Nature: we can all make a difference
At Chiltern Rangers, our work involves looking after both urban and rural green spaces, from chalk streams to woodlands and parks.
We want these places to be part of the fabric of our community. We – and our amazing volunteers – work hard to make them richer in wildlife and nicer places to explore and discover.
To tackle the climate and biodiversity crises, we need everyone to come together to help. I believe there are five misunderstandings which are stopping us from doing the very best we can for the nature around us.
These are:
Planting trees is the only solution
Some people will tell you that the world will be saved if we all plant lots of trees. This is only part of the story. What they usually forget is that the trees have to be the right species, in the right places, planted for the right reasons. Ideally they should be grown from local seed and grown nearby.
Cutting down trees is always bad
It's really important that the woodland we have now is properly looked after. Often this means cutting trees down! This is called coppicing and thinning and it’s how our woodlands and the wildlife that depends upon them has evolved over the past 10,000 years. Trees will regrow and regenerate – we just have to be patient.
We also need to control the pests which threaten the health of our woods, new and old. This can be an unpopular thought but all sorts of problems can be caused by grey squirrel, glis glis (aka the edible dormouse) and deer, especially muntjac, roe and fallow.
Litter is a problem of the past
As a ranger, I know this is simply not true. There is so much littering and fly tipping that it rivals football as a national pastime.
If my team could change one thing, it would be this: no more littering. Plastics are a huge problem as they break down – micro plastics are now present in our water, our food and even our blood.
All flowers are good for bees and butterflies
The best kinds of wildflower meadows are not just eye-catching displays of poppies, corn marigold and cornflower. They should also be rich biodiverse places, full of often-overlooked plants like bird’s foot trefoil. This plant provides nectar and pollen for bees and butterflies, and its leaves are important food for caterpillars.
I can't make a difference
This is the most dangerous myth. If everyone does what they can then yes, we can make a difference. Why not:
- plant a pot on your windowsill for pollinators
- grow a native shrub like hawthorn in your garden
- buy local plants and trees where you can
- join a local group to give back to the environment – even a few hours one day a month will help
- take photos and use recording apps: share the nature you love via social media
We need to come together to make and be the difference that we need to see.
What is the Heritage Fund doing to help?
Investing in landscapes and nature is one of our key priorities, including millions of pounds of funding to help communities look after the nature right on their doorsteps. We're also on a journey as an organisation to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2030.
Efallai y bydd gennych chi ddiddordeb hefyd mewn ...
The heritage project that helped me tackle my loneliness
For a middle-aged man to close his business, sell his house and move to an area he barely knows might seem madness.
We had to relocate for my wife's work, which meant a new start in a totally new place.
Swapping a large house with sea views for a rented flat in a fume-filled, noisy and intimidating part of town where you know no one would test anyone's mental robustness.
The local park, the Rye, very quickly became my salvation. It became my daily habitat, one in which nature helped ease my loneliness and despair.
Joining the community
It was on one of these days on the Rye I saw an advert for Chiltern Rangers' Green Thursdays community group. The Chiltern Rangers are part of the massive Heritage Fund-supported conservation project in the area.
Keen not to wait a whole week, I joined the rangers the following day, and then the next.
It was another month before I summoned the courage to email them, and they replied straight away. The invitation to join them was warm and sincere, and so, on that first Thursday in November, I ended up in Castlefield Wood coppicing hazel – a task where you cut back the tree to help it grow again.
I found I had joined many other like-minded people keen to get outside and help to look after the many wild spaces around the town. Keen not to wait a whole week to experience this again, I joined the rangers the following day, and then the next.
A new view on life
I had been a gardener for 20 years so the work was easy for me. But I learned a lot – the enthusiastic rangers were only too willing to share their knowledge. I also became an avid listener – it was amazing to hear volunteers of all ages and backgrounds tell their life stories and explain how they had got involved.
I also started appreciating the High Wycombe area in a way that was closed to me before. Knowing there was an organisation that looked after, nurtured and loved these often scrubby, wild hillsides has made me see the urban environment in a different way.
