Finsbury Park is a large public park lying on the southernmost edge of the London Borough of Haringey. Spanning some 115 acres it offers a community space where wildlife and people coexist. To reflect the diverse needs and interests of the park’s community a new comprehensive management plan is being drawn up by Haringey Council to protect the park’s assets.
As part of the overall management plan, MKA Ecology has been involved in the development of an ecological management plan that seeks to preserve and enhance the park’s habitats and biodiversity. As part of this work, we initially carried out ecological surveys that mapped the habitats and established their baseline biodiversity value. These surveys assisted in the identification of areas with opportunities for enhancement, such as the introduction of new ponds, restoring grassland, enhancing the urban orchard, creating bee hotels, and building beetle towers. These survey findings were a helpful contribution at a recently held co-production day which gave us a chance to engage with the park’s stakeholders first-hand, including the Friends of Finsbury Park, the park’s management team, and Haringey Council.
The co-production day itself provided a full-on schedule that saw numerous post-it notes stuck on a wall filled with ideas for enhancing ecological value and recreational opportunities, a site walkover enabling the community to review key ecological features in situ, and a platform for everyone to contribute to the drafting of the plan.
Fostering this kind of collaboration with the community helps to identify common goals and understand how we can all work together to safeguard the future of Finsbury park.
Chatting with the Friends
Haringey group site walkover
