Greener Communities Toolkit

Greener Communities Toolkit Your guide to creating better access to community green spaces in healthcare settings.

Contents Hello from Hubbub Why we need greener communities About the fund Key learnings: A summary How to guide • How to green your space • How to run activities • How to work with the community and volunteers • How to work with hospitals and GP surgeries • How to measure and communicate impact Case studies from the pilot projects Additional resources

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Hi, we’re Hubbub.

Hubbub is an environmental charity that’s all about inspiring action that’s good for the environment and for everyone.

We bring businesses, organisations, local authorities and community groups together to create campaigns that make it easier and more possible for all of us to make choices that are good for the environment. We’ve partnered with NHS Charities Together and Starbucks to create better access to green spaces near healthcare settings.

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Why do we need greener communities?

Research shows that spending time in nature…

Is good for our physical health.

Benefits our mental health and wellbeing.

Reduces our levels of stress and blood pressure.

Green spaces also have an important part to play in protecting communities against the impacts of a changing climate.

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About the fund Nature offers a bunch of benefits, and we want to help tackle the barriers that prevent people accessing it. The Greener Communities Fund is supporting NHS charities to create and improve access to green spaces to allow more people to benefit from the positive effects of spending time in nature.

We have funded ten projects but, ahead of the wider fund, Hubbub supported four pilot projects across the UK to demonstrate a range of different ways you can create green space to benefit health and wellbeing with different communities. The projects were

supported for 6 months, in some cases building upon existing green spaces and in others creating them from scratch.

This toolkit brings together the learnings from each of these projects and shares a diverse range of tips for anyone looking to create community green spaces, particularly for creating better access to nature at healthcare and hospital sites.

The Greener Communities Fund is a partnership between Hubbub and NHS Charities Together, made possible through the Starbucks 5p cup charge.

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Key learnings: A summary There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to creating green spaces that work for communities. Every space is different, and people face different barriers to accessing nature. Through the pilot projects we’ve identified five key considerations.

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Understand your space and what to plant. Consider the sunlight and shade of the space all year round when designing it. Access to water is a must. Grow plants or trees that will work in your space and appeal to the communities using it.

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Run activities that inspire connection to nature to help increase people’s long-term participation in your green space.

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Engage with the community and find long-term volunteers. Understanding the community and their barriers to accessing green spaces will help you create welcoming spaces.

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Create green spaces within healthcare settings to reach people who may have limited access to nature and help demonstrate the physical and mental health benefits of nature. Bear in mind NHS staff time limitations and what patients may or may not feel comfortable with.

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Measure results and capture stories.

This can feel daunting but it’s an important part of a green space project so you know the impact it is making.

Involving volunteers and building measurement into activities helps collect impact data and benefits participants.

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How to

green your space • Start with a plan: Find out whose permissions you need for your site. Check that your chosen site has water access and consider where you can securely store tools.

Partner with local buildings or businesses that could provide this.

• Get weather-proof. You’re going to have rainy days and heatwaves. Consider how you can provide covered and sheltered space, so that activities can run no matter the weather.

• Decide what to plant and when. Growing might be a completely new experience for visitors, so growing recognisable foods can help it feel more familiar. Spring and summer are the best times to get growing, but bulbs can be planted in autumn, and trees like to be planted between October-February.

I’ve tried to pitch it as ‘let’s get outside, get some fresh air,’ sitting outside with a cup of tea rather than sitting inside.

- Catherine, Manchester Green Health Walk

People really like to see the edible stuff, the food growing element. The kids were very excited by the thought that they can come and pick a tomato or strawberry.

- Fran, North Cheam Community Garden 6

Hardy and can be harvested all year.

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Happy in hanging baskets, and come back the following year.

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Plants that are good for beginners

White and purple violas can be grown in shadier spots that get a few hours of direct sun a day.

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Great for growing indoors year-round – both the leaves and flowers are edible.

Grows well in small pots on a windowsill.

For more tips on growing head to www.giveitagrow.info

Did you know that used coffee grounds benefit plants?

They enrich soil, boost its quality, fertilise plants, and repel pests. Check with your local coffee shops, like Starbucks, for potential donations!

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Gardening in a changing climate Extreme heat, drought, and flooding will become more frequent across the UK because of climate change*.

How we design green spaces will play an important part in protecting communities against these impacts.

• Heat: Consider plants that provide shade and can be planted at different heights to help keep an area cool.

• Drought: If you’re in an area more at risk of droughts, your plants will have less water available to them.

Consider plants that can cope with drier spells and also how you can collect and store rainwater using water butts.

• Flooding: If this is a risk in your area, ensure you have porous surfaces or grass to prevent water run-off. *UK Parliament 2017

For more tips, check out Gardening in a Changing Climate, a report by RHS

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How to

run activities

When you’re working side by side on a task and you’re not face to face across the table people are just telling you stuff.

It’s the social aspect and being able to share their experiences that’s really important to people.

• Keep it social. Some people mainly come along to socialise so it’s good to reiterate that anyone is welcome. If possible, offer drinks and snacks to draw people in.

