Managing green spaces seven ingredients for success.pdf

Managing green spaces

Seven ingredients for success

Introduction

England’s parks and green spaces are being

managed in a context which is changing

fast and fundamentally. Councils are being

given greater autonomy to determine the

services they provide to their communities,

but this autonomy comes with signiicantly

reduced resources.

‘The challenge is to keep

going with less money,

while safeguarding

the service and quality

expected by local

people’

So the challenge is to keep going with less money,

while safeguarding the service and quality expected

by local people.

This brieing brings together evidence to assist

green space managers, corporate decision-makers

and advisors in deciding on the future of services.

Councils are testing different approaches to

managing and inancing public spaces. 1 In many

cases service delivery will be radically restructured

as a result.

We set out seven ‘ingredients for success’,

describing the issues that matter but also,

importantly, some that distract. Even when these

ingredients feel familiar, the new challenge is

using them to manage change. The brieing is

relevant to all organisations managing green

spaces, including housing associations and councils.

The ingredients arise from research for CABE

between 2009 and 2010 by the New Local

Government Network (NLGN). It examined how the

structure and organisation of parks and green space

services affect their performance.

The brieing also sets out the resources that

green space managers can draw on to describe

the critical services that green space provides to

local communities.

More information on the study is available at:

www.cabe.org.uk/publications/managing-

green-spaces

The full report is available on request from NLGN

info@nlgn.org.uk

Community-led spaces: A guide for local authorities

and community groups CABE Space, 2010.

Why a green space

service matters

Parks and open spaces fundamentally affect our

wellbeing. They are an important determinant of

health and quality of life. They inluence how happy

we are with where we live. They are vital pieces

of local infrastructure. The quality of parks and

open space services has a proven effect on public

perceptions of local authority performance.

People value their local green spaces

There is a strong link between people’s

satisfaction with their local parks and green

spaces and their satisfaction with their

neighbourhood. If people are satisied with local

parks they tend to be satisied with their council.

Almost nine out of 10 people use their local parks

and green spaces and 48 per cent of people use

these spaces at least once a week.

81 per cent of respondents have used their local

park or open space in the last six months. This

compares with 32 per cent who had used concert

halls, and 26 per cent who had visited galleries.

In 2007, 91 per cent of people thought it was

very/fairly important to have green spaces near

to where they live, and by 2009 this had risen to

95 per cent.

In the largest survey of its kind conducted with

those living in deprived communities, residents

see the provision of green space as essential

to their quality of life alongside housing, health,

education and policing.

The 2003/04 Survey of English Housing identiies

the three main things that would improve people’s

local area. Issues relating to the quality of public

space are cited as many times as factors relating

to employment, health and housing.

91 per cent of the public believe that public parks

and open spaces improve people’s quality of

life, and 74 per cent believe that parks and open

spaces are important to people’s health and

mental and physical wellbeing. 4

Green space also signiicantly affects the economic

performance of a place. However, an NLGN survey

of local authority inance directors in 2009 found

that when resources become scarce, environmental

and culture services are the most exposed and

vulnerable to forced cuts. 2

This study looked at how parks and green space

service structures can change to provide leaner,

locally focused services which are it for purpose.

They certainly can adapt. But just cutting the

management and maintenance of green spaces is

nearly always found to be a false economy, because

it generates costs in other areas. For instance, it

increases the need to police anti-social behaviour

in a derelict space. 3

For more information on why green spaces

matter go to:

www.cabe.org.uk/urban-green-nation/facts

Linking up: a sensory garden in

the heart of Walthamstow helps

to connect local public transport

stations with the retail centre

Scanning inancial horizons: Modelling the local

consequences of iscal consolidation NLGN, 2010.

Decent parks, decent behaviour? The link between

the quality of parks and user behaviour CABE Space, 2005.

All indings in Urban green nation: building the evidence base CABE, 2010.

About the study

This research focuses on the largest landlords

of the country’s urban green space stock: local

authorities and housing associations.

For this study a green space service is deined

as the structure(s) within an organisation with

responsibility for the delivery and management

of parks and green spaces. There is no one

set structure. It could be a dedicated parks

department, or located within a wider department

with responsibility for other services such as street

cleansing or waste management.

The study examined how the organisation and

structuring of parks and green space services

affects their performance. Using eight case study

examples and structured interviews with key

personnel, it explored the ‘positioning’ of parks

and green spaces in relation to other services and

departments within an organisation.

The research included housing associations to

illustrate different ways of working with communities

to deliver good-quality green space.

Community space: Albion Community

Garden in Salford (both pictures) was

rejuvenated after residents of all ages

came together to transform a derelict

plot of land

Four factors, adapted from recent work

by LG Improvement and Development,

were analysed:

awareness and understanding of the context

within which the service operates, including

relating to corporate priorities

level of political and managerial leadership and

the skills to advocate for, and drive improvement

in, the service

existence of reliable evidence to use for advocacy,

underpinned by an ability to measure a service’s

contribution on an ongoing basis

ability to work in partnership to achieve

shared outcomes. 5

www.idea.gov.uk

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