LOCALS CELEBRATE GREEN FLAG

14 September 2009

David Rees
news@southwarknews.org

A Rotherhithe woodland that was once home to abandoned shopping trolleys and vandals celebrated last week after winning a national award.

Russia Dock Woodland was recognised with a Green Flag award last month and community leaders, volunteers and users of the park gathered last Thursday, September 3, to watch the flag being raised.

Steve Cornish, chair of the Friends of Russia Dock Woodland, said the award, which marks the park as one of the country's best green spaces, recognised six years' hard work.

He said: "Before we started, we had stagnant waterways, shopping trolleys and bedsteads, burnt-out cars and graffiti. People would walk away because of the smell and the vandalism. And now we've turned it into a wildlife haven."

Attendees at the flag-raising included North Southwark and Bermondsey MP Simon Hughes, Kam Hong Leung of the Rotherhithe Community Safety Forum, Stephanie Lodge of Southwark Friends of the Earth and Councillor Paul Noblet.

Mr Hughes said Russia Dock Woodland, which stands on the site of a dock filled in 1980, had turned into ‘a real success story’.

He said: "Over the last five years more and more people have become committed to the woods and supporting the ecology. And with events happening here like the Rotherhithe Festival it's become a much safer place."

Hundreds of people were involved in restoring the woods, which now attract nesting kingfishers, herons and warblers rarely seen in central London. As well as cleaning up the park, their work included installing a turbine to pump water into the site's ponds, building five new bridges designed by local schools and re-laying paving in the area.

Mrs Lodge said she hoped other communities would be inspired by Russia Dock Woodland's example.
She said: "There's a lot of kudos in getting these awards and a wonderful sense of achievement in improving the environment for the community.  Southwark needs more open spaces and I hope people follow this example."

Russia Dock Woodland was one of two Southwark parks, the other being Paterson Park in Bermondsey, to receive their first Green Flag award last month, bringing the borough's Green Flag winners up to seven parks from five last year.

---

Social Bookmarks:
del.icio.us Digg Newsvine Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon
Wikipedia: social bookmarking

---