Volunteering opportunities to help London's green transition

 From London National Park City

We’re excited to reveal that London National Park City has launched an interactive volunteer map and directory, highlighting volunteering opportunities across the city's 32 boroughs. The map - which has been co-created with the input of over 100 individuals and organisations (many in the charity space) - is still under development, and will receive regular updates and evolve over time. 

Explore the map here

Volunteering is a crucial accelerator in the National Park City movement and London's transition to becoming a greener, healthier, wilder city. The map aims to serve as a go-to resource for those seeking to give back to local initiatives, fostering community engagement and supporting the important work of not-for-profit organisations across London.

We invite you to take a moment to explore the map and encourage you to share it with your network. The page includes a form to submit any new volunteering opportunities you may have.

If you take up a volunteer placement found via the map we’d love you to share your experience with us by tagging us on our socials or dropping us a line at hello@nationalparkcity.org.

Support London National Park City Crowdfunder to make London greener, healthier and wilder

From Daniel Raven-Ellison London National Park City Campaigner & Founder

After years of campaigning I’m excited for the launch of the London National Park City in July. It’s only happening thanks to the actions of thousands of people like you.

I am now writing to ask for your support again. 

Back our crowdfunding campaign

The London National Park City is a positive, proactive and inclusive way to help tackle many great challenges. The climate crisis, the extinction of species, air and water pollution, children not playing or learning outdoors as much as they should do, threats to essential public space and the state of our mental health are just a few of the problems that, by taking collective actions, we can make tangible progress on.

For me, one of the most exciting things about the National Park City is a set of two simple and powerful questions - “what if?” and “why not?”  It’s these questions that have underpinned our campaign from the beginning.

Set to London being a National Park City, the “what if?” can spark imaginations. What if there was more paddle boarding on our canals? What if my street was amazingly more green? What if there was more outdoor play, learning and exploration in schools? The “why not?”, when enough people start asking it, can create a significant tipping point where the imaginary converts into an expectation that delivers change. If London is a National Park City, “why isn’t there more paddle boarding? Why isn’t my street greener? Why isn’t my school doing more outdoor learning? Why aren't we protecting public space? Why don’t we have more hedgehogs? Why don’t we have cleaner air? Why not?”.

The National Park City Foundation, the charity that we’ve set up to help make the London National Park City a success, is currently running a crowdfunding campaign. I am hoping that you will be willing and able to support it before it ends in 11 days time. Time is running out and we need to get things moving. 

While we’ve led an effective campaign to make London a National Park City, we do not have the resources to scale-up our efforts in time for the July launch without your support.

For it to be as successful as possible, we need as many people as possible to understand what the National Park City is and how they can get involved. We also need to inspire thousands of conversations across the capital that lead to millions of actions that would otherwise not have taken place. Simple things like planting, playing, walking, swimming, cycling and sharing.

That’s why we are crowdfunding to create National Park City Maker, a newspaper-sized guide to getting involved with the London National Park City. We want to get these guides into the hands of influencers. They will also be tools that anyone can use to kick-start conversations with people in their building, on their street or at work. We hope the guide will lead to National Park City inspired groups forming in schools, organisations and communities across London and beyond.

Back our crowdfunding campaign

While the National Park City Foundation has been highly effective in our campaigning, we’ve always relied on campaigns like this one to fund our efforts. Even a small contribution will help us move closer to our target.

If we hit our crowdfunding target we predict we will be able to reach 1 in 25 Londoners. This could have an incredible impact. 

We have some great rewards, including murals by street artist ATM and bespoke gold leaf maps by Urban Good.

Individuals can get their name engraved on the London National Park City Founders’ Stone which will be located in a publicly accessible place in London. You can also get t-shirts, a wooden National Park City aster* for your window and we’ll thank you in the paper too. Why not get copies for everyone on your street or at your work?

Organisations are in a great position to support this campaign. Contribute to the crowdfunder and then distribute copies of National Park City Maker to your staff, service users or customers. If you do so at the right level, we will add your logo to our "thank you" page. Organisations can claim a professional workshop on how to engage audiences from theWholeStory too. 

Small community groups do not have the financial resources that larger organisations have, but they are just as important. London can only become a National Park City because of the work small community groups have done across the capital over hundreds of years. If you represent one of these groups, help us hit our target with £10 or more and we’ll send you you some copies and include your logo in the guide too.

