Last week I had the opportunity, along with other members of the industry press, to visit GreenMech who have their headquarters and factory in Alcester, Warwickshire.

It had been five years since I last visited the company and it was nice to catch up with both the founder of the company, Tony Turner, and his son, Jonathan - both directors of the company. Along with other key members of the company, they all made us feel most welcome. 

Jonathan gave an introductory talk on his role with the company and what new developments had happened since our last visit. After a long career in the navy as an engineer Jonathan joined the company back in 2002 when it had around 25 staff. Following a lot of hard work, R&D and further investments, the company now boasts a workforce of over 100 members of staff based in the UK with a further ten based in Germany and France to help oversee the European sales of products and services.  

Our day was centred around a recap on the size and scale of the business, a virtual visit of the factory through a detailed presentation by Martin Lucas of how the factory had changed to cope with the demand of their popular chippers and an outside demonstration of some of their latest products. 

Martin also told us about how the company had managed to cope with three rather difficult challenges during the last five years. The first was gearing up to cope with the introduction of stage five engines into their products; the second was Brexit; and the third was of course the pandemic.

Covid has been the most challenging in terms of keeping their staff safe, whist at the same time keeping their customers happy.  When Covid first struck, like most firms they were forced to stop work and with several of their suppliers being in the same boat, the company took the decision to close completely for eight weeks.

However, the government’s furlough scheme certainly helped GreenMech retain staffing levels and after a few weeks they were soon able to bring their staff back into the factory and begin making products again.

Today about 30% of their products go into the UK arena, and 70% is export with the biggest market  Europe - particularly with France, Germany, and Spain, taking large volumes of their products.

The company now offer a range of over twenty chipper products ranging from the small CS80 and CS100 pedestrian chippers, the Arborist 150 and the new EVO 165 / 200 range of chippers. Finally, they also offer their tracked range of chippers which have become popular with rail network firms, allowing them to cope with slopes and rugged terrain. 

Their business has grown substantially in the last ten years and like other manufactures, they are now turning their attention to producing battery powered products also. However, the challenge currently is finding a battery configuration that can produce enough power to run one of their chippers for several hours at a time. No doubt they will keep us posted on these future developments.

The company have also seen a major shift in how they market and promote themselves as a company, having recently taked on two key marketing personnel who have transformed the look and style of the company with new branding and a new website.

The final part of the day was to view a select range of chippers working, with Jonathan on hand to answer any questions about their performance and safety features. The movability and performance of their tracked chippers was certainly an eye opener and are now becoming a popular choice for contractors, especially those working on rail networks. 

I would like thank Jonathan and Martin Lucas and the rest of the company’s staff for their hospitality during this very informative visit. 

Honda Rugby Grounds Connected

Also last week I had the opportunity to join a RFU Webinar event to launch the new Honda Rugby Grounds Connected Programme. This new programme will help clubs gain the relevant information and support to help them maintain their facilities.

Good quality natural turf pitches are the lifeblood of rugby union and the maintenance and management of these pitches is crucial to the future of the game. In conjunction with their new partner Honda, the RFU has made a significant commitment to supporting this process through the Honda Rugby Grounds Connected programme. 

The scheme will provide support and resources for club  volunteers across the country, as well as developing grassroots engagement with the Honda Volunteer Recognition programme.

Honda Rugby Grounds Connected is a two-way communication channel between the RFU and rugby grounds volunteers. This new service via their website will offer on demand webinars, video resources, requests for face-to-face help from pitch advisors and more.

The webinar introduced the newly appointed GMA pitch advisors who will be working alongside a number of existing RFU volunteer pitch advisors (VPA) who will work together to offer a pitch advisory service across the length and breadth of England.

I personally, in my role of a VPA, will be looking forward to working with these new pitch advisors in the coming months to help promote this new service and start visiting rugby clubs to help them improve their facilities.

Jim Buttar, the RFU head groundsman, was also on hand to answer many of the questions posted by participating club groundsmen during the hour-long webinar. 

Weather

As for the rest of the week, the recent stormy weather will have no doubt brought additional workloads to many, with the need to clear up any debris and damage caused by the storm. 

With so much rainfall in recent weeks, many natural grass pitches and playing surfaces may be getting to field capacity and becoming more and more saturated. When these conditions prevail it best to keep off your playing surfaces. It only takes one game or training session when they are in this state will result in a loss of grass cover and damage.

 See my recent article on winter games pitches.