Giving away nearly a month of my time was one of the most enriching and liberating things I have ever done.
I now knew there were wildlife reserves all over the town, flourishing between the areas of housing. I discovered that the work to look after them continues through the seasons and over the years in a wonderful rhythm and cycle.
During this tough time without a job, I volunteered twice a week with the group for four months. I learned hedge-laying and became a certified First Aider. I was inspired by the Chiltern Rangers' passion and expertise in nurturing healthy woodland and habitats.
Giving away nearly a month of my time was one of the most enriching and liberating things I have ever done. I am hoping to embark on a new role as a head gardener, but most important to me is that I made friends, and had a joy and purpose in this new area. I take the group's ethos and values with me every day.
Find out more
Find out more about other National Lottery-funded projects which helping people to feel less lonely, from sheds in Durlston Country Park to a much-loved ship in Liverpool.
Efallai y bydd gennych chi ddiddordeb hefyd mewn ...
How green spaces can improve our wellbeing
It’s good to be asked to write this blog to coincide with the publication of the Space to Thrive report. I want to use it to bring together my personal and professional experiences of why parks are so important for our mental health and wellbeing.
I am lucky enough to live in Ealing, once known as the Queen of the Suburbs. It is one of London’s greenest boroughs for one predominant reason – its parks. You can walk, run or cycle through Pitshanger, Perivale and Brent Valley parks barely touching a road, and then onwards to Lammas and Walpole before heading south to Gunnersbury. The latter was purchased from the Rothschilds by local government in 1926 and is now home to a weekly Parkrun among very many other activities. Incidentally, both have recently been regenerated thanks to National Lottery funding.
"Green space within easy access of your front door, enabling (and sometimes encouraging) mild, moderate, or occasionally extreme physical activity, but also a chance to think and to exist."
The attractions are clear – green space within easy access of your front door, enabling (and sometimes encouraging) mild, moderate, or occasionally extreme physical activity, but also a chance to think and to exist. In particular, an opportunity to engage with the nature on your doorstep – the sight of a woodpecker or a beautiful tree can lift the spirits.
A place to escape
For me, my local parks are vital for my wellbeing. They are the place I go to escape, to decompress. When our children were young, we spent endless hours in all weathers enjoying the freedoms the park gave them to run and express themselves. When my wife died, I walked across many parks coming to terms and grieving.
I believe that parks do the same for much of our population. This important report highlights this. It shows that physical health, mental wellbeing and life satisfaction are all enhanced through access to and use of parks and green spaces.
As the report recommends, parks should be seen as social as well as physical infrastructure so funders should support the activities that animate green spaces as well as the spaces themselves. To mark the New Year, I am doing RED January – it’s a mass participation and fundraising activity for Mind that helps us to be physically active every day in the coldest month. There will be many RED January T-shirts underneath layers of clothes.
The importance of quality parks
Access to green space is important but the quality of green spaces has a stronger bearing on health outcomes. It’s clear that parks create important opportunities for social integration, but they can amplify social divisions and may exclude social groups if they feel unsafe. It’s important that everyone feel welcome to use them fully.
"We have to consider the role of parks in our approach to mental health at a wider policy level."
We have to consider the role of parks in our approach to mental health at a wider policy level. As the stigma around mental health continues to be eroded, we can start to think about how we can all look after our own mental health. This requires a cross-governmental approach which makes use of all our community assets. Our Ecominds project showed the positive impacts on bringing together green spaces and support for our mental health. There is now an opportunity to think about the role of parks in social prescribing and enabling access individually and in groups.
Perhaps to mark the new decade, we should encourage the new government to create a truly cross-system plan to improve our mental health, which puts some of our most loved, and most needed, green spaces at its heart.
Find out more
Read the first stage of the Space to Thrive report, produced with The National Lottery Community Fund. The second part of the report will be published later this year.
These four parks, funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, put wellbeing at their heart: Beddington, Boultham, Rhyddings and Levengrove.
