National Lottery Grants for Heritage – £250,000 to £5million
From rural Essex to Barking Creek, the River Roding has suffered decades of pollution and neglect. The project aims to improve water quality, enhance natural habitats and reconnect communities with their local river.
The Roding Rises will engage residents from Essex to East London through a programme of activities, volunteer opportunities and a grant scheme to deliver targeted projects locally. ‘Citizen scientists’ will be trained to monitor the health of the river using innovative techniques and work will be done to improve access and recreational use of the river.
A masterplan for the lower Roding will be co-created with local communities to guide future development. A key river restoration project will improve in-channel and floodplain habitats across a 500m stretch of the Upper Roding. This will all be celebrated through a series of artistic workshops and events, sharing people’s stories and the heritage of this natural habitat.
The project will be delivered through working with key partners from the Roding, Beam and Ingrebourne catchment partnership including the London boroughs of Redbridge, Newham and Barking and Dagenham, the Environment Agency, the River Roding Trust and the Roding Farm Cluster.
Chris Coode, CEO at Thames21 said: “This project will bring diverse communities together and help connect them to this fantastic river, which has a rich history and acts as an important space for wildlife. We’re excited to inspire local communities to learn more about their local river and foster a sense of long-term environmental stewardship.”
Barking and Dagenham has recently been announced as one of our Heritage Places and the first in London. Discover more projects we’re supporting across London and South and why Barking and Dagenham has been selected as a Heritage Place.
