Green Places and Spaces
Green Streets
Since spring 2025 Croydon Climate Action have been running the Croydon Green Streets campaign to support biodiversity, soil/air quality and health in Croydon. The aim is to achieve green, herbicide-free streets with flowering plants in the tree pits (around the base of trees) and more flowers and other plants in spare green patches, on verges, along front walls and in front gardens, all organised by residents working together in their streets.
Green Streets followed on from the successful Croydon Climate Action Pesticide Free Croydon campaign. This resulted in an over 50% reduction in use of glyphosate on our residential streets.
We reviewed models in neighbouring boroughs of Wandsworth (Southfields GreentheGrid) and Merton (Sustainable Merton Garden Streets), and decided to pilot some streets in Croydon, whilst at the same time starting conversations with the Council.
We have three aims:
Protect human, animal and insect health affected by spraying Glyphosate. This key, herbicide ingredient, is really toxic, so everything in the soil dies when it’s sprayed: any pet or bird touching the spray will take it into their systems, and glyphosate can wash off into the waterways through the drains. Insects are either killed or are no longer able to pollinate. Humans and animals are at risk from gut or nervous system diseases and cancers.
Increase the range of flowers in our streets, promoting biodiversity by attracting diverse pollinators.
Involve residents in working together and building local communities, improving everyone’s health and wellbeing, sharing the sheer pleasure of living in thriving green streets, not bleak streets where spraying takes its toll.
In addition Green Streets save money by reducing the Council's contractor bill for pesticides spraying and spending on the glyphosate itself, money better spent on improvements to everyone's natural environment.
Green Streets work by local people taking the initiative and getting together and by asking Croydon Council to take their streets off the pesticide spray list. Requests to remove your street from the spray list are handled by Croydon Council, Environment Services & Sustainable Neighbourhoods team.
We currently have Green Streets projects in Addiscombe, Central Croydon and South Croydon and there are other streets across Croydon where residents are taking the initiative and planting verges and tree pits.
We’d love others to join us whether it’s just a few households, a whole road, cul-de-sac or patch of spare land, there are many ways to get involved. We are also looking at obtaining common signage that would alert contractors not to spray areas off the spray list that residents are taking care of.
Join the Green Streets campaign, get support and let us know how you are getting on at croydonclimateaction@gmail.com .
Andrea, who led the Laurier Road project says: “It’s important to remember that everyone is a potential ally” and “It only takes a few committed people to make a huge difference. Our Green Street this year has been literally humming with insect life”
You can listen to Andrea talk about turning Laurier Road into a Green Street on this Do London Differently* podcast by London National Park City*
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In 2019 Croydon Friends of the Earth and Pesticide Action Network successfully campaigned for Croydon Council to end the use of pesticides in council managed parks and green spaces. This was a great step forward helping to protect plants, insects, wild and domestic animals and humans.
Sadly however the council through its contractor Veolia continued to randomly apply pesticide on streets and pavements using operators spraying indiscriminately from buggies. Croydon Climate Action members started a campaign for a Pesticide Free Croydon in early 2023 with the aim of taking pesticides off our streets.
Pesticide Free Croydon
In 2023 Croydon Climate Action resumed the Pesticide Free Croydon campaign working for the elimination of pesticide use on our streets and successfully achieved a significant reduction in pesticide use.
There was an opportunity to change policy as the street maintenance contract was being renegotiated. We met a number of times with Cllr Roche, Cabinet Member for Streets and Environment and Charlie Baker, Head of Environmental Services and Sustainable Neighbourhoods. Alternative, environmentally kinder options to using pesticides were proposed but were rejected by the council on financial grounds. However, progress was made as they did agree to cut the number of street pesticide applications from four each year to two and also to move away from indiscriminate spraying from buggies. The new spraying regime has been in place since the new Veolia contract came into force in April 2025 and operators use backpacks and manually target unwanted plants. It is hoped that this will have reduced pesticide use by up to 60%. Promises have been made to monitor the reduction.
Nevertheless, poisonous Glyphosate is still being sprayed on our streets not only killing “weeds” but destroying the vegetation it touches, harming insects including pollinators and endangering wildlife, pets and humans.
We will continue to campaign with Pesticide Action Network to end pesticide use in our urban environment.
While Croydon Council, through Veolia, continues to use pesticides we will work to take streets out of the spray schedule through the Green Street campaign.
Trees4Croydon
Following out Trees 4 Croydon campaign in 2023 trees were planted in Canterbury Road Recreation Ground and at Croydon University Hospital in North Croydon.
Remaining funds will be spent on planting trees through a partner who will ensure they are cared for while they become established.
