Ben Moxham, Sophy Tayler and Elaine Clarke describe the work of the Camberwell Trees & Green Spaces Group.

The Camberwell Trees & Green Spaces Group was formed earlier this year to focus on practical green initiatives in the area. It reports both to the Camberwell Society and SE5 Forum for Camberwell.

One of our first projects was to map the green spaces in the area. We discovered there are around 40 parks, council estate open spaces, pocket spaces, open spaces and other green spaces across Camberwell – a truly impressive number.

We next surveyed around 20 representatives of different Friends groups and Tenants & Residents Associations to help shape the priorities of our group. This exercise led us to three clear priorities:

• Improve communication with Southwark Council and large companies in the area on trees and green spaces issues;
• ensure trees and green spaces are properly considered in the planning process of major development projects in the area;
• implement a new volunteering programme for ad hoc litter picking and gardening projects brought forward by groups such as the friends.

We also want to highlight the remarkable trees that we have in SE5 and are working on a series of tree walks. These are featured on the Camberwell Society’s website.

Our new volunteering programme has made a good start. We have been running events every six to eight weeks, supported by Idverde, one of Southwark Council’s contractors. So far, we have organised two litter picking campaigns on Camberwell Green. The second, in June, included the local 23rd Camberwell Scout Group – and an enthusiastic group of litter pickers organised by Lambeth Friends of the Earth – alongside Friends of Camberwell Green and a large number of local volunteers. Throughout the summer, we have been handing out sunflower seeds to schools and to local residents via the SE5 Forum stand on Camberwell Green every Saturday morning.

We also organised a ‘bramble, buddleia and bindweed bashing’ event at Thorlands (off Denmark Road), with 10 volunteers clearing a patch of derelict garden in order to help the Thorlands friends team achieve their goal of creating a new relaxation area for local residents.

The scouts will be at work again shortly with a weeding and clearing event in St Giles Churchyard in October. We are also trying a more street-focused event, with a planting campaign on Camberwell Grove and its surroundings.

We think we are ready to move on from this year’s trial phase to a regular programme of events running between March and October 2022. We are looking for a volunteer to help us plan and coordinate this. Could this be you? For anyone interested, please contact us at: greenspaces@camberwellsociety.org.uk