- Lindsey, Shields Community Garden

• Create instant impact. Some groups, such as hospital patients, might only access the space for a short time. Planting established plants rather than seeds, or making bird feeders or potted plants, are great short-term activities where people can take something away.

For short-stay patients, you want to do something that’s impactful where they can think, ‘Oh, I did that today.’ They’ll take pictures, and they’ll send them to their family members.

• Give people responsibility. There are essential regular tasks to maintain green spaces, and working these into activities can encourage people to feel responsible for the space. For example, patients in Manchester began watering the plants frequently in their unit to spend time in nature while developing ownership of the space.

We found with the warmer spells watering is crucial and is a nice task for patients. Especially for anyone that’s staying in the hospital a bit longer term.

- Catherine, Manchester Green Health Walk

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Routes to nature connection Research has identified five areas to consider when planning activities in green spaces, which can support people to connect with nature.* • Senses: Exploring nature through all senses such as listening to birdsong, smelling flowers and touching the different textures of plants.

How can you channel these pathways to nature connection through your activities?

• Beauty: Appreciating the beauty in nature.

For example, creating art or writing about what you see.

• Emotion: Noticing the feelings, such as joy or calm that nature can bring and sharing feelings about nature with others.

• Meaning: Understanding and celebrating the signs and cycles of nature.

• Compassion: Caring for nature, such as creating homes for wildlife. *

Making different types of teas from plants, like mint tea and lemon balm tea that can be a nice way to engage people, because you can look at the health benefits as well.

Richardson, M., & Butler, C.W. (2022).

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How to

work with the community and volunteers • Meet people where they’re at. Avoid overwhelming people with too many asks or setting the bar too high. Provide people with tips, tools, and resources that are accessible and relevant, whatever their space or skills.

• Get the word out there. Use signs and posters to make it clear what your space is, and how/when people can get involved. Send out flyers locally and share posters with local community groups and businesses.

• One off/short term volunteering can offer additional support. Different types of volunteering might be appropriate in different settings. Find local groups or businesses that might want to take part in a one-off volunteer day to help achieve big tasks.

In green spaces, there’s often panic about gardening. But we always say: ‘You don’t need to have any experience.

And if you just want to come and sit and have a cup of tea or chat with one of us that’s fine.’

My top tip is keep constantly engaging with people. It’s not a one-time thing.

- Rehana, Shields Community Garden

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Using familiar language Many people feel green spaces aren’t for them, and language is a big part of that!

Framing something a different way can make a big difference in getting through to people. Instead of ‘Green space can improve our mental health’ try the following phrases:

Together we can make our community a happier, healthier place to live

Getting outside is a great way to spend time together

Spending time in nature makes us happier

‘Horticulture’ is one those words that can make you feel like ‘That’s not for me’. So with any of the sessions, I look at it as ‘it’s getting people outside’.

I also use plants in activities you might have come across before like sunflowers.

- Catherine, Manchester Green Health Walk

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How to

work in healthcare spaces • Consult the estates team early on. When planning your project, make sure to collaborate with the teams already caring for green space at the site. Finding a way to increase green space without increasing their workload can be tricky, so it’s best to work together on this. Remember every healthcare setting is different so please ensure you have the correct permissions before starting work on your green space.

• Always put patients’ needs first. Activities should be designed around what’s best for patients. For example, some medication can make people more sensitive to direct sunlight, so providing shade will be important.

If organising planting, some people might be keen to get involved physically, while others might prefer to do a seated activity nearby.

• Work with existing volunteer networks.

A great way to find volunteers is by working with current hospital volunteers and introducing them to the green space.

We learned that when planting trees, although it looks lovely to have them just sort of dotted about, that makes it really hard for the estate’s team to cut the grass.

When I worked with the young patients’ unit, we couldn’t use ceramic pots because there was a risk of them being broken and used for self harm, but we could use plastic pots.

So it’s about having those conversations with the [Occupational Therapists] prior to find out what’s going to be feasible.

-Catherine, Manchester Green Health Walk

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How to

measure and communicate impact • Take lots of photos and capture stories. Case studies are an important part of measurement, and photos are a great way to capture impact over time. Don’t forget to take before and after pictures of the project and share the transformation with volunteers. If taking pictures of people to use externally remember permission forms, like this downloadable photo permissions template.

• Data collection can be a way to connect to nature. When capturing data about biodiversity, surveys can be an activity to run regularly at your green space, such as butterfly surveys or bird watching counts.

Learning to identify wildlife can help volunteers increase their connection to nature.

• Measurement can be a tool for selfreflection. When capturing people’s feelings around spending time in nature, you can ask volunteers to fill out forms at the start and end of a session, building self-reflection into activities. Consider using emojis or symbols to represent feelings.

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Meet the pilot projects Learnings for this toolkit have been informed by four pilot projects that ran in Glasgow, Manchester, Greater London and Cardiff.

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Glasgow

Shields and Midlock Community Gardens Project partners: Urban Roots and the Community Oriented Primary Care Group

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The challenge...

Shields and Midlock Community Gardens in South Glasgow provide safe, peaceful green space, however many local residents experienced language barriers and felt that the space wasn’t for them.

