The Hampstead Green Butterfly Conservation Garden

I am one of probably very few people who grew up here and remember Hampstead Green as it was from the 1940's until the Hampstead General Hospital was destroyed. It was a beautiful meadow of Spring flowers in the early part of the year, daffodils and then bluebells a little later and neatly kept grass through the Summer - above ground there were birds, bees and butterflies. The trees were perfect. From the 1970's when Camden took charge of the piece of land (land donated and dedicated for the patients of the Hampstead General Hospital) Hampstead Green has been a constant disgrace, Camden pretending they were keeping it as a wild meadow whereas in fact it just became a rat-infested rubbish tip and home for vagrants. It was perhaps difficult to tackle that issue whilst St. Stephen's next door was in such a sorry state but once I had finished supporting my husband and St. Stephen's Trust in restoring St. Stephen's and landscaping its grounds I was able to turn my attention to the vastly neglected situation on the Green. I have been fighting for Hampstead Green to be restored to its original state since 2003 and it has been a long and hard struggle to get anywhere at all, and that isn't far. We have seen some improvement of care and attention thanks to Councillor Linda Chung, but it is still for much of each year an unkempt and wasted piece of land. I do feel that James's ideas are at least beneficial for nature and the people - a butterfly garden may not be the flower meadow of the past but it will have some of its characteristics and it will be a thousand times better than what we have now. Butterflies and some varieties of bees as well as some birds are at great risk and we should all be supportive of anything that can help them to survive and flourish. Please succeed James - please support him everyone.

James, best of luck with this project which I thoroughly support

Please restore Hampstead Green as a Butterfly Garden.

I fully support the principles behind The Hamstead Green Butterfly Conservation Garden and hope those managing the site will reconsider their management policy for removing the habitat for flowers,butterfies and bees..

It is so important to argue the case that cities, too, can provide vital refuges for butterflies - public spaces as well as gardens.

this is great, bring back our bee and butterfly friends!

This is such a great idea. Very grateful to James Leigh for it! We need many more of this type of initiative to make our communities greener, happier and more beautiful.

Heartfelt good luck wishes with this beautiful and magical scheme x

I remember, one year the little corner nearest to Belsize Park station was covered for about two weeks in an array of colourful wildflowers. It was a wondrous sight!

What a great project!

Management for the benefit of all pollinators is of well known importance and local authorities should be taking supporting action.

We need to green our cities to encourage butterflies and moths. Chair of Butterfly Conservation Hertfordshire and Middlesex Branch

Good luck, Jim! As Chair of Butterfly Conservation - the national charity dedicated to saving butterflies and moths - I am delighted to support this petition. Anything we can do in our urban landscapes to give our butterflies a fighting chance is a step in the right direction!

Hampstead Green has been a wasted community opportunity , for too long !

It would be great to see wildflowers and butterflies on Hampstead Green

One of the things I most enjoyed about my late Mother's garden in France was the different species of butterly.

As a member of the London Network of Green Space and Committe Member of the Friends of Vauxhall Park in South London I am supporting the creation of the Hampstead Green Butterfly Conservation Garden. We need to create these spaces across London. We hope to follow the lead of this admirable project with measures to encourage butterflies into our park

Biodiversity is important to our ecological systems. Everything possible should be done to encourage biodiversity.

This area is very important, and a re-timed mowing is easy to manage, and will have a beneficial effect for all insects. The food chain will slowly get back to normal once the plants are allowed to mature.

I am a member of Friends of Margravine Cemetery and for many years now we have a biodiversity plan in action with sensitive management of the meadows. It is an important way of habitat enrichment, so support the Hampstead Green project for more bees and butterfies.