She’s one of Brent’s community champions, but Ghanaian-born barrister Awula Serwah isn’t afraid of taking on environmental issues globally – she’s playing a leading role in a campaign to stop the government in her homeland from allowing a building boom in Accra to destroy the city’s parks and gardens.

Awula, who lives in Neasden, told the Times the current focus of the campaign was on planning changes which could see offices built on parkland. She said: "The multi-purpose office complex should be located elsewhere. It is vital that we preserve our parks and open spaces, and that Parks And Gardens land is kept for environmental purposes."

Inspired by Extinction Rebellion's activism, earlier this month Awula's Eco-Conscious Citizens group, which grew out of the East La Environmental Group she set up two decades ago, presented a petition to the Ghanaian High Commision demanding that the west African nation's president Nana Akufo-Addo works to ensure government owned-land under the remit of the Parks and Gardens department is kept for "sustainable environmental, horticultural or botanical use".

Awula also founded Brent's pan-London African heritage organisation BTWSC and the Taking A Stand Against Fly-Tipping and Littering in Brent group.