Tag Archive for: Parks

Worth Park’s Wildflower Meadows Come to Life

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Worth Park’s Wildflower Meadows Come to Life: In 2022, Euroflor Flower Seed from Origin Amenity Solutions (OAS) transformed three meadow areas within Worth Park as part of a wider conservation project underway by Crawley Borough Council.

Worth Park sits within 8.5 hectares of green space, which has undergone a complete restoration over the last few years, making it an important community and destination venue for residents and visitors to Crawley. This experimental meadow has now been turned into works of art by a nonagenarian painter Beryl Hovell. Beryl has tracked the development of the park’s meadow area over the past three years. She created her first artwork in 2022, at the age of 90, and has recently completed her third painting. All three paintings are on display in the Community Room at Worth Park.

Beryl explains, “I saw the newly seeded wildflower meadow at Worth Park in 2022. What a lovely, colourful sight. As an artist, it inspired me, and once that vision was in my head, I had to paint it on canvas. A year later, I painted it again. It was interesting to see the differences and variations in growth, flowers, and colours. In 2024, I saw it for the third time. Now, there were more grasses and fewer flowers. When the wind caught the grasses, I loved the movement and tried to capture it in the painting with small dots of colour emerging. A photograph can capture one view, but an artist can condense a number of views into one and inject a feeling of movement that a camera cannot.”

Councillor Chris Mullins, Cabinet member for Leisure and Wellbeing at Crawley Borough Council adds, “Worth Park is a wonderful place, and Beryl’s paintings really capture the beauty of the wildflower meadow. I’m grateful to Beryl for allowing us to display her artwork in the park for visitors to enjoy.”

Head Gardener and Curator at Worth Park Stephen Peters first introduced the wildflowers to increase plant diversity and provide an essential habitat and food for pollinators. He used OAS’s biodegradable matting, FloraFleece, which helped deliver maximum visual and ecological benefit with minimal environmental impact.

Stephen concludes, “It has been a real pleasure seeing Beryl’s works of art that have followed the progress of our wildflower meadow using FloraFleece in the last three years. These paintings now hang proudly for all to see and admire. Not only do they demonstrate the evolution of the meadow but also the brilliance of the artist who captured it. At the same time, it reminds us of the beauty of meadows and how important they are for the environment and its biodiversity.”

For more information on Euroflor Flower Seed and FloraFleece, call the OAS team on 0800 138 7222 or email sales@originamenity.com

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The search for UK’s favourite parks

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The search for UK’s favourite parks: Fields in Trust – the independent charity that has been protecting parks and green spaces for almost 100 years – has announced that its search for the UK’s Favourite Parks is back this summer and is calling upon the nation to get nominating now!

The hugely popular campaign has returned for the first time since 2019 and will shine a light on the green spaces that hold a special place in our hearts.

The search for UK's favourite parks

The search for UK’s favourite parks

Having acted as sanctuary to so many over the past few years, Fields in Trust is bringing back the campaign to find the UK’s Favourite Parks to ensure that they continue to be celebrated in a post-pandemic world.

The charity recently commissioned a study which found that almost half of us have visited local parks more often than we used to as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Coupled with research that has shown that access to nature was one of the main ways people have supported their mental health during lockdowns, Fields in Trust is determined that this year’s campaign celebrates the spaces that we relied on.

This year’s UK’s Favourite Parks campaign is made all-the-more important in light of the Fields in Trust’s recently released annual Green Space Index report. The study – which analyses the provision and distribution of parks and green spaces in the UK – found that 2.8 million people live more than ten minutes’ walk away from a green space. With only 6% of green space legally protected in Great Britain, the charity is concerned  that this will only worsen in coming years if we do not appreciate and advocate for our local parks.

Chief Executive of Fields in Trust, Helen Griffiths, commented on the campaign’s return, saying:

“There is no doubt that the importance of green spaces has been acutely felt recently, with people increasingly turning to their local parks to find a sense of tranquillity, space, and belonging since the pandemic began. When restrictions were at their highest, many sought sanctuary in their daily walk around the park; and when restrictions lifted to allow outdoor gatherings, the same parks became the backdrop for reunions with loved ones and new memories made.

“At a time when things were so hard for so many, these places provided respite; now, through our UK’s Favourite Parks campaign, we want to give people the chance to show their appreciation for the green spaces that were there for them.”

The search for the UK’s Favourite Parks starts today, meaning you can nominate your local green space now. Nominations are open until Tuesday 5 July, before the chosen parks go head-to-head in a public vote.

