The Your Community Greenspace project at Nene Park in Peterborough will complete later this year, marking the end of a five-year initiative backed by £1.965 million from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The project, which launched in October 2021, has delivered a programme of physical upgrades, community events and conservation work across the 697-hectare site along the Nene Valley.
Visitors to Ferry Meadows can now use refurbished toilets and a new Changing Places UK facility, with improved signage, a central feature tree and biodiversity-rich planting also installed. Work to replace the ageing Pontoon Bridge is also planned. Project manager Lindsey Holmes highlighted opportunities for families and young people to work alongside rangers and explore outdoor careers as part of the scheme.
The project was approved by the National Lottery Heritage Fund Committee on 17 June 2021, ending an 18-month development phase that began in August 2019 with £185,000 of initial funding. That earlier phase tested ideas and consulted community groups despite setbacks including the loss of the original project manager and the disruption of the Covid-19 pandemic. The final delivery-stage application, renamed Your Community Greenspace to reflect a desire for local ownership, was submitted in March 2021 after earlier attempts to secure funding from the former Heritage Lottery Fund fell through in 2017.
The initiative set out with three core aims: empowering communities to conserve natural heritage, building bridges with multicultural communities to make Ferry Meadows an inclusive hub, and improving physical and mental health through contact with nature. Nene Park Trust, which manages the park, says the work is designed to respond to the growth of Peterborough and the wider region.
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