Follow Paul on Twitter, or find out more on the Mind website.
Efallai y bydd gennych chi ddiddordeb hefyd mewn ...
Looking closer at the Space to Thrive report
What is the Space to Thrive report?
The Space to Thrive report is an evidence review of the social benefits of urban green spaces and parks, including the benefits to health and wellbeing.
Can you explain how you found that the "quality" of parks is better than the "quantity"?
What’s really clear from the evidence is that parks are really good for people, people like to use them. But if they feel that those spaces aren’t safe, that they aren’t well kept – if there’s lots of broken glass, signs of drug use, if equipment hasn’t been maintained – what is at first a positive becomes a negative. People will actually avoid places they perceive as being dangerous
So the good quality and care [and busyness] of those spaces is really important in terms of making them feel safe, making them feel welcoming – and welcoming for different kinds of people. That’s really important – so that there aren’t communities that feel: "this isn’t our space".
How do parks and green spaces reflect inequalities in society?
Again it comes down to quality. Often in poorer communities, less money, less attention will go on looking after these parks. People get the impression that some neighbourhoods are less well served. Not just in terms of the amount of green space, but how well those spaces are looked after.
It's an increasing factor as parks become more commercialised. As more and more paid-for activities take place in parks, or as you get facilities like cafes that cater to a more affluent end of the market, those parks start to be seen as spaces for people who have money.
"Parks and green spaces can be really good in terms of helping newcomers, especially refugees and migrants, integrate into communities."
It’s great if you can use your park to earn income, and obviously a good café is wonderful, but if you are increasingly closing off parks for events or you’re making some deliberately cater for more high-end uses, what you have is a kind of gentrification where parks are seen as facilities for middle-class people and not for everybody.
How are you seeing parks help marginalised groups like refugees feel included?
From a lot of the international evidence we see, parks and green spaces can be really good in terms of helping newcomers, especially refugees and migrants, integrate into communities. So things like gardening projects, community projects, or simply a space where people of very different communities can feel safe and feel they can interact with other people.
There has been work done in New Zealand about how gardening projects can be very useful particularly for older migrants. Particularly if you find language a barrier, a shared knowledge of things like growing and caring for plants and being in the outdoors can be really important.
What do you think the UK government should be doing?
First of all it's important that the funds are there to keep parks well maintained and looked after. There has to be much greater recognition by the health service and by health practitioners of the value green spaces bring.
We're also saying that parks should be seen as an asset rather than a liability. Parks are an important asset in keeping your population well and in having a healthy environment, so you should be looking after them.
Can you give an example of a good park?
Manor Fields Park in Sheffield where I live. It was previously really off-putting, it had severe vandalism, it was really not looked after. Now it's a place that's got allotments and growing schemes, its got a parkrun. It's an asset to the community. But it’s taken a long time and long-term investment to get there.
What have you seen change over your years of researching parks?
There has been a lot of evidence in recent years on how increasingly at risk parks are. Budgets have been cut very significantly. The number of staff involved in looking after parks and green spaces is a lot less. There is increasing pressure on local authorities to sell parks that they feel that they can’t look after, particularly for development.
"We need to make sure that we don't lose our urban green spaces just when we most need them."
Alongside that, there is a much greater understanding of how important parks are in terms of health and wellbeing. And that parks are a really important asset in terms of adapting to climate change: they cool down the temperature in cities, they absorb carbon, they help to clean the air, they provide habits for wildlife.
We need to make sure that we don't lose our urban green spaces just when we most need them.
Find out more and what's next
Find the full report and also read CEO of Mind, Paul Farmer's blog about parks and wellbeing.
Space to Thrive is the first part of our Parks for People evaluation. In the second part, published later this year, the benefits of parks will be brought to life though six case studies of funded public parks.
Julian Dobson
Julian Dobson works at The University of Sheffield and Urban Pollinators. Find out more about his work on Twitter and his blog.
Efallai y bydd gennych chi ddiddordeb hefyd mewn ...