The UK’s Favourite Parks was first awarded in 2015 and has already handed out the title to three parks from across the UK: inaugural winner, Telford Town Park; Rouken Glen Park in 2016; and Blackpool’s Stanley Park in both 2017 and 2019.

Helen Griffiths continues:

“We are thrilled to be on the search once again for the UK’s Favourite Parks and we have no doubt that we’ll find some absolute gems along the way. We can’t wait to see the places that get put forward. Whether it’s the park you head for when the sun is shining; your favourite place to walk the dog; the place you go to stretch your legs; or your family’s favourite spot to spend quality time together: we want you to nominate your favourite today!”

To nominate your local park, visit www.fieldsintrust.org/favourite-parks.

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Protecting parks key to Levelling-Up ambitions

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Protecting parks key to Levelling-Up ambitions: If progress is to be made on the Government’s flagship “levelling-up” agenda the nation’s parks must be protected from further loss, according to green space charity Fields in Trust. Their annual ‘Green Space Index’ report suggests Britain’s local parks and green spaces have a significant role to play in restoring a sense of community and local pride as well as contributing to health, wellbeing and climate change resilience.

Local authorities in the Government’s priority levelling-up areas have, on average, 10% less green space provision when benchmarked against the amount communities need to thrive. The amount of green space per person in these priority levelling-up areas is set to decline by 2040 as population grows. The unequal distribution and access to local parks is stark and felt the most in those left behind neighbourhoods which are already missing out on the physical health, mental wellbeing and environmental impacts of local green space. Earlier research from Fields in Trust valued the health and wellbeing benefits for park users at more than £34 billion each year. Regular users of parks have fewer visits to their GP resulting in an annual saving to the NHS of £111 million.

Protecting parks key to Levelling-Up ambitions

Protecting parks key to Levelling-Up ambitions

Fields in Trust’s Green Space Index analysis demonstrates the disparities between nations and regions that the Levelling-Up programme is attempting to rectify. Fields in Trust found that Yorkshire and the Humber and the north west region fall well below a minimum standard for green space. Scotland, at 41 square metres per person, has more green space provision than both England and Wales. As a region, London’s green space is very accessible, but the region has the least green space per person, at just 19 sqm.

Speaking at the Westminster launch of the charity’s new analysis, Clive Betts MP, Chair of the DLUHC Parliamentary select committee and a Trustee of the Fields in Trust charity said “The role of green infrastructure in planning and healthy place-making should be central to government ambitions to rebalance geographic inequalities. Yet 2.8 million people already live more than a ten-minute walk from a public park, with levelling-up target areas having around 10% less green space than the average across Britain”.

Alongside their value for community health and wellbeing, local parks have a vital role to play in supporting our environment. These spaces improve air quality, capture harmful carbon and boost biodiversity.

Levelling-up requires a focused, long-term plan of action if it is to act upon the drivers of spatial disparity. Ensuring all neighbourhoods have accessible provision of parks and green spaces can help address a complex set of targets set by Government – which include improving pride of place, developing climate resilience, and improving local community infrastructure.

Fields in Trust’s analysis suggests that, unless local parks and green spaces are protected in the long-term, any levelling-up interventions will be transitory.

Liverpool West Derby MP, Ian Byrne, said: “Liverpool City Council’s landmark partnership to protect all of their parks with Fields in Trust demonstrates a solution that will benefit both people and place – not just for current residents but also into the future as Liverpool’s population is set to rise. The bold vision will ensure everyone in Liverpool lives within a ten-minute walk of a park or green space which will be protected, forever.

During Covid, we have seen the huge importance of green spaces for all within our communities and this collaboration between Fields in Trust and Liverpool City Council will hopefully be a catalyst for many other local authorities to do exactly the same and enshrine their green spaces with Fields in Trust to protect them for future generations.”

Fields in Trust have received similar commitments to protect access to local parks from the City of Edinburgh Council who want to ensure residents have local green space protected forever. Wrexham County Borough Council is adding to their protected portfolio of green space as part of a drive to net zero.

Chair of Fields in Trust, Jo Barnett, said: “We know that parks and green spaces play a vital role in people’s health and wellbeing, yet the Green Space Index demonstrates uneven provision across Great Britain, and our most vulnerable communities are impacted negatively.

