Urban Green Newcastle (UGN) has been fortunate to be part of the Future Parks Accelerator (FPA) since its inception in 2019.  The organisation is subtly different to the other cohort members; we are an independent charity, responsible for the parks and allotments transferred out of local authority management.

Tune in to find out more about Plymouth’s Green recovery measures which are innovative and inspire cultural changes to deliver green jobs, economic and social recovery and drive sustainability for a Carbon Neutral City by 2030.

Since 2012, Plymouth City Council (PCC) has been committed to increasing the number of wildflower meadows throughout the city which have created a network of 120 sites for wildlife like bees, butterflies and reptiles. Watch the process and find out more in this video.

Could we make volunteering more like a 'social group with a purpose'? More like booking a gym session, or going on a date - more fun & more flexible. Ditto professionalising and personalising the management of how it works - book a zoom call, ask (park mangers to make something happen rather than stop it).

The over 65s do lots of the volunteering. 39% of people aged 65-74 volunteer monthly compared to 25% of the wider public - this has been largely static for 15 years. Those people are getting older in years and so far the next generation aren't going to volunteer in the same way.

David Jamieson from the City of Edinburgh City Council talks through the progress of the Edinburgh Thriving Green Spaces project, as he takes a stroll through nature.

I used to joke that I don’t like the word volunteering, and I have no idea what community means. But I know who ‘people’ are, they’re all around us. Those involved in volunteering or community projects often know (and maybe love) it, but for many people they’re an irrelevance. Millions of people volunteer in parks, millions also do not. If local authorities want to represent their populations, these things matter.

There’s no shortage of evidence that parks have been a lifeline for people through Covid-19, offering space for daily exercise when we were allowed out just once a day (remember those bleak days, when the sun shone and spring dazzled?), and then as a great place for socially distanced meet ups when we were freed to do so.

Anyone noticed an increase in Fairy Houses popping up at the base of trees during lockdown? Unless you’ve got small kids, they might have passed you by, but I think they’re an interesting example of people making change to their parks and growing something, which becomes a magnet and destination for others.