State of UK Public Parks 2016
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Heritage Lottery Fund State of UK Public Parks 2016 Research Report Prepared by: Peter Neal Consulting and Community First Partnership HLF State of UK Public Parks 2016 | Research Report Image: Moor Park, Preston © Peter Neal Acknowledgements HLF is particularly grateful to all the local authority park managers, park trusts, friends of parks and park user groups who gave their time to complete the surveys and provide the evidence for this study. It addition we would particularly like to acknowledge the support for this study in promoting the surveys, chasing returns, contributing to case studies, hosting workshops and providing supporting information and data from: Association of Public Service Excellence (APSE): Wayne Priestley Birmingham City Council: Darren Share MBE Birmingham Open Spaces Forum: Sarah Royal City of Cardiff Council: Jon Maidment City of Edinburgh Council: David Jamieson Department for Communities and Local Government: David Solly Green Connect: Karen Hughes Greenspace Scotland: Julie Procter Groundwork UK: Graham Duxbury Keep Britain Tidy and the Green Flag Award Scheme: Paul Todd London Parks and Green Spaces Forum: Tony Leach Liverpool City Council: Simon O’Brien and Dr Juliet Staples National Federation of Parks and Green Spaces: Sarah Royal and Dave Morris Nesta: Lydia Ragoonanan Newcastle City Council: Tony Durcan OBE and Su Cumming Nottingham City Council: Eddie Curry Rugby Borough Council: Chris Worman MBE Sheffield City Council: Paul Billington, David Cooper, Ian Turner and Chris Heeley The Core Cities Parks and Green Space Group The Land Trust: Iain Taylor The National Trust: Ellie Robinson, Matt Doran and Bella Crawford The Parks Alliance: Mark Camley and Sue Ireland West Midlands Parks Forum page 2 of 124 HLF State of UK Public Parks 2016 | Research Report Contents Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................... 2 1.0 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 5 1.1 Objectives for this State of UK Public Parks study ........................................................ 5 1.2 Contributors to this study .............................................................................................. 6 1.3 Purpose of the survey .................................................................................................. 7 1.4 Structure of this report .................................................................................................. 7 1.5 Headlines from the first State of UK Public Parks report ............................................... 8 2.0 Parks for people, places and nature ............................................................................... 11 2.1 HLF Parks for People programme .............................................................................. 13 2.2 Heritage value and impact of the parks programme ................................................... 14 2.3 Wider initiatives across the parks sector ..................................................................... 14 2.4 Austerity and the impact on public services ................................................................ 24 3.0 The commissioned surveys ........................................................................................... 28 3.1 Park managers’ survey ............................................................................................... 28 3.2 Friends group survey .................................................................................................. 30 3.3 Park trusts survey ...................................................................................................... 33 3.4 Public opinion survey ................................................................................................. 33 3.5 Park Managers and Regional Forums ........................................................................ 33 3.6 Supporting research and the wider evidence base ..................................................... 37 4.0 The principal findings ..................................................................................................... 40 4.1 Number of parks and frequency of use ....................................................................... 40 4.2 Changes to revenue funding ...................................................................................... 46 4.3 Diversifying sources of income ................................................................................... 48 4.4 Changes to staffing and skills ..................................................................................... 50 4.5 Trends in quality and condition ................................................................................... 53 4.6 Changing management arrangements, transfer and disposal of sites ........................ 59 4.7 Increasing participation of communities ...................................................................... 62 4.8 Park strategies and corporate commitment ................................................................ 66 page 3 of 124 HLF State of UK Public Parks 2016 | Research Report 5.0 Immediate challenges and emerging trends ................................................................... 71 5.1 Funding - the continuing disinvestment in parks ......................................................... 72 5.2 Skills - diminishing knowledge, skills and expertise .................................................... 77 5.3 Quality - returning to a cycle of boom and bust ........................................................... 81 5.4 Inequalities - growing differences across the regions ................................................. 88 5.5 Commercialisation - increasing programmed uses, activities and events ................... 95 5.7 Supporting innovation - developing new business models to sustain investment ...... 102 5.8 Enhancing nature - adapting traditional management regimes ................................. 109 5.9 Diversify management - an increasing role of partnerships and communities ........... 111 6.0 Key themes for action .................................................................................................. 118 6.1 Continuing local authority leadership ........................................................................ 121 6.2 Promoting active partnerships .................................................................................. 121 6.3 Supporting communities to play a more active role .................................................. 122 6.4 Developing new models of management and funding .............................................. 123 6.5 Compiling, coordinating and updating data ............................................................... 124 page 4 of 124 HLF State of UK Public Parks 2016 | Research Report Image: Williamson Park, Lancaster © Peter Neal 1.0 Introduction Public parks are a central part of the physical and social fabric of neighbourhoods and communities right across the UK. Often overlooked, many have a long and rich social history that has helped to shape the collective cultural heritage of places and enriched countless personal lives, relationships and experiences. From the farsighted municipal park movement of Victorian times, that breathed life into increasingly industrialised and polluted towns and cities, to garden suburbs and post-war new towns, Britain can quite justifiably consider itself a nation of park-makers. This has built a considerable legacy of green and open spaces that continue to make attractive and popular places to live, work, raise families and retire. Whilst these parks remain incredibly valuable assets for towns and cities, many local authorities now face a growing problem of how best to properly manage and maintain them through this time of austerity. The question now is whether Britain can also be a nation of great park- keepers? Having invested more than £850 million including £130 million from Big Lottery Fund (BLF) England, in restoring and regenerating public parks over the last 20 years, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) is acutely aware of this challenge. To protect this investment and to understand these challenges in greater depth HLF has commissioned this study into the State of UK Public Parks. It follows two years after the first study was reported and fulfils a commitment to update and revisit the findings to understand better how parks are changing, what has improved, what is getting worse and how best to care for the nations great wealth of public parks in the future. 1.1 Objectives for this State of UK Public Parks study This second State of UK Public Parks study draws directly on the structure and approach of the first report which was based on research conducted in late 2013 and published in the summer of 2014. It also makes direct reference to the Public Parks Assessment (PPA) that was co- page 5 of 124 HLF State of UK Public Parks 2016 | Research Report funded by HLF and published by the Urban Parks Forum in 2001. The PPA provides an important benchmark as it was the first UK-wide study that took stock of the condition of the nation’s public parks at the turn of the century following more than two decades of neglect and under-investment. This new study, in 2016, repeats a number of questions to park managers that were originally asked in 2000 to see how things have changed since that time. The PPA helped raise