Space to Thrive report
Overview
The Space to Thrive report was conducted by researchers from Sheffield Hallam University and The University of Sheffield. It was produced with The National Lottery Community Fund.
It is based on a review of 385 papers published within the last ten years. Each have been through a process of academic peer review.
It focuses on issues such as health, wellbeing and social integration.
- Read CEO of Mind Paul Farmer's blog: How green spaces can improve our wellbeing
- Hear from one of the report’s researchers, Julian Dobson, about the impact of parks on health, wellbeing and society
Key findings
1. Access to and use of parks and green spaces enhance physical health, mental wellbeing and life satisfaction
People need parks and green spaces nearby, but they need to be of a sufficient quality to encourage regular visits. The quality of green spaces has a stronger bearing on health outcomes than quantity.
Visiting parks can help reduce obesity, diabetes and heart disease. Visits to green spaces support mental wellbeing and stress relief.
2. Parks can create important opportunities for social integration
Parks can help refugees and migrants establish a sense of belonging in new communities.
But they can also amplify social divisions. Groups may exclude themselves from green spaces if they feel the space is dominated by one particular group of users (for example, if a park is overwhelmingly used by young people) or if they feel unsafe (for example, when a space is poorly maintained or attracts antisocial behaviour).
3. Parks provide opportunities for community engagement
Local residents, including children, value the chance to be involved in designing and improving their green spaces (for example, through volunteering).
Community gardening offers opportunities for new residents to build social connections.
Schemes to include young people in the care of green spaces can enhance their personal development and increase their environmental awareness.
4. Parks and green spaces highlight inequalities in society
There is evidence that the quality of parks and green spaces is worse in lower-income areas. Minorities are often marginalised in terms of access to green space.
5. Parks and green spaces enable people to connect with nature, which enhances their sense of wellbeing
Connectedness with nature includes experiencing the natural world through the physical senses, learning about it, and engaging mindfully with nature by paying attention.
It is associated with a sense of gratitude and self worth and can help people recover from stress and mental illness.
Connections with nature also help to build a sense of place and community and foster feelings of belonging.
6. Parks and green spaces can have economic benefits
Including:
- creating employment
- hosting economic activities (such as cafes or events)
- encouraging inward investment
Recommendations
1. Parks should be seen as social as well as physical infrastructure
This means that as well as investing in and maintaining high-quality physical environments, funders should also support the activities that animate green spaces and encourage people to use them. Investment should support activities that increase community engagement, bring different social groups together, encourage volunteering and open up parks to disadvantaged sections of society.
For example by:
- funding local groups to provide community development activities in green spaces
- creating welcoming meeting spaces such as cafés
- ensuring high standards of care and maintenance are provided to deter crime, littering and antisocial behaviour
2. Parks and green spaces should be managed to support health and wellbeing
Design, maintenance and activities should encourage physical exercise appropriate for all sections of the population. They should also create restorative spaces and activities that enable people to recover from the stresses of life. For example:
- funding social prescribing within green environments
- supporting fitness and exercise activities in parks in low-income areas
- improving lighting and pathways to increase a sense of safety and security
3. Parks and green spaces should be managed to encourage connections with nature
A wide range of habitats should be provided to give visitors the opportunity to engage with and better understand the natural world. This in turn will maximise the wellbeing benefits associated with nature connectedness.
Efallai y bydd gennych chi ddiddordeb hefyd mewn ...
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| Space to thrive - a rapid evidence review | 1.85 MB |
Our 25-year love affair with public parks
In that time, The National Lottery Heritage Fund has invested £1.6billion of National Lottery money in landscapes and nature.
That includes more than £950m in public parks and cemeteries.
We recognised early on the value of investing in public parks, and over 25 years our funding has reached every corner of the UK, providing benefit to the 37m people that use public parks every year.
In 2006 we were joined in our support of parks by The National Lottery Community Fund*, helping us to expand our work in transforming public parks.
With the weather warming up, we thought it timely to take a look back at some of our favourite park projects over the past quarter-century.
