Though Kingston is often thought of as a leafy suburb, with its gardens, parks, green spaces, grass verges and street trees... many of the larger green oases are outside or onwilding-logo the very edge of our borough and/or separated by miles of denatured space (see a map of Kingston’s green spaces here), a suburban desert of buildings, paving, over-mown grass, neat hedges, pollarded trees and manicured gardens... all contributing to the depletion of nature in our neighbourhoods and beyond.

This project aims to encourage greener, wilder parks, gardens, roadside verges and green spaces in Kingston, and to improve the connectivity between them by sharing and signposting relevant information and highlighting good practice, thus enabling nature to thrive in our borough.

Do please revisit this page occasionally for updates and useful new links.

Why go wild?

Wilding, trees and naturalising green spaces can help our wellbeing and mitigate the biodiversity and climate crises – find out here about the benefits to wildlife and people of wilding, biodiversity corridors, hedges and trees…

How to go wild, what to do, and where

How you can help to make Kingston’s green spaces wilder and better connected:

  • In your own garden and beyond
  • In your neighbourhood and in public green spaces – don’t forget that the public spaces we’d like to be wilder belong to the Council and you’d need permission to make any improvements. If you'd like to adopt and (re-)wild a grass verge or a Council-owned flower-bed or donate a tree please email for permission and guidance from the Council Green Spaces Team
  • Could your road or neighbourhood create a Community Nature Reserve? Find out more about Community Nature Reserves from Avon Wildlife Trust.  
  • Volunteer - in a community garden or a local conservation and biodiversity project.
  • Click here if you'd like to help TTK to plan and make progress on the next steps of our wilding project. 
  • Campaign and share information: get your neighbours and your local park's Friends group on board, and seek support from your ward councillors. Download and display one of our posters (coming soon).
  • If you’d like us to recognise a wild green space large or small, please contact us.  
History and updates

While this project is relatively new for TTK, awareness of the interconnectedness of the climate and nature crises has been growing for a while, as has public understanding of the benefits of nature and green spaces. Most recent news is at the top of this list.

Greening Kingston next phase – Open Letter #2, coming soon

"Stepping Out: an Environmentalist’s Journey across Kingston and Beyond": in 2025 Mac Downes took part in Kingston Unwritten, a community research project, funded by the National Heritage Lottery Fund, which Included many local environmental projects. As a legacy Mac is now creating a free exhibition in Tolworth Library,  opening in May 2026, which will include this wilding project.

Greening Kingston – an Open Letter, July 2025

"Living Landscapes - making space for nature in Kingston"- the report on this jointly hosted 2012 Transition Town Kingston and Kingston Environment Centre panel discussion

 

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