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Community action/Canterbury

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The River Stour runs through Westgate Gardens, Canterbury. The river skirts the route of the old city walls, and the stone towers of the city's west gate (still used by traffic) can be seen on the right. April 2003. Attribution: Michael Pead
Location data
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Location Canterbury, Kent, England
Coordinates 51° 16' 48.10" N, 1° 4' 48.91" E

The aim of this page is to recognise, celebrate and encourage the self-empowerment of community agency networks (CANs) and community groups' activism for climate, environment and many other sustainability topics across Canterbury.

Canterbury
Kent
UK
Europe
Cosmolocal
  • News Four new councils confirmed for Kent and Medway, BBC News (Jul 16, 2026) — North Kent: Dartford, Gravesham, and Medway; West Kent: Sevenoaks, Tonbridge and Malling, Maidstone, and Tunbridge Wells; Mid Kent: Swale, Ashford, and Folkestone and Hythe; East Kent: Canterbury, Thanet and Dover
  • News Record-breaking heat and dry spring leave parts of England without water, reuters.com (May 29, 2026)
  • News Whitstable campaigners fight to stop 1,350 home development, BBC News (Sep 29, 2025) — local residents stepping up their campaign to fight what they have said would be the "largest ever development" in their part of Kent
Read more
  • News ‘It’s irreplaceable’: Fury over Reform plans to expand quarry in ancient Kent woodland, theguardian.com (Jul 30, 2026)
  • News Four new councils confirmed for Kent and Medway, BBC News (Jul 16, 2026) — North Kent: Dartford, Gravesham, and Medway; West Kent: Sevenoaks, Tonbridge and Malling, Maidstone, and Tunbridge Wells; Mid Kent: Swale, Ashford, and Folkestone and Hythe; East Kent: Canterbury, Thanet and Dover
  • News Hedgerows the 'unsung heroes of the countryside', BBC News (Feb 16, 2026) — A group of Kent volunteers is aiming to provide vital habitat for wildlife by planting about 3,800 yards (3,500m) of hedgerows in the countryside this year.
  • News Why Andy Burnham is right to want for‑profit firms out of social care, theconversation.com (Jul 30, 2026)
  • News ‘It’s irreplaceable’: Fury over Reform plans to expand quarry in ancient Kent woodland, theguardian.com (Jul 30, 2026)
  • News More than half of England in drought, Environment Agency declares, BBC News (Jul 29, 2026)
  • News How Australia combines modern tech and Indigenous knowledge to fight wildfires, BBC News (Aug 01, 2026)
  • News May and June heatwaves killed about 2,700 people in England and Wales, data suggests, theguardian.com (Jul 13, 2026) — Extreme heat led to 440 deaths a day during June peak, say scientists, with climate crisis ramping up temperatures
  • News Europe's heatwave linked to 1,300 deaths, WHO says, as Germany hits record 41.7C, BBC News (Jun 28, 2026)
  • News European Central Bank official warns climate crisis poses growing threat to ‘core financial stability’, theguardian.com (Aug 01, 2026)
  • News How Australia combines modern tech and Indigenous knowledge to fight wildfires, BBC News (Aug 01, 2026)
  • News Denmark’s three-day democracy festival that attracts over 65,000, electoral-reform.org.uk (Jul 30, 2026)

Networks and sustainability initiatives

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Events

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UK events

  • Event Aug 10 - 16, 2026 (Mon - Sun) — National Allotments Week, 2026 theme is “Grow to Learn.”, thenas.org.uk

UK community action events

Global or international events

  • Event Aug 09, 2026 (Sun) — International Day of the World's Indigenous People, observed on 9 August each year to raise awareness and protect the rights of the world's indigenous population, un.org
  • Event Aug 12, 2026 (Wed) — International Youth Day, awareness day designated by the United Nations taking place on Aug 12 each year, un.org

2021-2030, UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, International community action events

CDC video

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Cosmolocal discovery club

Each week 3 different short videos from across the UK or world.

