About us
Future Parks Accelerator is a collaboration between the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the National Trust and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC). Together with our partner towns and cities, we aim to build a sustainable future for the UK’s urban parks and green spaces.
Parks are the lungs of our towns and cities. They provide space for us to escape, explore, rest, relax and play. They keep us healthy, soften hard urban landscapes, help to clean the air and provide crucial homes for wildlife.
But across the nation, parks have fallen down priority lists, despite a growing demand for green spaces. That’s why we aim to help Local Authorities transform their green spaces and make sure these valuable places achieve financial sustainability, so that communities can continue to benefit from them for generations to come.
Our Future Parks programme enables Local Authorities to develop new business and investment models to sustain and enhance their network of public parks and green spaces. This is not protecting the status quo; it’s repurposing parks for the 21st Century, making them an integral part of local community life and essential natural infrastructure of cities and towns.
By supporting Local Authorities to improve quality, connectivity and access to urban green space we are improving health and wellbeing, mitigating the impact of climate change, creating jobs and a flourishing green economy and enhancing biodiversity directly impacting quality of life for millions of people.
Who’s involved?
Nine areas from across the nation were selected to be part of our pioneering programme. Together, these places have a population of 5 million and 20,000 hectares of public green space, ranging from parks to playing fields and nature reserves.
Birmingham
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough
Camden and Islington
Edinburgh
Newcastle
Nottingham
Plymouth
Bristol (project closed in June 2021)