Award winning
Antrim Castle Gardens, an 8th-century Anglo-Dutch water garden, was transformed thanks to our investment. It has been an amazing success since receiving funding in 2006. This year it won a Tourism Northern Ireland award for Authentic Northern Ireland Experience of the Year.
Our funding also helped to shine a light on the miniature masterpiece of design that is York Gate Gardens. Tucked away in the village of Adel on the outskirts of Leeds, it’s a magnificent example of the Arts and Crafts movement in garden form. In 2017 it was named by The Times as "the seventh best garden to visit in the UK".
Accessible
Dean Castle Country Park in East Ayrshire, Saughton Park in Edinburgh, and Holywells in Ipswich are leading the way on the accessibility front with Changing Places toilets. These extra-large bathrooms meet the needs of all people with a disability and ensure equal access to an enjoyable day out.
There are more than 1,300 Changing Places toilets around the UK – find your nearest on the Changing Places map.
Brooke Park is another lovely example from Northern Ireland. Conservation volunteers help manage the park, which features wheelchair-friendly play equipment, and is one of the few large green spaces in Derry City.
Small and (formerly) forgotten
Marine Cove Gardens in Burnham-On-Sea in Somerset is possibly one of the smallest green spaces we’ve ever funded. The tiny but perfectly formed 0.17 hectare of formal gardens was originally part of an old vicarage site. Almost a decade on from our award, it is still going strong, and the much-loved lion head fountain remains in use.
We’re also proud to have helped the Friends of Zion Graveyard, in Attercliffe, revitalise the very small and forgotten graveyard, located in the middle of a Sheffield industrial estate. The graveyard is the resting place of Mary Anne Rawson, one of the leading anti-slavery campaigners of the 19th century.
Dead Space to Living Place* is another great cemetery project, in Berkhamsted. It’s a small green space with a committed volunteer group. They inspire wonderful community involvement through activities ranging from the recent book festival to adopt-a-grave gardening scheme and volunteer social events. Sign up to their newsletter to find out more.
Grottos, caves and pigeon towers
One of the very first park project awards in Wales, back in 1995, was £30,000 towards the restoration of the Shell Grotto in Pontypool Park in South Wales. A subsequent award helped restore the surrounding park – the only public park in the town – a decade later. In 2017 a pair of shell grotto experts proclaimed Pontypool’s version as “one of the best examples we have discovered”.
Rivington Terraced Gardens* covers 45 acres of hillside, incorporating hidden paths, caves and lakes, designed by Thomas Mawson in 1905 for the soap magnate Lord Leverhulme. As well as repairing and protecting the gardens, our funding has helped restore the Pigeon Tower. One of Chorley’s most recognised and intriguing structures, it is now open for public visits for the first time in decades.
Art and hardy water lilies
The beautiful Whitworth Art Garden, part of The Whitworth Gallery (which was transformed with £15m of National Lottery funding), takes the exhibition space beyond the gallery walls. It houses outdoor sculptures, as well as an orchard garden and wildflower area for relaxation and reflection.
Burnby Hall Gardens is home to one of the best collections of hardy water lilies in a natural setting in Europe and attracts around 50,000 visitors a year. Our 2016 funding helped renovate the park’s lakes – revitalising the lilies and improving conditions for the ornamental fish that live in them.
More information
Find out more about our commitment to parks, nature and landscapes – some of our oldest forms of heritage – and why helping people to understand the importance of nature has never been more important.
25 years of funding for heritage
Over the past 25 years, The National Lottery Heritage Fund has been the largest dedicated grant funder of the UK’s heritage. We’ve awarded £8bn to more than 44,000 projects across the UK.
Space to Thrive report
Overview
The Space to Thrive report was conducted by researchers from Sheffield Hallam University and The University of Sheffield. It was produced with The National Lottery Community Fund.
It is based on a review of 385 papers published within the last ten years. Each have been through a process of academic peer review.
It focuses on issues such as health, wellbeing and social integration.
