On Sunday 9th February, along with Hanworth Park councillor Cllr Bishnu Gurung I joined over thirty residents including 10 children to take part in the Hanworth Air Park Biodiversity project pond restoration workshop. The event, organised by local teacher Sarah Houghton and the Friends of Hanworth Park House was supported by the Crane Valley Partnership but led by local residents. As someone who as a teenager at the Green School got involved in local initiatives to support our parks, even before joining the Labour Party, this wasn’t just educational but a chance to connect with a personal passion. 

Hanworth Air Park Biodiversity Project is aimed at preserving and enhancing the natural habitats within the historic Hanworth Air Park, located in the west of Hounslow. By focusing on diversifying and enriching the park’s ecosystems, the project improves biodiversity and supports the local wildlife.  

The pond restoration workshop, the first of three events, was organised to help restore and improve the quality of the park’s ponds by providing better habitats for aquatic wildlife. The workshop began with an exploration session led by Helen Greaves from University College London’s Geography department by taking water measurements of the park’s ephemeral (temporary) pond. After the measurements were taken, we examined the samples and were told about the distinctive grassland ecosystem within the park. As Sarah Houghton explained, the water table across the park is high during winter with the increased rainfall and is common across the lowlands of the Thames and Crane Valley. As a result, the water doesn’t drain very well meaning that oxygen cannot penetrate the soil. This causes for the grassland to be acidic and makes the park’s grassland unique in the London Borough of Hounslow.  

While inspecting the pond, we had the opportunity to take a look at the aquatic wildlife living in and around the park’s pond. Experts are able to show how the park land itself is ancient and is home to a variety of plant species. Ancient ant hills can be seen across the park, adding to the landscape’s scenery.  

I want to see that as members of the community, we are better connected to our local spaces and that we are able to learn more about how to understand and protect our local wildlife and environment.  

There is a big challenge with biodiversity loss across the country, in England, as a House of Commons briefing paper highlights, we have legally binding targets for 2030 and 2042 on species abundance, improving habitats and reversing species loss. In the past, as a further briefing highlights, “UK progress towards many of its biodiversity targets has been slow, with reducing pollution and restoring degraded ecosystems proving especially difficult.” 

That’s why I am pleased that in July, just a few weeks after Labour came into Government, the Secretary of State for Defra launched a rapid review of the Government’s Environmental improvement plan and action to achieving 2030 targets.  The UK helped lead discussions at the UN Biodiversity COP 16 Conference in October 2024. The Government has also doubled the Rural Environment Fund from £10m to £20m to support biodiversity projects. 

There is much work to do, but with local and national leadership, we really can make a difference and secure a better environment for generations to come in Britain and across the world.