The weather has been a bit more favourable this last couple of weeks, with a mix of rain and sunny periods that will no doubt help all our professional and volunteer turf professionals maintaining their facilities. Many of the professional football clubs for example, are finishing off their end of season renovations, with many waiting for the seed to germinate and establish. 

I do appreciate seeing across social media the plethora of photographs and information being posted, informing the wider community about what’s going on with issues faced by individuals currently in our diverse industry.

Today sees the start of the All England Tennis Tournament at Wimbledon. Neil Stubley and his staff have worked hard for twelve months to get the courts ready for this year’s championship. As usual it will be a tough long two weeks of work for all those members of groundstaff working at SW19.

I am also relishing the knockout stages of the Euros, particularly looking forward to watching the England vs Germany match on Tuesday evening. Let us hope England get on the front foot and play some positive attacking football – getting the result we all want!

Green Flag going from strength to strength

Last week I was fortunate to be able to visit and judge St Georges V Playing Fields in Walsall for the Green Flag Awards. 

King George V Playing Fields is a large roughly squared shaped park, measuring 18.46 hectares in size. The site opened in 1937 to give local residents a much-needed recreation space to play sports and exercise. Today, the site offers a wide variety of sports and activities. It was pleasing to meet members of the council and parks operating team and a local councillor to discuss the park and its ambitions to improve the space in the coming years. They, like many other local authorities, have faced many years of austerity cuts and this has resulted in reduced maintenance standards that now need to be reviewed and enhanced.

It's fitting that in this 25th anniversary year of the Green Flag Awards they have yet again received a record number of applications. So far 2,288 parks have applied for the award, including 161 applications from parks outside of the United Kingdom!  Green Flag say they are thrilled that even in such a challenging year standards have been kept high. It really is a testament to the hard work of everyone in the sector. If you are yet to submit your application, Green Flag say it's not too late.

The results of the 2020 Green Flag Award applicant survey have also been published and they boast that they received some positive feedback about the programme - as you can see in their survey summary below - including that 96% of applicants rated the overall Green Flag Award experience as good or very good.

More work to do

In November 2020, the Prime Minister published his Ten-Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution “helping to make our nation cleaner, greener and more beautiful”.  Whilst there were many valuable intentions stated, there is nothing in the green recovery plan that references the 27,000 public parks nationwide that serve 84% of the population who live in towns and cities. 

Yet during the pandemic, the Government were stating how valuable our parks had been. The evidence collated over the last 20 years into the value of one of our greatest assets - public parks - is overwhelming. Examples include 2004’s Natural Fit Study by the RSPB to, more recently in 2020, Improving Access To Green Space, published by Public Health England.

Point 9 of the Government’s Plan has completely missed an opportunity to include our many urban parks and green spaces. It is these spaces that offer the greatest opportunity for access to natural green space, enhancing local biodiversity, and ensuring our towns and cities are more vibrant and sustainable. There are many excellent examples and case studies across the country, but the distribution and inequalities are significant. I’m pleased to see therefore,The Parks Management Forum asking the Government to re-visit its Ten Point Plan and to include in its Green Recovery Plan, the enhancement of our many parks and green spaces by the creation of a new fund made available to local authorities, parks trusts and charities.

While on the subject of raising the profile of our industry, I just want to remind you of the Green Feet campaign event week being organised by the Amenity Forum, working with partners in promoting a week of celebration commencing September 20th. Too often the work of those in managing amenity and sports spaces goes unnoticed and this week gives opportunity for all to learn more about what they do, really keeping Britain moving. Never has this been more highlighted than in the past year, keeping transport networks working, parks open for exercise and enjoyment and more.

In Green Feet Week, organisations and individuals working in the sector will get involved in charitable activities, large and small, and tell their stories of what they do and why what they do matters to everyone. So, what is planned will be fun, raise valuable funds for charity and highlight the importance of amenity management to the lives of everyone.

It's intentions are two fold, both raising money for charities plus at the same time making people more aware of the size and scale of our industry. 

I personally think it would be fantastic to have our industry’s major machinery manufacturers, trade associations and the hundreds of thousands of practitioners to all take part.

John Moverley, chairman of the Amenity Forum, said, "I often say it, but it is so true that what happens in amenity management impacts upon every UK citizen every day - with all involved seeking to create safe, sustainable amenity and sports spaces fit for purpose.”

And finally, I read an interesting article featured by the BBC that caught my eye about a neighbourly dispute over a tree between two drives that turned into a "war" when one homeowner cut the intrusive evergreen in half.

As an ex-parks manager, I used to deal with a lot of public issues involving trees and hedge disputes, with some often causing a lot of anguish, stress and potentially a lot of money. For most, they can be resolved with some good mediation and compromises by both parties.

It often best to find out what lies within your boundaries and what you are entitled to do if vegetation is overgrowing onto your own property. Contact the council if unsure of your rights. There is some good information and guidance to be found on this government website.