Safeguarding our public spaces for the next generation

With public sector funding of non-essential services such as the maintenance of parks and public spaces predicted to fall by at least 60% within the next decade, local authorities, ground staff and parks departments are facing a difficult task. It seems that we can no longer assume that councils will pick up the bill for maintaining public places, which is why projects such as Rethinking Parks are becoming increasingly important.

Run by independent charity Nesta with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Big Lottery Fund, the Rethinking Parks project looks at new ways of running and funding public spaces. The scheme includes a £1 million grant fund awarded to support some of the best parks innovation, with a focus on finding new business models to sustain and maintain parks in the future.

Projects involved include:

• Bloomsbury Squared in Camden which is exploring the possibility of voluntary and compulsory levies on businesses surrounding Camden’s urban parks and squares. The project is similar to the successful Bryant Park model in New York.

• Everton Park in Liverpool which has been selected as the location for a long term community management plan involving The Land Trust, Liverpool City Council and community groups. Part of a wider regeneration project in the area, by transferring the park from the local authority to the Land Trust, the community is able to have a say in how the space is managed and maintained.

The eleven participating projects were chosen after an open competition process. Nesta, the Heritage Lottery Fund UK and the Big Lottery Fund England are working with each team to help measure the impact of each new business model, looking at ways to increase community and commercial involvement as well as using resources more inventively.

“Any initiative which helps to sustain our green spaces and find a way of preserving them for the next generation is likely to be a good thing,” comments Patience Atkinson-Gregory, MD of Amberol. “We work with a lot of ground staff and parks departments who use our self-watering containers and sturdy recycled furniture to reduce costs. However, with council budgets shrinking, it’s clear that the issue is a significant one which may need a fresh approach.”

To find out more about the Rethinking Parks project, click here.