Community action/Southwark

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 Southwark.
News
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‘Hopeful and imaginative’: introducing the UK’s ‘best’ new building, positive.news (Oct 17, 2025) — London care home built to tackle social isolation wins major architecture award
Coin Street: How co-op ownership can keep the bulldozer at bay, thenews.coop (Apr 07, 2025)
London, San Francisco and Beijing achieve ‘remarkable reductions’ in air pollution, theguardian.com (Mar 12, 2026) — Cycle lanes, electric cars and other interventions have helped 19 global cities slash levels of pollutants by more than 20%
East London is at high risk of extreme flooding – here’s how to limit the damage, theconversation.com (Feb 11, 2026)
How a London energy co-op is trying to bring power to the people, thenews.coop (Feb 06, 2026) — We speak to Giovanna Speciale, CEO of South East London Community Energy, about its work towards an inclusive transition
WL Meets: Zoe Gilbertson who is refashioning textiles from the ground up, wickedleeks.riverford.co.uk (May 13, 2026) — Nick Easen meets designer Zoe Gilbertson who wants to revive the UK textile sector, with sustainability woven in from the start
‘A share in the delight’: the people investing in the UK’s first community-owned solar battery, theguardian.com (May 08, 2026) — Oxfordshire’s Ray Valley Solar already generates clean energy for 7,000 homes, and is now crowdfunding storage to marry daylight with evening demand
Fixing social care: Report highlights potential of co-op model in the UK, thenews.coop (May 08, 2026) — Commissioned by Co-operatives UK and Cwmpas, the study found co-ops provide ‘fairer, better quality, community-rooted care’
Rewilding giants: captive elephants rehomed in Europe’s first sanctuary, theguardian.com (May 07, 2026)
Sail-power offers passengers new crossing between England and France, reuters.com (Apr 28, 2026)
Europe needs affordable, low‑carbon homes – here’s how Barcelona is reimagining its housing system, theconversation.com (Apr 08, 2026)
How one Kenyan community is building a new future on reclaimed ground, globalvoices.org (May 14, 2026)
Data Centres Need a Social License to Operate, demnext.substack.com (May 13, 2026) — How lessons from citizens' assemblies are highly relevant for the future of AI infrastructure and data centres, Another Democratic Future and Claudia Chwalisz
Argentina’s co-operativas escolares: A case study in co-op education, thenews.coop (May 12, 2026) — In 1946, national legislation formally established the teaching of co-operativism and the creation of school co-operatives
Networks and sustainability initiatives
[edit | edit source]- Southwark Circle, membership organization
UK and international events
[edit | edit source]UK events
May 2026 — National Walking Month, livingstreets.org.uk
May 4 - 10, 2026 (Mon - Sun) — National Hedgerow Week, hedgelink.org.uk
May 11 - 17, 2026 (Mon - Sun) — Mental Health Awareness Week, mentalhealth.org.uk
Global or international events
May 1 - 3, 2026 (Fri - Sun) first weekend of May every year — Jane's Walk, How to Lead a Jane's Walk, Video, janeswalk.org
May 03, 2026 (Sun) — International dawn chorus day, first Sunday of May, wildlifetrusts.org
May 3 - 9, 2026 (Sun - Sat) — International Compost Awareness Week, compostfoundation.org
May 9 and Oct 10, 2026 — World Migratory Bird Day, worldmigratorybirdday.org
May 20, 2026 (Wed) — World Bee Day, May 20 each year, fao.org
May 21, 2026 (Thu) — Outdoor Classroom Day, celebrating and inspiring outdoor learning and play, outdoorclassroomday.com
May 22, 2026 (Fri) — International Day for Biological Diversity, May 22 every year, cbd.int
2021-2030, UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, International community action events
Each week 3 different short videos from across the UK or world.
Rural sustainability UK, Community energy UK, Community action/Argyll and Bute / ...This week's featured Global videos / ... read more about Cosmolocalism
Southwark video
[edit | edit source]Community involvement
[edit | edit source]Commonplace Peckham Rye - Peckham Rye CoDesign - People's Republic of Southwark - Pocket Places Peckham
Communities online
[edit | edit source]Bellenden Residents' Group - Peckham Residents' Network
Community and voluntary action
[edit | edit source]Community Action Southwark, umbrella organisation (or Council for Voluntary Service) for the voluntary and community sector in Southwark - Peckham Voluntary Sector Forum
Food activism
[edit | edit source]Glengall Wharf Garden - Surrey Docks Farm - Walworth Garden Farm
Community resources
[edit | edit source]Coin Street Community Builders (CSCB) is a development trust and social enterprise which seeks to make London's South Bank a better place in which to live, to work, to visit and to study. Since 1984 CSCB has transformed a largely derelict 13-acre site into a thriving mixed-use neighbourhood.
