SAVE OUR PARKS
They are being sold off, built on, neglected and t aken over by thugs. Today we launch a vit al campaign:
THOUSANDS of parks are falling into disrepair or being sold off by cash-strapped councils, The Mail on Sunday reveals today.
Children’s play areas are being closed, grass is being left to overgrow, and flowerbeds are being removed at hundreds of sites across the country.
Other parks are becoming ‘no-go zones’ plagued by drug users and anti- social behaviour as staff are withdrawn. In the worst cases, councils are flogging chunks of parkland to housing developers to raise money – despite huge protests and while wasting millions on vanity projects elsewhere.
Our investigation found that almost one in three councils had sold off
green space in the past 12 months – and one in five planned to sell off land within the next three years.
Critics say the crisis poses the biggest threat to Britain’s parks since they were founded in the Victorian era to promote health and wellbeing.
The Mail on Sunday today launches a major campaign to halt the decline and issues a plea to the Government to intervene before it is too late. Other key findings from our investigation include:
One in three parks no longer has any staff on site, fuelling fears of a rise in crime;
Three-quarters of councils say they have cut back on park maintenance;
214 play areas across England have been shut since 2014, with 234 more planned;
Park funding has been slashed by at least £15 million in the past two years, with some councils cutting budgets by as much as £750,000;
95 per cent of councils expect to make further cuts to parks in the next five years.
Last night campaigners warned that the future of Britain’s 27,000 parks were at a ‘tipping point’. They said many would be lost for ever unless the Government forced town hall bosses to set aside more money for their upkeep.
About 37 million people – more than half the UK population – regularly visit parks, and researchers say Britain’s parks provide £34 billion in health and social benefits.
Studies have also found growing up near a park can boost children’s school results and may cut the risk of asthma and breathing problems in adulthood.
However, there is currently no statutory requirement for councils to fund or maintain parks. As a result, they are able to cut budgets to as little as they like – and many have slashed them to almost nothing.
Newcastle City Council, for instance, has slashed its budget by 97 per cent and handed over the running of its parks to a charitable trust, leaving it in the hands of volunteers.
Earlier this year, Bristol City Council made a similar move to save £2.8 million a year.
The major threat that cuts such as these pose to the future of parks was highlighted in a recent survey of park managers from 134 councils by the Association of Public Service Excellence.
Two-thirds of them said they would axe more staff within the next 12 months, as well as revealing details about the state of their parks and plans to sell off green spaces.
The survey also found there had been a 57 per cent reduction in bedding or flower displays in the past 12 months, and 41 per cent of councils were cutting the grass less often.
According to separate Freedom of Information requests submitted by public services union Unison, 207 local authorities have cut their park budgets by a total of more £15 million since 2016.
Sunderland City Council admitted it had wiped £752,000 off its budget between 2016 and 2018. Edinburgh City Council had cut its budget by £860,000.
Town hall chiefs have pleaded poverty and blamed the cuts on central government austerity measures. But research by The Mail on Sunday found that were spending vast sums on vanity projects and new headquarters. Labour-run Middlesbrough Council shut a children’s play area to save £ 3,000 a year, while councillors splashed £32,000 on a banquet for champagne-swilling VIPs to cele- brate its reopening of the town hall after an £8 million makeover.
In Torquay, the council has paved and grassed over its flower beds yet has spent more than £1.3 million in the past three years putting on an air show.
Other parks under threat include Old Farm Park in Sidcup, SouthEast London, where the council is
‘Once you have sold off the land, it is lost for ever’
planning to build 60 new homes, despite strong local opposition.
In Stone, Staffordshire, the council is planning to sell one third of Tilling Drive Recreation Park for £ 1 million to a firm which runs private nursing homes.
Campaigner Neil Richardson, 61, said: ‘Once you’ve sold it, it’s lost for good – it’s a travesty.’
The Mail on Sunday is calling for a new legal powers to force council chiefs to ring-fence £30 per household per year to pay for parks – a figure that environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy estimates to be enough to plug an estimated £1 billion funding gap.
We also call for councils to be given a legal duty to manage all green space to a good standard, and for a ban on development or the inappropriate use of park land. The
Government should also set up a central fund to provide emergency support for the parks most at risk of closure or decay and to ensure t he l ong- t erm maintenance of green spaces.
Keep Britain Tidy is backing our campaign. Chief executive Allison Ogden-Newton said: ‘We need to fight for parks’ survival because they are crucial to the health of the nation and once they are gone you can never get them back.
‘ This is has become an urgent crisis – if nothing is done soon, it may be too late.
‘People may have seen some early warning signs of the significant cuts that are threatening the future of our parks: flowerbeds full of weeds and shrubs not pruned; bins emptied less often; damage to play equipment and buildings not being repaired, or the facilities removed,’ she said.
‘Our parks are a national asset and the envy of the world. If we do not find a way to fund them and standards fall, we know that people will stop using them and anti-social behaviour will creep in – effectively turning them into no-go zones.’
In some areas, volunteers are stepping in to keep their parks running, with some even putting in their own money to stop the rot. But campaigners say the situation is unsustainable. Dave Morris, of the National Federation of Parks and Green Spaces, warned: ‘Time is running out. The public will not forgive politicians who let the sun set on the UK’s parks.’
Last year, a select committee of MPs warned ‘parks are at a tipping point and face a period of decline with potentially severe consequences’.
In response, the Government set up an action group with Parks and Green Spaces Minister, Rishi Sunak, vowing to ‘do all we can to protect and improve’ parks.
But campaigners are becoming increasingly concerned that not enough action is being taken.
Prince William heads the charity Fields In Trust, which works to protect public green spaces from being sold off. He said recently: ‘Access to parks and green spaces can help us to stay physically and mentally well, reduce social isolation and instil pride in our local communities. Whether it is playing sport, socialising with friends or taking a moment for quiet reflection, parks and green spaces quite simply make us happier.’
Helen Griffiths, chief executive of Fields In Trust, said: ‘Parks that are not cared for attract fewer visitors and are then easier to sell off for development. This spiral of decline will have health and social impacts – and once a park is gone, it is gone for ever.’