- Read CEO of Mind Paul Farmer's blog: How green spaces can improve our wellbeing
- Hear from one of the report’s researchers, Julian Dobson, about the impact of parks on health, wellbeing and society
Key findings
1. Access to and use of parks and green spaces enhance physical health, mental wellbeing and life satisfaction
People need parks and green spaces nearby, but they need to be of a sufficient quality to encourage regular visits. The quality of green spaces has a stronger bearing on health outcomes than quantity.
Visiting parks can help reduce obesity, diabetes and heart disease. Visits to green spaces support mental wellbeing and stress relief.
2. Parks can create important opportunities for social integration
Parks can help refugees and migrants establish a sense of belonging in new communities.
But they can also amplify social divisions. Groups may exclude themselves from green spaces if they feel the space is dominated by one particular group of users (for example, if a park is overwhelmingly used by young people) or if they feel unsafe (for example, when a space is poorly maintained or attracts antisocial behaviour).
3. Parks provide opportunities for community engagement
Local residents, including children, value the chance to be involved in designing and improving their green spaces (for example, through volunteering).
Community gardening offers opportunities for new residents to build social connections.
Schemes to include young people in the care of green spaces can enhance their personal development and increase their environmental awareness.
4. Parks and green spaces highlight inequalities in society
There is evidence that the quality of parks and green spaces is worse in lower-income areas. Minorities are often marginalised in terms of access to green space.
5. Parks and green spaces enable people to connect with nature, which enhances their sense of wellbeing
Connectedness with nature includes experiencing the natural world through the physical senses, learning about it, and engaging mindfully with nature by paying attention.
It is associated with a sense of gratitude and self worth and can help people recover from stress and mental illness.
Connections with nature also help to build a sense of place and community and foster feelings of belonging.
6. Parks and green spaces can have economic benefits
Including:
- creating employment
- hosting economic activities (such as cafes or events)
- encouraging inward investment
Recommendations
1. Parks should be seen as social as well as physical infrastructure
This means that as well as investing in and maintaining high-quality physical environments, funders should also support the activities that animate green spaces and encourage people to use them. Investment should support activities that increase community engagement, bring different social groups together, encourage volunteering and open up parks to disadvantaged sections of society.
For example by:
- funding local groups to provide community development activities in green spaces
- creating welcoming meeting spaces such as cafés
- ensuring high standards of care and maintenance are provided to deter crime, littering and antisocial behaviour
2. Parks and green spaces should be managed to support health and wellbeing
Design, maintenance and activities should encourage physical exercise appropriate for all sections of the population. They should also create restorative spaces and activities that enable people to recover from the stresses of life. For example:
- funding social prescribing within green environments
- supporting fitness and exercise activities in parks in low-income areas
- improving lighting and pathways to increase a sense of safety and security
3. Parks and green spaces should be managed to encourage connections with nature
A wide range of habitats should be provided to give visitors the opportunity to engage with and better understand the natural world. This in turn will maximise the wellbeing benefits associated with nature connectedness.
Efallai y bydd gennych chi ddiddordeb hefyd mewn ...
| Atodiad | Maint |
|---|---|
| Space to thrive - a rapid evidence review | 1.85 MB |
Looking closer at the Space to Thrive report
What is the Space to Thrive report?
The Space to Thrive report is an evidence review of the social benefits of urban green spaces and parks, including the benefits to health and wellbeing.
Can you explain how you found that the "quality" of parks is better than the "quantity"?
What’s really clear from the evidence is that parks are really good for people, people like to use them. But if they feel that those spaces aren’t safe, that they aren’t well kept – if there’s lots of broken glass, signs of drug use, if equipment hasn’t been maintained – what is at first a positive becomes a negative. People will actually avoid places they perceive as being dangerous
So the good quality and care [and busyness] of those spaces is really important in terms of making them feel safe, making them feel welcoming – and welcoming for different kinds of people. That’s really important – so that there aren’t communities that feel: "this isn’t our space".
How do parks and green spaces reflect inequalities in society?
