Luton Borough Council

18/07/2025 - Luton Council celebrates £950,000 grant from National Lottery Heritage Fund

Family holding hands and smiling in Wardown Park

Luton Council is delighted to have received a grant of £950,000 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to further support the Roots to Healthy Places project.

The project aims to improve access and connections to nature across our communities with a particular focus on those who have the greatest barriers to accessing our green spaces.

This project will be achieved by working in partnership with a network of nature-based organisations and a coordinated outreach programme that will help to increase engagement in our green spaces. Our strategic partners include the University of Bedfordshire, The University of Sheffield, Chiltern National Landscape, Be Active, The Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire and Penrose Social Interest Group.

Our project will work with communities to co-design physical improvements to greenspaces as well as signage and marketing. This will make our greenspaces more accessible to those communities in most need, and help improve biodiversity. The project will also introduce a dedicated social prescribing hub, create a volunteer passport scheme, and establish a skills development programme to create opportunities and enhance wellbeing.

Councillor Hazel Simmons, Leader of Luton Council, said: “This is a hugely welcome investment that will help to bring more of our super-diverse communities close to nature and our town’s natural heritage. Luton has some outstanding greenspaces, including award winning parks as well as meadows and other green corridors. This project will help to unlock access for thousands of residents while bringing tangible gains in wellbeing, skills and civic pride as well as ensuring nature recovery for the benefit of all our communities for years to come.”