The Lilywhites' home ground Deepdale, holds the title of the ‘world’s oldest professional footballing site in continuous use’ with Preston North End FC (PNE) remaining loyal to the plot of land that [former cricket] club members leased in 1875. 

Pete Ashworth

Today, PNE Head Groundsman Pete Ashworth and his team of six, are ensuring that the site continues to remain ‘fit for purpose’ by maintaining excellent pitch standards at Deepdale - as well as those at the club’s Springfields academy site and newly acquired first-team training ground in Euxton.

Both sites feature four, natural turf and fibresand pitches and are located a few miles apart, which can cause a time-management issue for Pete, although he’s now able to reduce pitch-marking man hours - due to Rigby Taylor’s robotic line-marking technology. 

Team Work

Pete’s team includes Sam Newton who oversees the Deepdale stadium, 19-year-old Luke MacDonald looks after the Springfields site, while Dean Ash and Dan Mahoney manage the new Euxton site – assisted by two willing apprentices, Harry Duckworth and John Paul Mcavoy, who are given work experience across all sites, as and when required. 

When the club took over the Euxton pitches in September last year Pete says the site hadn’t been renovated, there was a high population of meadow grass and no fertiliser had been applied since February that year.  

Dan, a former Wigan Athletic FC groundsman joined the grounds team around the same time and Pete says his knowledge of the site helped to get the pitches back on track with an agreed well-balanced fertiliser programme that mirrored the one used at the Springfields site - before raking out and lightly top dressing the pitches ready for use. 

This programme included Rigby Taylor’s Activate biostimulent, ConVert and ConVert Gold, Apex and Nutri-Link liquid fertiliser – and this, plus other turf-related issues are discussed on a regular basis by Pete and former Preston Golf Club Course Manager, Andy Merry, who is now Pete’s local Rigby Taylor Sales Technician. 

“I’ve worked with Rigby Taylor for most of my time at Preston and trust the products because they have always performed,” Pete says. “Andy and I have a great relationship. We have regular sit-down chats and plan what we think the pitches need the month ahead. We look at the weather forecast, compare it with the year before, and decide which products to use.”

Pete uses Rigby Taylor R14 grass seed on the Deepdale pitch and likes to mix up the grass seed on training ground pitches to “see what works best” - using Rigby Taylor’s R140 grass seed on half of the natural turf and fibresand pitches. Andy is also working with Pete to get the best product colour and longevity by conducting trial plots on the Springfields and Euxton sites.

Time efficiency

Regarding grounds team time management across the extended training ground sites, Pete says available man hours can be a problem – particularly when marking pitches in the height of the summer when the grass growth meant cutting the lines out every day.

He saw a potential solution when he was introduced to Rigby Taylor’s robotic Tiny Line Marker (TLM) at SALTEX 2019 and after subsequent demonstrations, advised the club that it would be a cost-effective time saver for the grounds team.

Preston North End FC head groundsman Pete Ashworth with the TLM Sport

“Getting the robot is quite innovative for us and we’re pleased the club supported us,” Pete says. “We now take the TLM to mark out twice a week at each site – it’s used on the first team training ground on a Monday and Thursday, and the academy on a Tuesday and Friday. If there’s only one lad at the academy site, he can just set it off while he gets on with the cutting or vertidraining - it’s definitely helping us a lot.” 

When the TLM Sport arrived, Pete and his team had a ‘hands-on’ TLM Sport training day at Euxton. Andrew showed the team how to use the accompanying tablet, access the football pitch templates and how to plot bespoke pitch markings. “We literally turn on the tablet, click on the required pitch template and press start – it’s so easy,” Pete says, adding that he also uses Rigby Taylor’s IMPACT paint for vibrant lines.

“Now all the pitch templates are stored in the tablet for each site, if we ever lose one – for example, if we were cutting and didn’t mark it, we know we can put the robot back out and it will mark it up from scratch within half an hour.”

The grounds team’s hard work doesn’t go unnoticed either. West Ham FC’s first team recently trained at the Springfields site before their mid-week game against Man United FC and their Saturday fixture with Leeds FC and as well as some of the players, West Ham manager David Moyes remarked on how good the pitch was - compared to when he was managing the club 20 years ago. 

The R&A has named The Toro Company as a founding partner and official golf course maintenance partner for its planned community golf facility at Lethamhill in Glasgow, Scotland.

Artist's impression of the planned community golf facility

The development aims to make golf more accessible, appealing and inclusive for people of all ages and backgrounds by creating an open and affordable pathway into golf that helps drive the future of the sport.

At the heart of facility, The R&A say they are committed to showcasing the gold standard in golf course maintenance, turf care, equipment innovation and development. To that end, they have selected Toro to join them in the development and fulfillment of their mission.

As part of this role, Toro will be the exclusive supplier of all course maintenance equipment to the new facility. Development is now underway for this new family-focused venue, which is to include a nine-hole course, putting greens, short game area, adventure golf and a driving range for visitors to enjoy a wide range of golf activities, including shorter forms of the sport.

In addition to providing an equipment fleet and irrigation products to the facility, Toro will have the first option to partner with The R&A on potential future developments. Toro also plans to provide a grant to be used toward the development of a greenkeeper apprenticeship, as well as for efforts that promote the global development of the game of golf.

“We are delighted to become a founding partner of this unique project,” said Peter Moeller, vice president of international at The Toro Company. “The R&A’s commitment to developing the game of golf and making it accessible to the broadest possible community is very much in line with Toro’s own mission and objectives. It is both humbling and exciting to see Toro’s equipment and irrigation solutions advance The R&A’s sustainability efforts, and we look forward to helping its team bring plans for the new facility to reality.”

Martin Slumbers, chief executive of The R&A, said, “Toro has a world-renowned reputation as a supplier of high-quality equipment and solutions for golf course maintenance and so was a natural choice for us in selecting a partner for the new facility. We look forward to working alongside them in the development of the new venue and providing golfers with excellent facilities so that they can fully enjoy playing the sport in a variety of formats with family and friends.” 

Waterhouses Parish Council has become the latest organisation to benefit from the partnership between Staffordshire FA and Campey Turf Care Systems with funding providing a SISIS Quadraplay, New Holland tractor and Trimax Striker.

 
The Staffordshire based parish council has taken advantage of funding from the Football Foundation as part of the Pitch Improvement Programme and was awarded the remaining 25% of money as a grant from Staffordshire Moorland District Council as part of its Sports Village Programme. 

Waterhouses Sports field is equivalent to three full-sized football pitches, and hosts Waterhouses FC amongst other senior and junior teams, and provides a grass area for other parish activities.
 
According to Waterhouses Parish Council clerk, Chris Hinton, the benefits will be two-fold with the trio of machines in place. First, he believes regular specified maintenance will increase the quality of the pitches, whilst doing the work themselves will save money on contracting costs.

"We are very genuine in our gratitude to the funders and to the Staffordshire FA who glued everything together. We are very keen to use the advice of John Campey at Campey Ltd and Andy Jackson from Stoke City," Chris said.

"I think we've received great advice which we've followed and I'm really pleased for everybody that they are going to have much better facilities."
 

Staffordshire FA Partnerships and Communications Officer Gareth Thomas added, “We’re delighted that Waterhouses Parish Council has embraced the support available to them. Campey’s ongoing support for our programme is ensuring that we can meet our objectives of improving as many natural turf pitches as possible across Staffordshire, and we look forward to supporting more grassroots clubs and organisations going forward.”

Kubota has announced that they have reached an agreement with Escorts Limited under which they will increase their shareholding in the Indian tractor manufacturer. 

The Kubota EK1 tractor, the first product from the collaboration with Escorts Limited will be launched in Europe toward the end of 2022

Escorts Limited is described by Kubota as a major tractor manufacturer in the Indian market, reportedly the world’s largest tractor market in terms of unit sales. The company also manufactures and distributes construction machinery as well as other products.

Kubota say the practice in India of utilising tractors year-round for carrying loads, in addition to usual agricultural work, means that the machines are designed to be highly durable with a basic specification and at reasonable prices.

With the aim of addressing market needs in India, Kubota say they strengthened its partnership with Escorts Limited, specialised in developing and manufacturing such tractors - referred to as ‘basic tractors’ - by establishing a joint venture manufacturing company in 2019 and through a direct equity investment in 2020. 

Kubota has decided to increase its shareholding in Escorts Limited, based on expectations for the basic tractor market to expand in emerging countries including India. They also say the move will utilise combined resources and further strengthen the partnership between the two companies. 

As a result of this, the collaboration will produce quality and affordable basic tractors utilising Escorts Limited’s knowhow in the sector and Kubota’s accumulated product development knowledge and capabilities. Kubota will also utilise both companies’ distribution networks by offering a wide range of product offerings, ranging from high-performance to basic tractors. 

In a statement the manufacturer said, "By positioning Escorts Limited as an important foundation for basic tractors in the future, Kubota will consider developing and manufacturing of basic combine harvesters and construction machineries, targeting India and other emerging markets."

