Have your say on Clapham Commons ‘Six-Acre Wood’

The Six-Acre Wood project on Clapham Common is the brand new plan from The Friends of Clapham Common and Wild Clapham, the ecology group that looks after the biodiversity of the common. The groups have come together to form the idea, which is to plant 280 new trees on Clapham Common. They’ll be arranged in a horseshoe shape around the main open patch of grass, and more will flank the two main walkways to the bandstand.

The aim of the project is to create 6.5 acres of open woodland, a grassy, shaded space where wildlife and thrive and people can shade from the heat in the summer. Not only will there be those initial benefits, but the planting of additional foliage will also help to cool the Common via evapo-transpiration, acting like what The Friends of Clapham Common have described as ‘living, air-conditioning units’. Clapham Common happens to have the lowest canopy coverage out of all the SW London commons currently, and the tree species will be carefully selected to be drought-proof, as is necessary as global warming continues to reduce the rates of rainfall during hotter months.

The Friends of Clapham Common and Wild Clapham have gathered loads of support for their plans. The Clapham Society and the Common’s own Management and Advisory Committee are both behind the idea, and all they need now is people power to convince Lambeth Council it’s a great idea too. They’ve got stuck in a Public Inquiry, which will be held this summer, “over the use of the land for commercial purposes”. To help push their case, they’ve started a petition. If you think that the Six-Acre Wood plan is a plan worth backing, find the link below to support.