An ambitious environmental project in Southampton is calling for local people to volunteer.

The Southampton National Park City Project aims to maximise the use of Southampton’s many green spaces whilst also campaigning for more of them. The project is now looking for volunteers with good knowledge of the area to come up with ideas on how there can be more green spaces in the city and in their area.

Describing the project, organiser Christelle Blunden said: “The project was started in London by National Park City Foundation. The idea is most people live in cities, but people have to travel to national parks to get out in nature. How do we bring more nature into the city whilst making the most of the green spaces we have?

“Imagine a tower block and then cover it with plants on each balcony. That’s the concept, every little helps. We need to be closer to nature, it’s good for people and good for the environment. How can we maximise this in Southampton?”

Explaining the call for volunteers, Christelle said “We need people from different areas of the city to get in touch and identify the spaces in their area that could be used for community gardening and food growing. We need volunteers with ideas and willingness, ideally local people who know the city.

“For example, a community group linked to us, Front Garden St Denys Plus, has been supporting local people to make the most of their gardens to promote animal life and food growing, as well as garden swaps. We’d love to see community groups like these across Souhampton, swapping ideas, food and gardens. It’s all about bringing people together through nature. Also, Clear Channel owns bus stops and is looking for community groups to adopt bus stops and put plants on top of the bus stops for example.

“The council are pretty keen. We’ve been speaking to their green city team. The project is about local people but it’s great to have the support of the council. We’re also working alongside the City of Culture team” Christelle added.

You can get in contact with Southampton National Park City through their website or through their Facebook group.