How plants in alleyways can be path to a happier community

A 29-year-old is on a mission to transform the UK’s alleyways into “miniature wildlife corridors” after realising the “grey and drab” lanes were negatively impacting her mental health.

- Megan Jessica Norman

Flora Beverley founded the Pollinator Pathways Project in Bristol two years ago after Epstein Barr virus, a chronic illness, left her unable to spend as much time in nature. Usually an ultramarathon runner, Flora’s condition meant she was spending more time walking in her local community, but found the area “grey and drab” - which had a negative effect on her mental health.

Taking action, she worked with a group of volunteers to tidy an alley in Knowle, south Bristol, clearing waste including drug paraphernalia, broken bottles and burnt mattresses and replacing them with colourful murals, solar-powered street lighting and planters for flowers.

Since her first alleyway, Flora has not looked back and now hopes to create a national movement to clear up the UK’s alleyways and create space for nature and the community.

"Children and parents going to school and work are seeing the same grey concrete that I'm seeing,” Flora told PA Real Life.

“If it’s affecting me, it must also be affecting everyone else.

“If I can do something to brighten that up, then surely it will benefit not just my health, but also the health and the wellbeing of everyone in that area.”

Flora’s Pollinator Pathways Project aims to connect up existing green spaces in urban environments and create areas that are beautiful and beneficial to the community.

“The goal behind the project is to clean up the alleyways and install pollinator-friendly plants to create miniature wildlife corridors that are also beneficial for the people who live in that area,’ she explained.