Bucks Youth Summit 2024 – The Green Space

Format

The Green Space was hosted on the top floor of the Waterside in the Upper Circle Foyer.
This conversation space was hosted by Jacqui and Claire at health and wellbeing charity Lindengate, along with Sachi from the Local Nature Recovery Strategy programme and Buckinghamshire Council colleagues Jonny, Raeesa and Jack from the Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan project.
The activities enabled young attendees to discuss nature and the environment while doing tactile and creative things, like crafting bracelets from flax and planting seeds.
77 young people visited The Green Space across the day.

The key messages that young people shared in The Green Space 2024 are:

We enjoy nature in local parks, woods, canals and our gardens.
We value nature and animals for boosting our emotional wellbeing. Many of us spoke of feelings of peace, relaxation, calm, stress relief when accessing nature.
We are actively supporting nature by choosing to walk and use public transport, planting things, reducing plastic waste, recycling, reducing electricity use and making birdboxes, bug hotels and bird feeders.
We want to walk and cycle more for different journeys (e.g. to school, shops, to see friends, to visit green spaces).
We want more walking and cycling routes, that have smooth surfaces and are well-lit.
We feel the biggest barriers to enjoying nature are time and the weather!
We enjoyed the tactile activities provided by Lindengate in the workshop

Jacqui, Claire and colleagues at Lindengate are using the comments the young attendees kindly shared to shape Lindengate’s future offer to young people. It is helping them decide what to do more of, what to incorporate into their activity programme, and find solutions to barriers affecting young people’s access to nature.
Young people aged 13-18 who are interested in nature and the environment are welcome to join Lindengate’s Green Volunteens project, which runs on Saturday mornings from 10am-1pm. Email volunteer@lindengate.org.uk for more information.
The comments collected by Jonny and his colleagues in the Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan project (including the key messages above) are being used to shape new cycling and walking routes.
There is a further opportunity for young people to input into the Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan project through a consultation survey, open Monday 2 September to Sunday 13 October.
Young people’s comments in The Green Space have provided vital input to Buckinghamshire’s Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS). The LNRS is a document which outlines Buckinghamshire’s approach to conserving existing nature improving the wider natural environment.

“The green space activities were fun and engaging”

“Green space really interesting and got a lot out of that, which was important”

“I really liked all of the sensory activities in [the] green space”