Southall Square is to be transformed into a ‘pocket park’ by Ealing Council after having secured money from the Mayor of London’s Growing Back Greener fund.

Pocket Parks are intended provide a greener space in busy urban areas for local people to spend time in and enjoy nature.

Ealing Council will receive £56,880 from the Mayor of London’s funding pot and is providing a further £14,220 to develop a Pocket Park at Southall Square.

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Concrete pavement will be removed in favour of green spaces, which will support local nature, provide a cooler space for people in hot weather and support sustainable drainage of rainfall in this part of Southall.

The Growing Back Greener Fund is available to councils that want to increase tree planting, improve access to green spaces for residents, and trying to reduce the damaging effects of climate change.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: "The positive impacts of rewilding and green spaces on the environment are significant, which is why I am proud to be awarding a further £2 million to tree planting projects in the capital."

"The extreme temperatures and devastating fires that raged across our city this summer laid bare London’s vulnerability to the consequences of climate change, proving that we can no longer afford to be indifferent or complacent about this issue. That is why I’m doing all that I can to tackle the ecological problems that we face by investing into vital projects to improve our climate resilience."

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Councillor Deirdre Costigan, cabinet member for climate action said: "I am very excited that we have secured this funding from the Grow Back Greener Fund to support our plans for a new pocket park in Southall."

"Taking away hard paving and replacing it with green planting will help create cleaner air, and adding sustainable drainage will support our climate emergency actions by taking water to where it is needed in the park. This will also be a much-needed cooler space in hot weather and will be a lovely place for residents to sit and enjoy a little bit of nature in the middle of a buzzing town centre."

Southall Square, the area in front of Lidl on the High Steet, use to offer a few car parking spaces for shoppers. The parking spaces went and made way for a bigger concrete pavement.

According to the Southall Big Plan it was supposed to be replaced with a “vibrant and attractive market”. The new market was intended to be unique and complementary with the existing Southall Market. Southall Market has almost disappeared and been replaced by huge buildings. The remaining bit, on its last breath, is using part of Southall Square.

The response from a local resident: "Ealing Council would be better off spending money and making Southall Park, one minute walk away, a safer place for residents."

Another resident said: "We hardly need it there as it’s 100 metres away from Southall park which I believe has grass and trees."

Southall Square photo: Google Maps