Again it comes down to quality. Often in poorer communities, less money, less attention will go on looking after these parks. People get the impression that some neighbourhoods are less well served. Not just in terms of the amount of green space, but how well those spaces are looked after.
It's an increasing factor as parks become more commercialised. As more and more paid-for activities take place in parks, or as you get facilities like cafes that cater to a more affluent end of the market, those parks start to be seen as spaces for people who have money.
"Parks and green spaces can be really good in terms of helping newcomers, especially refugees and migrants, integrate into communities."
It’s great if you can use your park to earn income, and obviously a good café is wonderful, but if you are increasingly closing off parks for events or you’re making some deliberately cater for more high-end uses, what you have is a kind of gentrification where parks are seen as facilities for middle-class people and not for everybody.
How are you seeing parks help marginalised groups like refugees feel included?
From a lot of the international evidence we see, parks and green spaces can be really good in terms of helping newcomers, especially refugees and migrants, integrate into communities. So things like gardening projects, community projects, or simply a space where people of very different communities can feel safe and feel they can interact with other people.
There has been work done in New Zealand about how gardening projects can be very useful particularly for older migrants. Particularly if you find language a barrier, a shared knowledge of things like growing and caring for plants and being in the outdoors can be really important.
What do you think the UK government should be doing?
First of all it's important that the funds are there to keep parks well maintained and looked after. There has to be much greater recognition by the health service and by health practitioners of the value green spaces bring.
We're also saying that parks should be seen as an asset rather than a liability. Parks are an important asset in keeping your population well and in having a healthy environment, so you should be looking after them.
Can you give an example of a good park?
Manor Fields Park in Sheffield where I live. It was previously really off-putting, it had severe vandalism, it was really not looked after. Now it's a place that's got allotments and growing schemes, its got a parkrun. It's an asset to the community. But it’s taken a long time and long-term investment to get there.
What have you seen change over your years of researching parks?
There has been a lot of evidence in recent years on how increasingly at risk parks are. Budgets have been cut very significantly. The number of staff involved in looking after parks and green spaces is a lot less. There is increasing pressure on local authorities to sell parks that they feel that they can’t look after, particularly for development.
"We need to make sure that we don't lose our urban green spaces just when we most need them."
Alongside that, there is a much greater understanding of how important parks are in terms of health and wellbeing. And that parks are a really important asset in terms of adapting to climate change: they cool down the temperature in cities, they absorb carbon, they help to clean the air, they provide habits for wildlife.
We need to make sure that we don't lose our urban green spaces just when we most need them.
Find out more and what's next
Find the full report and also read CEO of Mind, Paul Farmer's blog about parks and wellbeing.
Space to Thrive is the first part of our Parks for People evaluation. In the second part, published later this year, the benefits of parks will be brought to life though six case studies of funded public parks.
Julian Dobson
Julian Dobson works at The University of Sheffield and Urban Pollinators. Find out more about his work on Twitter and his blog.
Efallai y bydd gennych chi ddiddordeb hefyd mewn ...
£7million legacy for nature and communities for the Queen’s Jubilee
Last updated: 9 February 2022
In June 2022, Queen Elizabeth II will celebrate her Platinum Jubilee. To mark the milestone, we’re committing £7m to help communities across the UK re-connect with nature and support young people to take their first step towards a career in natural heritage.
"Not only will individuals from diverse backgrounds have the opportunity to work in nature, but nature’s spaces will be kept safe for the enjoyment of generations to come.”
Simon Thurley, Chair of The National Lottery Heritage Fund
Our investment will be divided between:
- £5m to help communities improve nature ‘on their doorstep’, particularly in economically and/or nature deprived areas. From wilding verges and sowing meadows, to digging ponds and creating highways for nature – we want to see green spaces flourish as a legacy of the Platinum Jubilee.
- £2m to support paid traineeships in a range of environmental charities for 70 young people from diverse and disadvantaged backgrounds. We know that people from diverse ethnic communities are under-served in the natural heritage sector. These traineeships will help young people develop skills and qualifications working with wildlife and nature, providing a lasting legacy for both the individuals and organisations.
