Green Spaces Forum Meeting Minutes

Location: George Washington Browne Room, Central Library, George IV Bridge, Edinburgh Time: Tuesday 12th September 2018, 6-8pm

Attendees: Name Friends Group Gordon Swann (GS) Friends of Hill (Chair) Jeni Rowe (JR) Friends of Seven Acre Park (Minutes) Roger West (RW) Friends of Fairmilehead Park (Committee) Anni McLeod (AM) Friends of Wester and Greenbank Woodland Kirsty Quinn Friends of Saughton Park Iain Meiklejohn Friends of and Tim Parker (TP) Friends of Victoria Park Caroline Gerard Friends of Warriston Cemetery Christine Savill Friends of Hopetoun Crescent Garden Sarah Tolley (ST) Friends of the Meadows & & Greening our streets

Speakers Lindsay Grant (LG) CEC – Parks Department Julie Proctor (JP) Greenspace

Apologies John Kerr Friends of the River Almond (Committee)

1. Welcome & Introductions

2. CEC Update – Lindsay Grant

2.1. Living Landscapes • 72 Meadows are managed by Living Landscapes • 15% of grassland has been naturalised • The meadows are not working so well after 3-4 years – lots of weeds, so they need to be prepared again or left fallow • CEC are looking at other mixes to see what else might work • Complaints are down on LL areas on previous years • It’s a good idea to put up signage to tell people what the meadows are for, as then people understand why we are doing the meadow areas (i.e. for biodiversity etc) • CEC are looking to utilise volunteers/friends groups to help with plant/wildlife identification – LG will send an email out with info shortly • Friends groups could help with meadows by removing docks and thistles by hand

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• LL photo competition has just been started – see CEC website – runs until Mid Oct • http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/info/20064/parks_and_greenspaces/1160/edinburgh_li ving_landscape 2.2. Budget • Budget review is starting shortly – Friends groups should input and support money for parks – LG will send out email shortly 2.3. Little France Park • CEC’s latest new park at Little France (by the Royal Infirmary) is to open up at the end of the month 2.4. Threshold Signs • CEC is looking to review/update all park threshold signs – 600 in total over the next few years 2.5. Annual Friends Event • The next meeting of the Friends Groups run by CEC in November is to be merged with a Green flag event, celebrating our success with Green Flag 2.6. City Sounds Project • The council are monitoring sounds in parks to see how they are used and by whom/what, through the use of microphones in trees • This has been completed already in the Meadows and they have just received funding to so do this in 4 other Edinburgh parks over the next 18 months 2.7. Parks Promotional Material • CEC are looking to get some pull up signs which can be used at events, as they have received some funding for this (for 5 no signs – one for each locality which could be used by groups). Could have one for the Green Spaces Forum – do we have a logo? LG to speak to JK • Also there is some headed/branded stuff being prepared for Friends group to use – LG to send out more information on this when available

3. Julie Proctor – Greenspace Scotland 3.1. Greenspace Map • In July Greenspace Scotland working with Ordnance Survey produced a ‘Greenspace Map’ – see ‘OS Greenspace’ website for more details. If shows all the greenspace in Scotland - https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/business-and- government/products/os-mastermap-greenspace.html 3.2. 3rd State of Scotland’s Green Spaces Report • Shows how much urban green space there is in Scotland – 1593km2 • Also shows what type of green spaces there are • Green Space Use and Attitudes Survey 2017 showed at 92% of Scots love their parks, but the quality of the parks have gone down between 2011 and 2017 (most likely due to council budgets going down). Previously parks had £28 per person to spend on parks, now it’s only £21 • Worryingly people’s expectations are also getting lower 3.3. Scottish Parliament Round Table

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• On May 23rd there was a meeting at Scottish parliament to discuss the state of parks (JK attended from the forum) • This was to discuss strategy (how can we measure quality and keep it high) not money issues, as the Scottish Parliament isn’t in charge of budgets • Follow links to Greenspace Scotland website to see the video recording of it: https://www.greenspacescotland.org.uk/News/access-to-greenspace-roundtable • The committee has agreed to take this to the next level 3.4. Parks Charter • 6-point charter was taken to the Government to help protect parks • 140 organisations have signed the charter so far • Friends groups should sign the charter as a group if they haven’t already • https://www.parkscharter.org.uk/ 3.5. Managing Parks out-with the Council • MyParksScotland o Friends groups should check if their park information is UpToDate on the MPS website o Crowd funding opportunity • Scotland Park Endowment Fund o Money obtained from the Gift aid from donated money which is then double by HLF o See Greenspace Scotland website for more details https://www.greenspacescotland.org.uk/support-parks • Park Power o Generating power/energy from parks o Heat mapping can be used to work out where energy can be created o https://www.greenspacescotland.org.uk/Pages/Category/energy • Managing a Park for Climate Change o https://www.greenspacescotland.org.uk/Pages/Category/climate-resilience • Growing for food o https://www.greenspacescotland.org.uk/Pages/Category/food-growing • Greenspace and Health Strategic Framework for Edinburgh and Lothians o https://www.greenspacescotland.org.uk/Event/green-health-strategy- workshop?Title=green-health-strategy-workshop • Young Placechangers programme o Supporting young people and youth groups o Working in fife and Perth o If anyone knows any youth groups who could participate let them know o https://www.greenspacescotland.org.uk/young-people-projects • Tesco Bags of Help o Do submit an application for funding, plenty of success for groups!! • My Park Love o https://www.greenspacescotland.org.uk/News/come-and-tell-us-why-you-love- parks

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o Postcards were handed out which you could send to your MP/councillors to say why you love your park! o Get people to fill them out at events – why do they love their park? o If people want more then contact Greenspace Scotland 4. EGSF Business 4.1. Previous Minutes • Minutes were accepted (Proposed by RW, seconded by TP) 4.2. Approval of the EGSF Constitution • EGSF Constitution was approved (Proposed by TP, seconded by RW). A copy of the constitution was signed 4.3. Parks Charter • It was agreed the group should sign the charter – JK to action 4.4. Future agenda Items • Biodiversity – this is likely to be mentioned at the CEC friends group meeting in November, but would be good to have a whole meeting on it – AM to contact Sarah • Professional Dog walkers (code of practice, invited to the forum meeting) • Disposal BBQ’s/Fires (council policy, educate children about fires) • Mailchimp – JK to investigate 4.5. Website • ST agreed to investigate this for the group and said she could find a free one for us to use. There may be a slight cost if we want a more performing website, but we can have a basic one for free and she is happy to set it up. (BTCV is a possibility for a host) 4.6. AOB • During the talk from LG other items were mentioned: o Wester Craiglockhart Hill do Bee Walks (AM) o For perennial meadows the suggestion is to cut it once a year, let the cutting lie to drop seeds, then swept – could the friends groups so the sweep. The council often sweep at the same time, and we lose the seed bank. (RW) o AM suggested using schools to help with looking after certain parts of the parks (ECO schools), but the rep often changes, so is difficult to sustain. o Carol from SHN in the borders – a good source of information for managing natural grassland

5. Dates for Future Meetings Next EFOPF meeting date to be confirmed.

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