Eight cities in the UK to receive funding for landmark parks programme

The cities are Birmingham, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, Bristol, Cambridgeshire, Edinburgh, Islington and Camden, Nottingham and Plymouth

The landmark initiative called “Future Parks” was launched by the UK government and The National Lottery Heritage Fund and had been gathering applications by cities and municipalities. Over 80 settlements in the UK presented their visions on how to improve their green areas, how to make them sustainable and how to generally manage and fund these crucial spaces.

The winners were announced earlier this week - Birmingham, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, Bristol, Cambridgeshire, Edinburgh, Islington and Camden, Nottingham and Plymouth. All eight of these cities will share the prize pool, which totals 11 million pounds – 6 million in the form of funding and 5 million in the form of advice and support from the country’s most renowned experts in sustainability and green space management. Over the next couple of years, the winning local governments will be developing tools and approaches based on their submitted proposals.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund is the direct source of the funding. When applying, cities had to present their visions on four key topics - making green spaces central to everyday community life; giving the public a bigger role in how these spaces are managed; ensuring they contribute more to the public’s mental and physical health; transforming the way they are funded to secure their futures.

The CEO of the Fund stated that “Our urban parks and green spaces are essential to the health and well-being of the nation and yet in some areas they are facing a very insecure future. Future Parks isn’t simply patching-up a few problem parks. It is enabling local authorities and communities to take a longer-term, strategic approach to managing, funding and maintaining them, so future generations will be able to enjoy their many benefits in hundreds of years from now.”