Let’s make something extraordinary happen - please do contribute to the crowdfunding campaign today.

Back our crowdfunding campaign

London launches National Park City Week July 21st-29th 2018

A child's view of Fryent Country Park

The London Assembly are to hold a London National Park City Week  from July 21st to 29th July to 'explore London's amazing outdoors and help make the city greener this summer.'

Details from the website below. It would be great if Brent could play their part in organising events (it might even help to tackle the child obesity problem by demonstrating that open air physical activity is fun).

What is London National Park City Week?

From 21-29 July, the city will host the first ever London National Park City Week. There’ll be loads of fantastic events and activities all week long as we celebrate London’s unique green spaces, waterways and natural environment.

We’re working with the National Park City Foundation and our partners across London on the events programme. We want to give Londoners the chance to discover the city with walks, talks, explorations, and family activities, and to help make the city greener.

National Park City Week is part of the Mayor’s plan to help make London the world's first National Park City in 2019. Our ambition is to make more than half of London's area green and blue by 2050. To make this happen, we need your help.

We’ll publish details of the full London National Park City Week programme later this spring. In the meantime, why not get planting or explore some of our wonderful green spaces. Share your experiences using #NationalParkCity.

Host an event for London National Park City Week

Do you want to help us celebrate  London’s unique green spaces and outdoor opportunities, and showcase your contribution? We want to work with partners across London – community groups, environmental organisations, boroughs, businesses – to host events that:

• help Londoners to explore London’s great outdoors, especially less well known green spaces, footpaths and waterways
• offer new and creative ways of exploring London’s green spaces and landscapes
• support Londoners who have limited access to green space, or visit the natural environment less often, to discover green spaces, trees and wildlife
• create new green space, or help people to green their local neighbourhoods or improve habitats for wildlife

Whether your events are free, paid, big or small, they should be as accessible to all Londoners. We’re particularly keen to host family-friendly events. We will include your event or activity in the online programme. You’ll also benefit from a high-profile marketing campaign.

If you’d like to submit an event, please complete the form by 20 April 2018. To talk to us about your idea, please email NPCweek@london.gov.uk.

Hurray! London on course to be first National Park City by 2019

Having just had a very pleasant walk in Fryent Country Park I am pleased that it will soon be part of London National Park City- via Time Out


Our city is one of the greenest in Europe, and for the last few years a small group of campaigners has been working to publicise that fact by turning London into the first ever National Park City. Their ambitious plan aimed to connect Londoners to the natural world all around them, create more green space across the capital, and show our city leading the way on sustainability, biodiversity and the environment.

Slowly but surely, Londoners joined the bid. We lobbied our local councillors to come out in favour, and Sadiq Khan and members of the London Assembly also lent their support. And today the campaign has finally declared victory. The majority of council wards – 53 percent of the capital – have backed the idea. London will become a National Park City!

Now the campaigners will start working with the Mayor and others across the capital, aiming to declare official National Park City status in 2019. (Find out here if your local decision makers have backed them yet.) There’s a long way to go, but we’re one step closer to a greener, greater London.

Sign up here to get the latest from London straight to your inbox – or discover London’s best parks.

Let's get ALL Brent wards signed up to make London a National Park City

The campaign to make London a National Park City focussed on Brent today. Only 10/21 wards have supported the campaign so far. It is likely that some just haven't got round to supporting rather than that they oppose the aim of making London a greener city.

Kenton, Fryent, Barnhill, Preston, Wembley Central, Tokyngton, Dudden Hill, Mapesbury, Kensal Green and Queens Park ward councillors have pledged support (Dark Green on the map).  Some of the councillors in Northwick Park and Kilburn have supported. (Light Green on the map)

Queensbury, Welsh Harp, Dollis Hill, Stonebridge, Sudbury, Alperton, Harlesden, Willesden Green and Brondesbury Park (Light Brown on the map) have not yet pledged support.

If they have not supported the campaign so far please email your councillors to make the pledge. They can do so HERE.

This is what they will be supporting:

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Let’s make London the world’s first National Park City. A city where people and nature are better connected. A city that is rich with wildlife and every child benefits from exploring, playing and learning outdoors. A city where we all enjoy high-quality green spaces, the air is clean to breathe, it’s a pleasure to swim in its rivers and green homes are affordable. Together we can make London a greener, healthier and fairer place to live. Together we can make London a National Park City.