wildflowers and year-round pollinator-friendly plants, retainment of existing equipment/structures with repairs and refurbishment instead of replacements, re-use of existing materials in any new fabrications and improved cycling infrastructure.
After the initial public consultation events, Celia was invited to attend a series of Shape Newham Design Committee Sessions as a member working on public realm improvements within the Green Street area, close to the Upton Park tube station.
AOC architect, Francesca Merton led the process, alongside her architect colleagues. She brought forward various proposals from the previous workshops. Whilst potential locations had already been reduced, the options still required slimming down to end up with the final four.
Over subsequent committee sessions, members worked with Francesca and her colleagues to decide on physical improvement and infrastructural outcomes, followed by collaboration with local creators on the design principals and material fabrications. The sessions culminated in a presentation of public realm redesign/improvements with final weigh in from committee members.
Through collaborative idea sharing, ClimateYouChange were able to ensure a small reduction in car parking spaces (three vehicle spaces taken out of circulation). The finished designs convert the decommissioned parking spaces to two small pedestrian areas, each with a tree in a tree pit surrounded by wildflowers.
Together with a couple of other committee members we were also successful in getting cycle stands included within the final design.
We underlined the need for the architects and designers to make use of existing structures wherever possible, to reduce the use of virgin materials. As part of this, we saw existing streetlights refurbished with minimal new material added.
* This refers to all publicly accessible spaces in urban areas, including both outdoor spaces; streets, footpaths, squares, parks, waterways etc., and indoor areas, such as station platforms and shopping centres.
Presentation at Newham’s Citizen’s Assembly for Climate Change
February 24, 2020
On the 22nd of February 2020 we gave a presentation at the Citizens Assembly for Climate Change, after being contacted invited to by Newham Council.
The assembly was created from a cross-section of our communities, with the express purpose of educating members of the public on the climate crisis, so that they can advise on the council on appropriate measures which they feel should be taken using their diverse perspectives,
We were part of a morning of presentations being given on sustainable building, Earth care and faith-based responsibility towards tackling climate change, fossil fuel divestment, the impact on and opinions of the youth of today in respect of the climate crisis, plus our thoughts on the role of community-based education.
Presentations were given by the University of East London’s Head of Architecture, sustainable community self-build housing organisation: Ecomotive, fossil fuel divestment campaigners: Fossil Free Newham, a Franciscan Brother from the Friary of St. Francis with a passion for tackling climate change, a Newham resident representing youth views on the climate crisis and ourselves.
This was followed by round table discussions with the Citizens’ Assembly participants. We visited each table of Assembly residents who asked us relevant questions.
We used the work we have been doing to inform our perspective, with emphasis laid on how Newham Council can expedite the speed by which local people can learn about climate change within their communities. Having seen the work the council has been doing on recruiting and training community ‘Air Quality and Health Champions’ we advised using the same approach to create a grass roots Climate Change Champions programme.
Before arriving at our recommendation, our presentation focused on contextualising the climate crisis to help the audience not only understand the real World consequences of the crisis already being experienced across the globe but the problems awaiting our communities if we don’t act with great haste.