Creating a legacy
Chair of The National Lottery Heritage Fund, Simon Thurley, said: “I am excited that we will be bringing people together from across the UK during this special year with the shared purpose of celebrating, conserving and improving their unique community green spaces.
“The protection of our natural heritage is vitally important. On a grand scale it affects our ecology, our climate and the air that we breath. For individuals, it inspires wellbeing and joy.
“I am delighted that, thanks to players of the National Lottery, not only will individuals from diverse backgrounds have the opportunity to work in nature, but nature’s spaces will be kept safe for the enjoyment of generations to come.”
Find out more
We’ll share further details about our £7m Platinum Jubilee investment in February 2022. Follow us on social media and sign up to our newsletter to be the first to hear more.
Project applications
We are also accepting applications for Jubilee-related projects through our National Lottery Grants for Heritage.
You might want to explore what it was like to live in your neighbourhood 70 years ago or preserve the memories of a range of local people from the past 70 years.
We're particularly interested in seeing projects that document the experiences of different generations in your community over the years. This could take the form of an exhibition or publication and could be explored through anything from the food people eat to where they've worked or the objects and photographs that mean something to them.
Check what we fund and the outcomes we expect your project to achieve. If you need more information or advice on your idea, contact your local office.
Elsewhere in the National Lottery family
Other National Lottery distributors are also marking the Platinum Jubilee:
- The National Lottery Community Fund is launching the £3.5m Platinum Jubilee Fund, which will provide grants of up to £50,000 to 70 impactful community projects across the UK. They will also hold The Big Jubilee Lunch on the Platinum Jubilee weekend, 2-5 June 2022, helping people celebrate the Jubilee while getting to know their neighbours.
- Arts Council England is launching the £5m Let’s Create Platinum Jubilee Fund, administered by UK Community Foundations. Grants of up to £10,000 will support community-led organisations in England to develop creative and cultural activities.
- Sport England will commit up to £5m towards a Queen's Platinum Jubilee Activity Fund, opening at the beginning of 2022. The fund will focus on the role of sport and physical activity in tackling inequalities and building stronger communities.
- The BFI is launching the free Platinum Jubilee themed BFI Player collection in 2022. This collection of archival films, digitised mostly with the support of National Lottery funding, will chart the development of film as seen through recordings of Royal Jubilees spanning well over a century.
Largest Chilterns conservation project awarded National Lottery funding
The Chilterns Conservation Board is spearheading Chalk, Cherries and Chairs, named after the famous features and history of the area. It is the largest-ever conservation project in the Chilterns.
Protecting wildlife
Chalk, Cherries and Chairs will work to protect declining wildlife in the Central Chilterns. This includes butterflies such as the rare Chalk Hill Blue and the Duke of Burgundy, and birds including Corn Buntings, Yellowhammers and Marsh Tits.
The scheme will reinvigorate the Chilterns Orchards, which have almost disappeared. Once common in the area, cherry orchards provided vital seasonal work, a supply of fresh fruit, and were a popular tourist attraction. The scheme will also revive the annual cherry festival, celebrating the local produce.
Uncovering untold histories
History will be at the heart of many of the scheme's projects. Research will be undertaken to try and solve the mystery of Grim's Ditch. Thought to be an ancient routeway measuring around 30km, no one knows what it was for.
Ros Kerslake, former Chief Executive of The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said: “The Central Chilterns has a wealth of heritage stories dating as far back as the Neanderthal hunter-gatherers of the Paleolithic era and continuing right through to the present day.
"We are thrilled that with money from the National Lottery we are able to fund Chalk, Cherries and Chairs to preserve this important natural heritage for future generations, allowing them to forge stronger connections to the fascinating history of the area, and create their own stories through the scheme.”
Other projects within the scheme will uncover the stories of the woodland wood-turners of the area, known as chair bodgers. Visitors to the Central Chilterns will have the chance to try 'bodging' for themselves.
Recruitment of project staff has begun and work for the five-year scheme will start in early summer.
