Derby's Green Corridors
Derbyshire Wildlife Trust in Derby City
We have been building our presence and reach in Derby City. With our flagship urban rewilding project at Allestree Park and other work like Derwent Living Forest – the Trust is recognising the importance of city spaces in the push for a greener county.
How we work towards this is also changing. As an organisation, we understand the need to empower and inspire local communities to take action. We have been doing that through our Team Wilder initiative where we encourage individual and group actions for wildlife through pledges and campaigns.
Another way we have looked to engage local communities is through our Nextdoor Nature project. Thanks to National Heritage Lottery funding, we have been able to create a Community Organiser role. Nextdoor Nature has worked in the inner-city areas of Normanton, Arboretum and Alvaston.
Adam Nextdoor Nature (c) Kayleigh Wright, Derbyshire Wildlife Trust
Green Corridors
What is a Green Corridor?
A green corridor is a piece of urban land created to act as an extension of natural areas and looks to connect green spaces in a city. Green corridors are fantastic for local wildlife as it provides small ‘oasis’ for them to travel around areas that are sparse with green space.
On top of the improvement in biodiversity, they can also be places for the community to learn, connect with nature and have ownership within their local community. Not only that, bits of greenery and colour add to the look and feeling of urban areas and offer a light relief from the concrete jungle which many city areas have become.
Alongside Derby City Council, we hope this Green Corridor initiative can be the start of a collection of green spaces that provide a space for wildlife in the city, increase awareness of the environment and promote the positive wellbeing impacts of nature.
Click here to watch our Nextdoor Nature project in action!
We are working with Derby City Council’s Neighbourhood Team, local groups and schools to facilitate the creation of a Green Corridor between Normanton and Arboretum Park and improve pockets of green space for urban wildlife. Here are the projects we have done so far:
Society Place
Connecting Cummings Street and Provident Street, this popular walkway used to be a road before changes were made to the area around the 1970’s. Local residents will tell you, this walkway had not been best used with regular fly tipping and dog fouling a persistent issue and desperately needed changes. Seeing the areas potential, Derby City Council and Derbyshire Wildlife Trust asked the young people of Arboretum Primary School for their input to design a wildlife and community friendly green space.
Thanks to Home Office Safer Streets funding you can now see fruit trees, planters filled with herbs and flowers as well as a bug hotel created by Rosehill Infants School. We hope we can add more interest for the community to the walkway as the years progress. Local children have worked very hard on Society Place with the hope it can be a clean, attractive and vibrant space for the community and wildlife to thrive.
Normanton Road Raised Planters Mural
This mural has been painted by local artist Todd Jerm, and plants and flowers have been added to the raised planters on Normanton Road as part of a partnership between Derby City Council, Derbyshire Wildlife Trust and The Pakistan Community Centre, sponsored by the Home Office’s Safer Streets funding programme.
Todd was inspired by young people’s drawings at the Pakistan Community Centre’s summer holiday activity club. Derbyshire Wildlife Trust’s Community Organiser, Adam Dosunmu Slater and Youth Worker, Ruth Richardson visited the community group and asked them to draw something which represented nature and the community. Their ideas formed the basis for the free hand graffiti mural that looks to celebrate the nature and community spirit which make up the area of Normanton.
