It’s February when our sleepy parks spring into life with non apologetic colour! The efforts of volunteers finally gets rewarded for the hours of back ache grafting. Bulbs, bulbs, bulbs!

But their importance is more than just aesthetic. Much more.

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) views spring-flowering bulbs as a vital, highvalue food lifeline that supports emerging pollinators when other garden resources are scarce.

Their key biodiversity benefits include early nectar and pollen: Spring bulbs provide some of the earliest food supplies for hungry bees, butterflies, and hoverflies waking from winter hibernation.

They create naturalistic habitats. Planting bulbs in lawns or grass creates structural diversity and transforms uniform turf into a richer wildlife habitat.

In the boroughs parks and green spaces planting has focused on early Crocus, which blooms from Feb–Mar and help queen bumblebees. They grow really well in our sunny parklands.

Snowdrops also feature and bloom in Jan–Feb. They feed winter bees. And they’re great in our shaded tree areas.

And Wild Daffodils They extend the bloom season from March into April. Their simple shape allows easy insect access.

Did you know… volunteers and Friends Groups have planted over 170,000 bulbs over the last 5 years. 

And will be planting even more this autumn!

- Cllr Andrew Jenner

The London Borough of Sutton actively expands its green canopy through a long-term sustainability goal to plant 2,000 new trees every year across community, council, and developer-led schemes. 

This not just for a pleasant suburban aesthetic.

Planting trees provides major benefits: cleaning the air by absorbing pollutants, fighting climate change by storing carbon, supporting local wildlife and biodiversity, reducing flood risks through better water management, and improving human mental health via green spaces. Woodland Trust 

Trees are crucial for our mental health. According to King’s College London ‘urban trees provide daily contact with nature, boosting happiness and resilience’.

And at Cuddington Recreation Ground The flood alleviation scheme will have trees and meadow planting around a newly created wetland. This scheme in the flood risk zone will reduced the flow rate, taking pressure off the drains further down in the town. The planting here will also add colour and vibrancy whilst also providing shelter for wetland wildlife and invertebrates.

And of course, there is the aesthetic. The London borough of Sutton is well known and admired for it’s green spaces and leafy suburbs. Sutton ranks as one of London's greenest boroughs, with over 1,500 acres of open space and 89 parks protecting more than 190,000 trees. This vast canopy covers over 25% of the borough, creating a unique urban ecosystem that defines its suburban character.

I think we can say that trees are an important asset that links everything important to our existence together.

So it is important we build on this inheritance as the Canadian pioneer Nelson Henderson said ‘the true meaning of life is to plant trees, in whose shade you do not expect to sit’. 

So I can proudly say the council has planted over 16,000 trees in the last 5 years. And if we can continue to find the funding we will commit to planting 2,000 more, every year for the next 4 years. 

- Cllr Andrew Jenner

Sutton’s award-winning waste and street cleaning services continue to set high standards.

The borough received the Keep Britain Tidy Outstanding Service Award in March this year, while maintaining an exceptional 99.99% collection success rate across 13.5 million annual collections.

Fly-tipping reports have fallen by 25%, littering reports by 65%, and contamination at kerbside properties has been reduced by 97%.

We were also nominated in the Net Zero category at the recent Local Government Chronicle Awards for our Green Enterprise Partnership - which has helped over 250 local businesses cut their carbon emissions AND save money on their energy bills at the same time.

All of this, combined with the recent consultation launch of our greenest ever Local Plan (which gives many green spaces and parks new protections), shows our dedication to keeping Sutton a green, clean and tidy borough for all to enjoy for generations to come.