Playbook for Urban Biodiversity

L7. Make community-led greening easy by removing red tape and solving problems

Empowering communities for biodiversity enhancement in public green spaces

In some communities, there is real appetite for adding biodiverse planting to street verges and parks to improve connections to nature. Street verges can form as much as a third of all public green space, and often are only planted with heavily mowed exotic grasses. Local residents can play a positive role in transforming these spaces by planting native species, thereby enhancing ecosystem connectivity through residential areas even as they build their own connection to their neighbourhoods, and each other.

However, council policies often limit the activity of willing residents, both by imposing detailed permit requirements for simple actions, and prohibition of others. Whilst these controls seek to limit risk and liability, this is often perceived as burdensome as activities are often low risk, including verge gardening. There are more constructive ways to manage risk and solve problems, thus it is important councils and communities work together to determine mutually beneficial approaches to common (and manageable) design challenges, such as mitigation of soil contamination risks, creation of sight lines, utility access and pedestrian clearances, and maintenance of tree health. These should be supported by simple and straightforward processes as well as clear communication. Councils can also support community planting programs by identifying optimal planting locations, conveying greater support in removing tarmac, distributing native plants, and organising community planting days.

In many cases, councils also offer financial support to encourage communities and residents to partake in greening initiatives and create habitat on private land, such as the Urban Forest Fund by the City of Melbourne.