Connecting Through Nature
Connecting Through Nature is a project running in partnership with Sunderland City Council that aims to connect people with each other, their local greenspaces and with nature.
Nature Towns and Cities is a national partnership between Natural England, National Trust, and The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Its aim is ‘to help millions more people enjoy time in nature close to home, in greener, thriving towns and cities’. This is work is particularly targeted in places and communities currently lacking access to quality green space. Over the next ten years, Nature Towns and Cities aims to help at least 100 places across the UK to become greener, healthier, happier places for people to live and work. Sunderland City Council, in partnership with the Trust, has been successful in securing funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to set up the Connecting through Nature Project. This project will bring organisations together across Sunderland to better connect residents with local green spaces. The funding secured will help communities to improve greenspaces for nature as well as encouraging more people to get out and use them. Being out in nature more often and getting involved in community activity can have a positive impact on general wellbeing.
Connecting through Nature aims to link community greenspaces, parks, transport routes, as well as the city’s coastline and riverbanks, to create attractive, wildlife rich greenspaces that everyone can use and enjoy. This will help to create greater appreciation of nature and a sense of pride in neighbourhood spaces. The project team will be supporting communities to take action through volunteering opportunities, outdoor activities, training, and nature-based green social prescribing.
The project builds on the success of the Links with Nature project, where Durham Wildlife Trust, along with Sunderland City Council and Wear Rivers Trust, improved important green and blue spaces in the Coalfield Area of Sunderland through community building, volunteering, and green social prescribing activities.
Connecting Through Nature will operate across Sunderland and represents the City Council’s ambition for a Sunderland City of Nature: Sunderland is striving to be a nature-friendly, climate-resilient city in which communities work together to benefit both nature and their own wellbeing, creating a greener, sustainable, and healthier city for all.
Share your views
The first step is to find out residents’ views and thoughts about the green and blue spaces close to where you live or work in Sunderland. This will help us to set out a vision and find out where action is needed to make Sunderland a nature rich city. Please get involved and complete the survey.
Meet the team
There is a dedicated project team to support residents and work with partners to achieve this ambitious project based in Sunderland City Council and the Trust see below:
Anne Gladwin, Connecting Through Nature Project Lead, is based in Sunderland City Council.
Pip Jackson and Cathy Sharp are both Connecting Through Nature Officers, based in Durham Wildlife Trust.
Philippa Jackson - Connecting Through Nature Officer
Cathy Sharp - Connecting Through Nature Officer
For more information about Connecting Through Nature, including details on how to get involved and supporting resources, visit the MySunderland website.
For more information about the project and to get in touch with any of the team please contact them on nature@sunderland.gov.uk
