The story of Greening Eastside began in 2017, when the Friends of Bannerman Road, led by Zoe Banks Gross, Lucy Badrocke and Sarah Jones-Morris, secured public art funding to transform an already planned road closure, part of Easton Safer Streets outside Bannerman Road Community Academy, into Frog Marsh https://frogmarsheaston.com/. Frog Marsh was designed with local children and residents, and completed in 2020. Further proposals included safer crossings, street trees and improvements to parks and school routes, although progress was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2018, Zoe Banks Gross, Lucy Badrocke, Sarah Jones-Morris and Jess Read developed Eastern Connections, a neighbourhood-scale proposal to connect Easton and Lawrence Hill through safer walking and cycling routes, greener public spaces and improved access to parks. It focused particularly on routes around schools and the M32, where thousands of children, parents and staff travel through hard, unsafe, noisy and often intimidating environments.
Following discussions with residents, councillors and community organisations in 2020, Greening Eastside emerged as a broader strategy connecting small, hyperlocal projects with longer-term neighbourhood change. Its priorities included healthier streets, child-led spaces, play, creativity, community resilience and climate adaptation. Easton and Lawrence Hill have very low tree-canopy cover, high levels of social deprivation and significant vulnerability to extreme heat. A central ambition was therefore the “Forest of Easton”, initially proposing two trees per street alongside cycle parking and sustainable urban drainage. By 2022, this had developed into a proposal for more than 318 new street trees across Easton and Lawrence Hill.
Together, these locally led, accessible and low-cost interventions were intended to form a coherent neighbourhood-scale greening network.
Today, Greening Eastside is going from strength to strength, with over 30 resident groups actively involved in bringing nature to our neighbourhood. Come and join us!
