South Western Railway is sponsoring a new category in the annual ‘Britain in Bloom’ nationwide gardening competition.

South & South East in Bloom, which is for entries from South and South-East England, has a new ‘Celebration Stations’ category sponsored by South Western Railway, that aims to improve biodiversity through the gardens and green spaces at its stations.

Many railway stations in the region have been adopted by community groups and volunteers.

They lovingly tend their gardens and green spaces, and nearly 500 local volunteers at over 100 South Western Railway stations are involved in projects ranging from vibrant murals and artwork installations to beautifully maintained planters and flowerbeds.

South & South East in Bloom is one of 16 regions across the UK taking part in the annual ‘Britain in Bloom’ nationwide gardening competition, which aims to inspire community groups to improve their local environment through horticultural, environmental and community action.

The deadline for entries is Monday, 31st March and judging takes place between June and August.

Railway stations will have a dedicated category, a typical one being Raynes Park in south-west London, where the Friends of Raynes Park Station group used a grant from South Western Railway’s Customer and Communities Improvement Fund to transform the station’s wildlife.

Among the work carried out by volunteers is landscaping a nearby embankment, installing a wildflower garden, and planting 350 bulbs.

To encourage groups to enter the competition, South Western Railway will sponsor nominations, such as the one at Raynes Park, as part of its Railway 200 celebrations.

The operator is also encouraging those who work on gardens and green spaces at stations in the region to send in their own nominations.

Since 2023, South Western Railway has invested more than £250,000 to improve biodiversity, including using ecologists to carry out detailed surveys at 33 locations to help develop biodiversity action plans for managing and increasing biodiversity for local species of plants, animals and insects.

Biodiversity gardens have also been planted at its depots in Bournemouth, Clapham Junction, Farnham, Feltham, Fratton, Northam, Ryde, Salisbury, Strawberry Hill, and Wimbledon.

Last year, Merseyrail developed the theme with a programme called ‘Merseyrail in Bloom’ to make the stations in and around Liverpool and Merseyside more vibrant, greener, and welcoming, and volunteer station adopters at Greater Anglia stations added over 1,000 square metres to the areas set aside for gardens and wildlife areas.

Lottie Leigh-Browne, South Western Railway’s sustainability lead“As the first UK train operator to join the Nature Positive Business Pledge, a commitment to halt and reverse impacts on nature, we really want to encourage our station adopters to share the great work they’re doing. We’re working on many different ways to increase biodiversity across our network, which is providing a benefit for local wildlife and our customers and colleagues. Natural habitats like station gardens and green spaces at our depot provide huge environmental value, with studies estimating that habitats around rail infrastructure could absorb more than 400,000 tonnes of CO2e over 30 years.”