A new vision has been penned to guide the work of The Parks Alliance following the Establishing Board meeting late last year. This has been incorporated into the Our perspective and Who we are sections.

What is The Parks Alliance?

The Parks Alliance is the voice of UK parks, representing the people and organisations that create, maintain, invest in and use the public green spaces that we are proud to have at the heart of British life.

What is it for?

To promote and protect the public parks we are proud to have at the heart of UK life and culture.

Who is in it?

The UK-wide Alliance already includes 40 organisations and senior park industry figures from local government parks services, private contractors, industry bodies, NGOs and volunteer and park friends groups.

What is it trying to achieve?

• Protect and improve the country’s public parks for future generations.
• Increase understanding among national politicians and policy makers of the value of public parks to the current and future quality of life and health in the UK.
• Increase understanding among national and local politicians and decision makers that parks are a crucial part of social and physical infrastructure supporting education, flood control, health improvement, social cohesion, wildlife and helping us adapt to climate change.
• Secure and boost the existing world-leading skills and expertise delivering UK parks as well as quality training and employment opportunities.
• Influence national, regional and local policies and funding decisions that impact on parks.

What will it do?

• Work with the Minister with responsibility for parks, to ensure they understand the issues facing parks. Support and encourage the Minister to show leadership in representing parks inside and outside Government and helping find solutions to challenges for parks.
• Champion innovative approaches to park management, design and public engagement.
• Connect and facilitate collaboration between the people and groups that care about parks, including local authorities, contractors, NGOs and friends groups, through a comprehensive communications strategy and regularly speaking at industry events.
• Aim to establish a single ‘Park Champion’ within each local authority elected membership.
• Support efforts by local authorities to use Community Infrastructure Levy or Section 106 funds to maintain and protect existing local parks.
• Campaign for an independent national commission to investigate the current issues facing parks and solutions for a secure future.
• Propose and offer to support a pilot study to test a simple, standard method of measuring the quality of open spaces to overlay Government plans to map all parks.
• Work towards the establishment of a national agency for parks to set, monitor and raise the quality standards of UK parks.
• Provide a single trusted source of information and examples on UK parks to enable partners to easily demonstrate the importance of parks and argue for their funding and protection.