Archived on 6/5/2022

Local parks survey

Brett

29 Sep '16

“The Communities and Local Government Committee is investigating public parks and wants to know what you use your park for, or if you use it at all. We also would like to know how you feel about your park and its role in your community.”

Deadline for this is 30th Sep but do please complete the survey as the committee is considering all options including privately running local parks:

anon5422159

30 Sep '16

Filled in the survey, took less than a minute - as @Brett says, please take the time to fill out the survey.

The results may affect the future of our beautiful green corner of the City.

Michael

30 Sep '16

Filled it in too. All seemed a bit pointless and with a self-selecting survey I doubt it will be very helpful in providing statistical evidence or formulating policy. Does anybody know if any of these questions are much more than a PR exercise by the committee?

Pauline

30 Sep '16

Filled it in, only took about a minute.

Moto_Hodder

30 Sep '16

Select Committees don’t really do that kind of PR. What is more likely is that they just need a viewpoint other than local people whingeing at MP surgeries and whatever DCLG tell them and a quick and dirty survey does the job.

anon5422159

11 Feb '17

Results in:

Conclusion of the report:

There is signifcant interest in, and the overwhelming response to, our inquiry is a clear indication of just how strongly people feel about their local parks, how much they value them, and how important it is that action is taken to safeguard and secure the future of England’s parks and green spaces. Our witnesses—individuals, friends groups, local authorities, and other bodies—describe parks as being at a tipping point. As Cllr Trickett of Birmingham City Council told us: “We have been innovative and we have looked at alternatives, but the cuts are in very great danger of tilting the balance too far”.

265 If action is taken, and appropriate priority given to parks, we do not believe it is too late to prevent a period of decline. However, if the value of parks and their potential contribution are not recognised, then the consequences could be severe for some of the most important policy agendas facing our communities today.

There is, clearly, no ‘one size fits all’ solution. Responsibility for parks lies primarily with local authorities. We believe that local authorities are best placed to make decisions which are appropriate for their local circumstances. However, within a context of declining local authority budgets, we believe that there is a role for central government to play in providing vision, leadership and coordination, facilitating the sharing of lessons learned and best practice, and ensuring that the role of parks, their contribution, and their function as just one element of our wider green infrastructure networks, is recognised.

We intend to return to the issue of parks before the end of this Parliament to assess the progress which has been made. To assist us with this, the Minister’s cross- departmental group should publish annual written statements to the House providing an update on the group’s activity, progress made against our recommendations, and the progress made by local authorities and Health and Wellbeing Boards in the preparation and publication of joint parks and green space strategies.

From the notification email: