Greening Philosophy

As the problem of pollution in the West End becomes more acute, we as a Residents’ Society are increasingly concerned about the quality of the environment. Our approach is to focus on the positive measures we can undertake to make improvements.
To do this our aims are:

• To stay informed of what the local businesses, organisations and Westminster City Council are doing to assist in making our neighbourhood green and healthy.
• To have a role in their decision making process.
• To inform our members how they too can play their part in keeping the West End ‘green’.
• To organise events that bring together all the key stakeholders and policy makers in our area in order to determine a common vision for all aspects of the local environment.
• To encourage investment that improves the quality and amenity of the green spaces in the area.

The Story to Date

The Society has spent over £13,000 funding the restoration of the vandalised Victorian bronze drinking fountain in Mount Street Gardens.

How Green is My City – is an annual greening conference that we organise. It brings together all the local stakeholders along with specialist speakers, with a view to sharing information and to bring about positive change.

As a direct result of a presentation given by Dusty Gedge from Living Roofs at ‘How Green …’, new developments in the area are being designed with living roofs. The Crown Estate have 2, The Connaught Hotel has one and the Athanaeum Hotel proposes to have a living wall as part of its redevelopment. Westminster City Council now has a helpful leaflet for those waiting to create living roofs and walls.

Following Edward Meyer’s talk in 2005 on how so much modern architecture deprives swifts of their habitat, Westminster City Council now encourage new developments and refurbishments to include provisions for swifts.

The three major churches in Mayfair, namely, St George’s Hanover Square, The Grosvenor Chapel, and Farm Street Church, have all benefited from planting schemes funded by the Society.