Breadcrumbs
Towards A Country Parks Renaissance
In October 2001 the Countryside Agency began a programme of work with partners to support a renaissance of country parks. The programme has five main objectives:
To support the further development of the country parks network;
To facilitate the exchange of information and good practice between country park practitioners and interested parties;
To raise the competence of country park staff and their use of appropriate management tools;
To identify funding and income generation opportunities for country parks and promote these widely;
To secure local authority commitment to country parks.
The work was begun with the assistance of the Urban Parks Forum. Now renamed GreenSpace, we have awarded the same organisation a two-year contract to continue to provide support to country parks in England until October 2005.
Background
The Countryside Commission was given powers to establish country parks by the 1968 Countryside Act. The Act states that a country park is:
‘a park or pleasure ground for the purpose of providing, or improving,
opportunities for the enjoyment of the countryside by the public.’
In amplification of this, the Countryside Commission stated that a country park was:
‘an area of land, or land and water, normally not less than 25 acres
in extent, designed to offer to the public, with or without charge,
opportunity for recreational activities in the countryside.’
By 1978, 150 parks were established; by 1988 there were 220 parks; today, there are over 350 country parks in Great Britain, some 267 in England alone.
Review of the state of public parks 2001
The Countryside Agency, as successor body to the Countryside Commission, jointly funded with the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), the Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions (DTLR) and English Heritage, the Public Parks Assessment guide (2001).
The report included country parks, and made it clear that a substantial proportion were showing serious levels of decline. Although country parks are not in as poor a condition as many urban parks, the symptoms of further decline are unmistakable. Indeed in some respects, notably in the care of historic landscapes and built features, country parks have fared worse than their urban counterparts.
Rural White Paper commitment
The Rural White Paper says:
“The Countryside Agency will be issuing guidance on best practice to revitalise the country parks around our towns and cities. Over 250 country parks were established around towns, most in the 1980’s. Many are now showing their age. Yet they remain potentially a great asset for urban dwellers, providing ‘gateways’ between town and country. We want to see country parks better maintained and brought up to date to accommodate the activities and sports that people are now interested in, and they will be eligible for help from both lottery funding and theCountryside Agency grant scheme for countryside around towns.”
This Rural White Paper commitment is followed through in the Agency’s current Corporate Plan 2002/3 - 2004/5 and the revised business plan. It also fits with the Agency’s 2003/06 Corporate Plan aims for “a recreational infrastructure which can easily be enjoyed by everyone (B2)”, and “a vibrant and diverse urban fringe providing a better quality of life (B3)”.
Programme achievements to date
Working with partners, the following have already been achieved since 2001:
ź national Country Parks Advisory Group established;
ź networking post created within the Urban Parks Forum, now GreenSpace (UPF);
ź practitioner guidance for country park staff drafted;
ź an extension of Heritage Lottery Fund’s (HLF) Public Parks Initiative secured to include country parks;
ź pilot restoration plans for HLF bids completed in three country parks- Lydiard, Reddish Vale and Coombe;
ź country parks health check completed;
ź report prepared by UPF “Towards a Country Parks Renaissance” based on the health check findings and setting out proposals for the future of country parks;
ź two seminars for country park practitioners presented by the Countryside Recreation Network (CRN) in partnership with the Countryside Agency.
Findings of the 2003 report
The main findings of “Towards a Country Parks Renaissance” were:
· most of the 267 country parks in England are owned by local authorities;
· they receive an estimated 73 million visits per annum;
· approximately 2,500 people are employed in managing and maintaining country parks;
· two-thirds of country parks are located on the rural-urban fringe;
· country parks offer a range of benefits, services and recreational opportunities to diverse and varied visitors at a comparatively low cost;
· good parks are continuing to improve whilst poor parks are continuing to decline, which reflects funding patterns;
· the continued relevance and appeal of country parks as popular, multi-functional greenspaces remains clear.
The report was launched at a Countryside Research Network seminar on country parks in July 2003. The full report is available on the Countryside Agency’s website at www.countryside.gov.uk/tourism/countryparks.htm
Next steps
The milestone targets for the country parks programme are as follows:
September 2003 Summary of funding sources for country parks, to be published on the forthcoming country parks website
Country parks practitioners’ seminar September 17th
October 2003 Good practice guidance published on new country parks website
Web link to country parks self-audit database
December 2003 Complete the split of the original Country Parks Advisory Group into a strategy group and a delivery group
September 2004 Complete 10 pilots to demonstrate standards for country park management, and make advice on standards available on the country parks website
October 2005 Aim for all country park managers and local authorities to be members of the Country Parks Network
ANDREW MALIPHANT
September 2003