Steps to overcome the challenge Step 1 Employing a local Punjabi/Urdu speaking female group facilitator, known as a Greenspace Connector, who focused on outreach to make the spaces more welcoming to the local community.

Step 2 Working with Community Link Workers to tackle the barriers which prevented participants from accessing the green space, such as lack of transportation, fear of going alone, or not knowing the language.

Step 3 Installing new planters at the Shields Community Garden to make growing more accessible.

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It doesn’t matter what culture you’re from, we’re all made so welcome. I’ve learned so much and I can take what I have learned back home. I’ve been teaching my grandkids.

- Shields Garden, Community Volunteer

My doctor referred me to gardening sessions that were taking place in the local community to benefit my mental health and wellbeing. At first I couldn’t see how this may be of benefit to me… [now] I have made new friends, and even though I don’t take part in the gardening tasks, I love being outdoors.

- Khalida, Shields Garden, Community Volunteer

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Outcomes A more inclusive green space, accessible to local community members who may not have previously felt comfortable spending time in nature.

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Prestwich, Greater Manchester

Green Health Walk at Prestwich Hospital

Project partners: Sow the City and Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (GMMH)

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The challenge...

The Green Health Walk at the Prestwich Mental Health Hospital is a marked route for hospital staff, visitors, and patients to enjoy green space on the grounds with 7 stations to visit including a heritage orchard, an allotment and habitat boxes. However, for many patients and staff, accessing the Green Health Walk remained challenging. There was a need to expand gardens in hospital units and deliver green social prescribing activities for patients.

Steps to overcome the challenge Step 1 Building relationships with grounds teams and key NHS staff to raise awareness of the walk and embed the project into patient activity.

Step 2 Designing inclusive activities to engage with the diverse hospital community and building more green spaces in hospital wards, as well as a polytunnel for patients.

Step 3 Developing confidence of staff and volunteers in continuing the project through practical ‘Train the Trainer’ workshops, to support the legacy of the project.

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Building legacy into the project is really important - we’ve been working with NHS staff on ‘Train the Trainer’ sessions and how they can use these outdoor spaces with patients and build it into their [patient] activities rota.

- Catherine, Manchester Green Health Walk

These projects enable us to connect more with the community, not just for our service users when they leave here by giving them skills which they can take forward, but also by bringing the community in.

- Michelle, Deputy Matron (Prestwich)

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Outcomes Patients and staff with limited access to nature were able to take part in activities that encouraged nature connection, and training provided for NHS staff supported the project’s legacy.

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North Cheam, Sutton, Greater London

North Cheam Community Garden Project partners: Habitats and Heritage and local GP practices

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The challenge...

The North Cheam Community Garden in Sutton set out to transform an underutilised space in a rapidly urbanising zone into an accessible community garden.

It was located near a GP practice to also offer opportunities for NHS staff and their patients to use the space.

Steps to overcome the challenge Step 1 Clearing space along a public footpath and creating three large, raised planters, growing food and plants that support local wildlife.

Step 2

It’s important to make sure the project is going to benefit the community, because that’s one thing that’s made this project a lot easier - we can move quickly because the community has really gotten behind it.

- Fran, North Cheam Community Garden

Running regular volunteering sessions to bring the local community into the garden, and organising sessions at the garden with the local GP surgery.

Step 3 Raising awareness of the garden through the local GP practice and community organisations, and capturing learnings to guide other groups replicating the project model.

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Outcomes A previously unused space became a small community garden, creating a nature corridor for local wildlife, and providing opportunities for community members and the local GP practice to develop activities in a green space.

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University Hospital Llandough, Cardiff

Our Health Meadow at University Hospital Llandough Project partners: Down2Earth and Cardiff & Vale Health Charity

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The challenge...

Our Health Meadow is an ecological community health park at University Hospital Llandough, but there are limited sheltered spaces that give protection from the sun and rain. This can make it difficult for patients and community members to access the natural space.

Steps to overcome the challenge Step 1 Building traditional Welsh roundhouses that serve as shelter from the sun and rain, and encouraging nature by creating green roofs.

Step 2 Engaging a cohort of volunteers, including patients and staff, in the construction of the roundhouses, allowing them to take part in physical activities outdoors while connecting to nature.

Step 3 Running activities with NHS patients and staff and local community groups in the roundhouses, enabling more people to spend time in the health meadow.

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Outcomes NHS staff and patient groups are now using the roundhouses to host outdoor activities linked to rehabilitation and recovery.

The health meadow is more Our Health Meadow isaccessible an to the community ecological communityinhealth park all weather.

The challenge...

at University Hospital Llandough, but there are limited sheltered spaces that give protection from the sun and rain. This can make it difficult for patients and community members By to access comingthe here people are natural space.

finding that they have value, that they’re participating in something that is meaningful and has a legacy for the community, and in doing so they’re building their self-confidence … whilst also getting out and about and meeting new people and socialising with others.

- Sam, Project Research Lead, Our Health Meadow 29

Looking for more?

For additional resources, check out this Nature Toolkit and The Nature Connection Handbook Let us know if you’ve got any other questions!

Kirsty@hubbub.org.uk Emilys@hubbub.org.uk