Hundreds of people turned out to protest plans to use woodland for new grave space, last weekend.
An estimated 300 campaigners of all ages met at Camberwell Old Cemetery to do the 100 Acre Wood Walk, which covered Camberwell Old and New Cemeteries, Brenchley Gardens, One Tree Hill and Nunhead Cemetery.
Campaign leaders told supporters what the council was planning to do to the areas, while explaining that Save Southwark Woods wanted the area to be turned into wilderness and woodland.
Lewis Schaffer, one of the most vocal campaigners, said: “Southwark Council want to develop these beautiful woodlands for 6,000 profitable graves. But people will not stand by and wait for the woodlands to be dug up.”
Blanche Cameron, spokesperson for the Save Southwark Woods campaign, told protesters: “In one of the poorest and most polluted boroughs, hundreds of people marching today are saying no! We need nature, for a myriad of benefits – health, the learning from nature, air pollution, climate defence… Woodlands are the alternative to the concrete jungle.”
The council has previously told the News that it wants to use the area, which has been previously used as a waste dumping ground, to help address the borough’s grave space crisis.