Maps
Heart of the Elephant and Castle Urban Forest Map, Maps, open data and activism on the Heygate estate, Tom Chance's blog, April 19, 2011
Visions
[edit | edit source]Climate action
[edit | edit source]- Climate Change Citizens’ Jury, Nov 2021 to Feb 2022, southwark.gov.uk, added 10:03, 5 January 2022 (UTC)
Sustainable transport activism
[edit | edit source]Thames Path W
Cycling activism
[edit | edit source]Community Cycleworks, not for profit organisation that runs build-a-bike courses, bikefix, and road and mountain biking rideouts, for young people in the London Borough of Southwark and beyond - Southwark Cyclists
Open spaces
[edit | edit source]The London Borough of Southwark, occupying a roughly triangular area south of Tower Bridge over the River Thames, considers itself to be one of the greenest boroughs in London, with its 245 hectares (610 acres) of public parkland. There are more than 130 such green areas, ranging from the large areas around Dulwich and Southwark Park in Rotherhithe to the many sports grounds and squares.
Bankside Open Spaces Trust (BOST) is a horticulture, gardening and management of urban open space charity, based in Bankside, the southern bank by the River Thames, Southwark, Central London, England. BOST works local communities and organisations in London, such as Tate Modern community garden, to improve, create and enjoy the parks, gardens, green spaces, and, passive and active recreation areas.
The charity supports a network of parks, community managed green spaces and open spaces groups to carry out consultation, fundraise and oversee improvements. This includes help with choosing new play equipment, bespoke garden design and developing new areas, making accessible improvements and re-landscaping.
BOST initiates and runs community gardening clubs, award small grants for local horticulture projects and organises hiring out parks and open spaces for celebratory public and private events. BOST has set up a community garden resource centre with a pond and encourages people to grow their own food - vegetables, herbs, fruit trees and bushes - through 'edible projects', utilising raised-bed gardening and planting. They also provide informal horticultural training, landscape maintenance, garden maintenance, grounds maintenance and gardening work experience in the local parks, gardens and open spaces.
- Friends of Peckham Rye Park
- Peckham Coal Line (secure link not found 11:25, 18 February 2021 (UTC)), Grass roots initiative to create an urban park using disused space between Queens Road Peckham and Rye Lane.
- Friends of Goose Green
- Parks and open spaces on southwark.gov.uk
Trees, woodland and forest
[edit | edit source]Elephant and Castle Urban Forest - Video: Elephant and Castle Urban Forest, September 2011
News archive
[edit | edit source]2009-2020
- London hospital trust to pay £250k to install LTN for public health benefits, Nov 17, 2020...The Guardian
- Borough Market to phase out plastic bottle sales with free fountains, Aug 23, 2017...The Guardian
- Fossil Free Southwark: Our Story, Dec 14, 2016...gofossilfree.org
- Southwark pension fund to shed fossil fuel investments, Dec 14, 2016...IPE
- Why comparisons with the Highline are a double-edged sword... September 12, 2015...(secure link not found 11:25, 18 February 2021 (UTC))
- The planning points 4, February 1, 2014...peoplesrepublicofsouthwark.co.uk
- London Development Agency to provide £4 million to the Bankside Urban Forest - a programme of works to improve public space in the Bankside area from the riverside to the Elephant & Castle, london-se1, March 10, 2010.
- Clinton praise for London project, BBC news, May 19, 2009.
About Southwark
[edit | edit source]Campaigns
The London Borough of Southwark ( SUDH-ərk) in South London forms part of Inner London and is connected by bridges across the River Thames to the City of London and the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council areas were amalgamated under the London Government Act 1963. All districts of the area are within the London postal district. It is governed by Southwark London Borough Council.
The part of the South Bank within the borough is home to London Bridge terminus station and the attractions of The Shard, Tate Modern, Shakespeare's Globe and Borough Market that are the largest of the venues in Southwark to draw domestic and international tourism. Dulwich is home to the Dulwich Picture Gallery and the Imperial War Museum is in Elephant and Castle. Major districts include Bermondsey, Rotherhithe, Peckham, Camberwell, and Dulwich.
External links
- Wikipedia: Spike Surplus Scheme
- Peckham Society, amenity society
- Peckham and Nunhead area action plan on southwark.gov.uk
- Regeneration on southwark.gov.uk
| Authors | Phil Green |
|---|---|
| License | CC-BY-SA-3.0 |
| Cite as | Philralph (2014–2025). "Community action/Southwark". Appropedia. Retrieved May 29, 2026. |







