Nature Restoration

‘Valuing Nature in Wester Hailes’ aims to engage the local community in Wester Hailes to restore and maintain biodiversity in their area.  The project will focus on the public realm around Murrayburn Place, where much of the greenspace has been tarmacked in recent years reducing biodiversity and the beauty of the public realm.  The project aims to demonstrate how nature-based solutions can be implemented to address poor biodiversity, flood risk and improve the local environment for residents.

The three month project has been funded by the Neighbourhood Ecosystem Fund delivered by Inspiring Scotland.  We will work with Robert Bray Architects, experts in nature restoration and flood remediation, who will work with a team of resident community researchers.  We also hope to involve pupils from Canal View Primary and Wester Hailes High School in the project.

The team will produce a final report outlining the findings, recommendations, and a roadmap for next steps involving the key stakeholders. WHGC hopes to build capacity to undertake the identified landscape and nature restoration work, in partnership with the council.

The ultimate goal is to empower residents of Wester Hailes to become actively involved in decision-making and volunteer action to improve their local greenspaces for the benefit of nature and community wellbeing.  Our hope is that proposals coming out of the project may be taken up by Wester Hailes Community Estate Improvement Group, which is intended to bringing together the council, third sector organisations, schools, and residents to collaboratively plan and implement nature restoration.