Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust (GWT) is launching a design platform for residents in Podsmead, Gloucester to shape urban greening in their area.

To support the regeneration of green spaces, GWT’s ‘Podsmead Design Platform’ is an online tool for Podsmead residents to input ideas of how they want their area to be transformed, for example the planting of wildflower patches, community allotments and football pitches.

Josh Gibbs, Planning and Infrastructure Lead at GWT, designed the platform as “it gives residents a creative way to shape the future of these spaces, helping them explore how nature, food growing, play, access, safety and community use could come together in these valued local green spaces.”

“What matters is that this process starts with the community, rather than imposing a finished plan from above. Local people know these spaces best, and their ideas should shape what happens next.”

The Podsmead Design Platform is running alongside in-person consultations, soon to be followed by community workshops and tree-planting days to transform the Gloucester suburb into an urban wildlife hub.

The consultations are delivered in partnership with Blackridge Charitable Community Benefit Society (CCBS) and as part of GWT’s county-wide Neighbourhood Nature project, which supports communities to reclaim and restore local green spaces. Funding from the National Lottery Community Fund and the Wates Foundation has made GWT’s work in Podsmead possible.

The Podsmead Design Platform will help connect more people to nature, transform urban landscapes into wildlife havens, and bring nature back on a larger scale. These are the goals of our latest call to action, Mission Wild, which aims to raise £3 million over 3 years for nature’s recovery.

Design your Podsmead green space here: https://podsmeaddesignplatform.netlify.app/

You can find out more by visiting gloucestershirewildlifetrust.co.uk/mission-wild.