Green Kingston: Pond opening caps off series of events

Kingston Mayor Yogan Yoganathan officially opened the new pond at Claremont Gardens at the weekend, the last of a series of events designed to raise awareness of Kingston’s green places.

The event was attended by many eager residents along with Kingston Council biodiversity officer, Elliot Newton.

“Every park should have a pond like this and an engaged community around it,” Newton said.

The event followed a number of community events held throughout September such as bat walks, workshops and talks on various topics ranging from bike maintenance to biodiversity.

Over 70 people turned out for one bat walk at Kingston Road Recreation Ground. 

The events were aimed at people of all ages and have helped Kingston residents to become more ecologically aware.

Many of the events were purposely tailored for children and teenagers, in order to raise a generation that values and nurtures Kingston’s green places.

Newton said: “It’s not just September, It’s using a month to try to raise awareness to two things, one is the climate emergency and the ecological emergency that we are in”

He added: “I have hope that the younger generations, the generations that will hopefully save us in a sense, these are the generation that  need to value and care about nature and make those decisions to try to save the planet”

“Were on the right track, but we’ve got a long way to go“

Elliot Newton on The progress of ecological and climate awareness in Kingston.

Plans are being made to preserve and improve Kingston’s green spaces such as a rewilding project in Tolworth Court Farm Fields.

“In Tolworth, not far from here, we have a big nature reserve there, it’s about 43 hectares, we want to make that one of London’s best nature reserves. We want to do a big rewilding project,” Newton said.

Asked about his aspirations for Kingston borough, he replied: “My aspiration is to make Kingston a leading borough for nature conservation, and demonstrate how we can work with all communities and celebrate our green spaces and try to make it a more ecologically resilient place”.

If you are interested in environmental issues contact Kingston University’s environmentalism society.