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Poem about Manchester: 'This is the Place' - BBC News
Authors: BBC News, 4.50 mins.
Date: 2017-05-24
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This Colchester cohousing project will change how you think about community living
Authors: BBC Gardeners' World Magazine, 11.00 mins.
Date: 2026-06-20
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40 white storks now on Knepp estate in West Sussex BBC South Today Evening News 08/07/2024
Authors: autonomous weaponised drones, 2.00 mins.
Date: 2024-07-09

Community action/Manchester, Community action/Essex, Community action/West Sussex / ...This week's featured Global videos / ... read more about Cosmolocalism

Canterbury video

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Rewetting the Blean - BBC South East
Authors: Kent Wildlife Trust, Oct 19, 2021
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Social inclusion

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Catching Lives

Catching Lives is a charity based in Canterbury, England, that assists rough sleepers, the homeless and those in insecure housing. It relies on donations, volunteers and fundraising within its local community. As of 2011, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams was patron.

Catching Lives' Open Centre provides services such as meals, showers, laundry, clothing and a postal address to its clients. The staff and volunteers work with them to address issues they may have; get access to suitable accommodation, and find the motivation to take steps towards independent living.

The charity operates a winter night shelter in conjunction with local churches. 2016–2017 was its seventh season. The project opens church halls for Canterbury rough sleepers. Volunteers transport bedding, cook meals and welcome those who stay.

Other initiatives

  • Stream Walk Community Garden, Whitstable on Facebook

Climate action

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Cycling

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National Cycle Route 1 runs through Canterbury from Dover and Sandwich to Whitstable. National Cycle Route 18 runs from Canterbury to Ashford.

Rewilding

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  • Wilder Blean, wildwoodtrust.org, flagship wilding project launched by Wildwood Trust and Kent Wildlife Trust, in part of the West Blean woods nature reserve, near Canterbury, which is in one of the largest areas of ancient woodland in the UK. added 17:42, 6 December 2021 (UTC)

Environment quality

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Maps

News archive

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  • News Whitstable campaigners fight to stop 1,350 home development, BBC News (Sep 29, 2025) — local residents stepping up their campaign to fight what they have said would be the "largest ever development" in their part of Kent
  • News How does it feel? The impact of mass development on local people, David Mairs, cprekent.org.uk (Aug 04, 2025) — They felt the potential loss of this land acutely – one person described it as “like having a limb cut off”, Executive summary, Rachael Reilly
  • News Butterfly project aims to halt population decline, BBC News (Apr 05, 2025)
  • News Work on £1.5m city centre revamp to start in April, BBC News (Mar 11, 2025) — Work to transform an area of Canterbury to reduce the use of cars locally will start next month
  • News Wild bison return to UK for first time in thousands of years, The Guardian (Jul 18, 2022)
  • News Laying the myths to rest: Canterbury crisis shows how desperate government policy and housebuilder attitudes are making homes unaffordable… and destroying our countryside, CPRE Kent (Feb 15, 2022)
  • Whitstable named first plastic free town in Kent by conservation charity Surfers Against Sewage, Jan 11, 2019...kentonline.co.uk
  • Canterbury: Locations sought for electric charge points, Nov 24, 2017...news.canterbury.gov.uk

About Canterbury

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Campaigns

Past events

Canterbury ( KAN-tər-bər-ee or -⁠berr-ee) is a city and UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Canterbury district, county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. Lying on the River Stour not far from its mouth on the Strait of Dover, the city has a mild oceanic climate.

Canterbury is a popular tourist destination, with the city's economy heavily reliant upon tourism, alongside higher education and retail. As of 2021, the city had a population of 55,087 inhabitants, including a substantial number of students and one of the highest student-to-permanent-resident ratios in Britain.

Near you

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Ashford - Dover - Folkestone and Hythe - Swale - Thanet

See also

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Page data
Keywords Sustainable community action
SDG SDG11 Sustainable cities and communities
Authors Phil Green
License CC-BY-SA-3.0
Language English (en)
Related 0 subpages, 1 pages link here
Redirects Canterbury community action
Views 33 page views (analytics)
Created January 29, 2022 by Phil Green
Last edit June 1, 2026 by Phil Green
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