One of the great privileges of my tenure at the BIG Lottery Fund has been playing a lead role on the Parks for People programme in partnership with the Heritage Lottery Fund. I have loved learning about, supporting and rehabilitating parks and green spaces across England. Rigorously interrogating applications to ensure best value but also focussed on delivering great green spaces for local people. We’ve preserved and shared some great heritage and created opportunities for a wide diversity of communities to benefit from parks across the country.

The programme is a great example of Lottery bodies working in partnership, bringing together their skills and resources to make a difference. We have supported thousands of volunteers, friends and users of parks and created enterprise, training, and volunteering opportunities. Previously crumbling or inaccessible cafes and buildings have been brought back to life for wider community use and environmental and community centres have been created.

[quote=Albert Tucker]"For many local residents, the park is their salvation."[/quote]

I particularly remember visiting Markfield Park in Haringey. It was here where the excavated soil from the building of the London Underground’s Victoria line was dumped. Surrounded by a number of housing estates, it is now the only green space available in the local area. And for many local residents, including the chairman of the friends group, the park is their salvation. Lottery money has helped transform a once under-used space into a vibrant park. It is now a place where kids play, where mums’ groups exercise and the café provides a regular meeting place for community groups.

However despite this renaissance, there are huge challenges facing public parks as articulated in the State of UK Public Parks 2014 report. The pressure on resources means many councils are cutting support to parks and green spaces, in particular maintenance budgets. We clearly need to find ways of making parks more sustainable – new enterprise opportunities, income generation and community ownership and involvement. Strong leadership is key and income generated by parks should be reinvested in the maintenance and growth of parks. These are clearly key approaches to be developed and strengthened in order to maintain the great health, social, environmental and community benefits parks have delivered.

Government and local authorities still have a role to play but we all need to get involved in the fight for the future of our local parks.