Love Parks Week starts tomorrow (Friday, July 14) with organisers claiming it is the perfect opportunity for communities across the UK to demonstrate just how important their local parks and green spaces are now and for future generations.
Love Parks Week, now in its 11th year, is Britain’s biggest celebration of these valuable spaces.
Using this tide of public support, with people sharing how much parks matter to them and why, environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy will campaign to secure the quality of parks for future generations to enjoy.
Paul Todd, Keep Britain Tidy’s Green Flag Award manager said: “We believe that everybody, wherever they live, should have access to a quality green space. We are asking everyone to join us in showing how much they care and helping us to protect parks for future generations.”
Local councils and other organisations are supporting this year's campaign. With ever increasing demands on local authorities, the Land Trust are working with national and local decision makers to promote the principle of placemaking, raising awareness of the benefits of a collaborative approach to integrated planning and the value of green spaces.
Placemaking is a collaborative approach to planning, designing and managing public spaces, in order to create places where people want to live, work, play, invest, be healthy and be happy. Well-designed places can:
- promote healthy, sustainable lifestyles
- reduce pressures and costs on public services
- attract additional investment and create opportunities for local people and businesses
- create a sense of belonging, identity and encourage community cohesion, reducing crime and anti-social behaviour
- ensure the environment is resilient to changing climates and able to work effectively to maintain air, soil and water quality to support biodiversity.
"Placemaking is at the heart of our approach to green space at the Land Trust," said a spokesman. "As an independent charity, we provide cost effective solutions for the sustainable, secure long term management of public open space and green infrastructure, benefitting the local area by boosting the economy, promoting healthy lifestyles, protecting and enhancing the environment, offering educational opportunities and encouraging community cohesion.
"We do this through identifying sustainable funding solutions, creating long-term relationships and actively managing the land to encourage positive community engagement. We manage our sites to create great places for nature and the local community to thrive side by side and we are proud that a number of our sites are an important resource for biodiversity and nature conservation and for health and education opportunities."
The Land Trust is responsible for more than 60 country parks, nature reserves and woodlands across the country. Importantly, these green spaces provide endless opportunities and are valuable to the local community.