Although the scale and interdependency across the levelling-up portfolio is intensely complex, parks and green spaces deliver impacts across the range of social policy agendas yet remain undervalued for the multiple benefits they contribute to our communities. The climate crisis adds a new impetus to protect urban green space and as our work in Liverpool shows local authorities are recognising the important part green space plays in our neighbourhoods, towns and cities and stepping-up to ensure it is future proofed.”

The Green Space Index is an annual report from the charity Fields in Trust which analyses provision of park and green spaces. The report was first produced in 2019, and this year is the Index’s fourth edition. People can find out more about the green space provision by using the interactive web app on the Fields in Trust website.

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Crucial year for parks and green spaces

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Crucial year for parks and green spaces: Green Space charity Fields in Trust has published a 2021 Impact Report detailing their work to champion, support and protect parks and green spaces across the UK.

It was a significant year for Fields in Trust, a pioneering partnership with Liverpool City Council was announced in March 2021. The council are legally protecting all the city’s parks and green spaces, forever. Securing 100 parks, totalling over 1,000 hectares, Liverpool will become the first city in the UK where everyone lives no more than a ten-minute walk from a legally protected green space.  Partnerships with the City of Edinburgh Council and the County Borough of Wrexham have also secured multiple green-space portfolios for the communities in those cities.

Crucial year for parks and green spaces

Crucial year for parks and green spaces

Over the last two years we have relied on our local green spaces more than ever; a vital part of the local environment helping us rebalance and recover. Alongside their value for health and wellbeing, urban parks increasingly have a role to play in the mitigation of climate change, but parks and green spaces are not equally distributed across the UK. In May, Fields in Trust President, HRH The Duke of Cambridge launched the 2021 edition of the Green Space Index – Fields in Trust’s pioneering initiative to quantify and analyse inequality of access to local green space. The visit took place as part of the royal visit to Scotland in advance of the COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow.

Fields in Trust Chief Executive Helen Griffiths said: “We have seen a major shift in the way people talk about, visit and value their local parks. Our parks have provided a lifeline throughout lockdown and now, coming out of the pandemic, we can all play our part to make sure local green spaces will remain a healthy part of the local environment contributing to our wellbeing, our community connections and mitigating the impact of climate change. We must make sure they will be protected and available for the whole community and for future generations”

The Fields in Trust Impact Report is presented as an online interactive resource including maps video and photographs and infographics.

Explore the Fields in Trust 2021 Impact Report www.fieldsintru.st/ir2021

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Parks & green spaces during a pandemic

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Parks & green spaces during a pandemic: Green Space charity Fields in Trust has published an online Impact Report following their Annual General Meeting this week. The report shows that despite the challenges of the pandemic, work to champion, support and protect the UK’s parks and green spaces has continued. 

The report notes that 2020 was a year in which the value of parks and green spaces was widely recognised for the physical health and mental wellbeing benefits they contribute to regular park visitors.

Parks & green spaces during a pandemic

Parks & green spaces during a pandemic

Fields in Trust Chair of Trustees Jo Barnett said: “Like many charities we have had to adapt our services, embrace remote ways of working and more digital dissemination like this years online Impact Report. But I am pleased to say we have continued to make great progress with 31 new spaces protected during the year and significant progress made on our regional programme to work with Local Councils and deliver real change for their towns and cities.

As normal life resumes, we must not forget how vital our parks and green spaces have been – and that failing to protect them will be to our collective detriment.

At the AGM, Vice President of Fields in Trust, Gyles Brandreth spoke to reflect and appreciate the work of His Royal Highness, The Duke of Edinburgh who was President of the charity for 64 years. Gyles Brandreth, The Duke’s friend and biographer, is Vice President of Fields in Trust and spoke about The Duke of Edinburgh,  taking on the role as President of Fields in Trust, in October 1948 – his first national charity commitment. He served for over six decades, stepping down in 2013 to be replaced by his grandson, HRH The Duke of Cambridge, who remains as President today. The legacy created ensures that many much-loved parks and playing fields remain available today for play, sport and the enjoyment of nature.

The AGM comes a month after the current president of Fields in Trust HRH The Duke of Cambridge, launched the Green Space Index as part of his engagement with a range of charities focused on environmental issues ahead of COP26. The Index is an annual barometer of green space provision and distribution which can be used as a tool to support local authorities with green infrastructure planning to mitigate climate change. It shows there are around 2.8 million people in Great Britain who live more than a ten-minute walk from their nearest park or green space Areas with the least provision tend to be those with a higher incidence of deprivation – precisely the communities who benefit most from green space access. The Fields in Trust Impact Report can be viewed online www.fieldsintrust.org/impact-report

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