The first tractors from the collaboration to be marketed in Europe will be available at the end of 2022.

Merlo UK have welcomed JB Barrett Tractors of Omagh, County Tyrone to their dealer network.

L-R: Joseph Barrett Snr and Joseph Barrett Jnr

JB Barrett Tractors are a well-established machinery dealer who been trading for almost 50 years. Founded by Joseph Barrett Senior, this Merlo say this family run business has maintained a position as one of Same Deutz Fahr’s top performing dealers in the UK. 

“I am delighted to have JB Barrett Tractors join the Merlo dealer network, further strengthening Merlo distribution and aftersales care in Northern Ireland,”
said Owen Buttle, national sales manager of Merlo UK. "JB Barrett Tractors are well known in the Omagh and surrounding area for their outstanding customer support. Both Merlo & JB Barrett Tractors share a number of core values as a family run businesses”.

JB Barrett Tractors will join the manufacturer's retail network in Northern Ireland alongside DA Forgie Ltd.

JB Barrett Tractors manager Joseph Barrett Junior, commented “Merlo is a respected quality brand offering the performance and reliability our customers demand.

"There is great excitement throughout our dealership having been awarded the Merlo franchise."

UNDERSTANDING THE SOIL, PLANT & WATER RELATIONSHIPS

CELEBRATING THE BEST

TOUGH TIMES AHEAD

WHEN AUTUMN LEAVES START TO FALL

AN ENJOYABLE SHOW

EXPLORING BEST PRACTICE

UNCERTAIN OUTLOOK FOR PARKS

IMPACT OF CHANGING WEATHER FRONT

PREVENTING DISEASE ONSET

ROBOTIC WARS

WEEDS OF CONCERN

INDUSTRY NEEDS TO HAVE ITS SAY

RENOVATION TIMES AHEAD

WHY PARKS MATTER

THE BENEFITS OF PARTICIPATION

CHARGED UP FOR NEW MACHINERY

HEADING TOWARDS CLOSE OF PLAY

THE CURRENT STATE OF GOLF - PART 2

HOT & BOTHERED

HARD WORK PAYS OFF

DUE RECOGNITION

THE SHOW MUST GO ON

SIZZLING SUMMER ON ITS WAY

MAKING PARKS SAFE

INVESTNG IN FACILITIES

LOW PAY CRISIS

SPORT IN CRISIS

DRYING OUT . .

RETURNING TO FULL SPEED

ROBOTS ON THE RISE

A GAME CHANGER FOR PARKS

WORKING PRACTICES CHANGED?

OPENING UP

ROADMAP TO NORMALITY

SPRING IS IN THE AIR

BEAST FROM THE EAST RETURNS

PLAYING OUR PART

WISHES GRANTED?

TIME TO REFLECT

SELLING OUR SECTOR

SPRING WITHIN OUR SIGHTS

LOOKING AHEAD INTO 2021

A FLOOD OF WATERLOGGING ADVICE

View all of 2020's blogs here

View all of 2019's blogs here

View all of 2018's blogs here

MAKING A CHANGE
Laytown and Bettystown Golf Links

A DAY AT THE RACES
Naas Race Course

WORKING TOGETHER AS ONE VOICE
How the industry needs to proceed

OVER 175 YEARS OF EDUCATION
Wesley College

ELECTRIC EXCITEMENT
Dennis's Ian Howard talks electrification

THE HOME OF CORK GAA
Páirc Uí Chaoimh

LONG POLE BATTERY HEDGE TRIMMERS TESTED
STIHL HLA 66 and HLA 86

OVER 800 YEARS OF HISTORY
Johnstown Castle and Gardens

A CLUB GONE WILD
Kilkenny Golf Club

A GOLF COURSE IN THE GARDEN OF IRELAND
Woodenbridge GC

80 YEARS YOUNG
Charleville Golf Club

AN UPLIFTING EXPERIENCE
Bunclody Golf & Fishing Club

GETTING BACK TOGETHER
Albeit gradually . .

GO WEST
Inishturk GAA pitch – one of the most westerly sportspitches in Europe

WORKING ON A TIGHT BUDGET
Nenagh Golf Club

ON A MISSION
Wrekin Golf Club aiming to enrich wildlife and fauna

WILD AND WONDERFUL
Design By Nature

LEARNING HOW TO SURVIVE
Abbey Par 3

TACKLING OBESITY
Vital that schools can provide sport

A LIFETIME OF LEARNING
Vital for turf professionals

CELEBRATING 125 YEARS
Tullamore Golf Club

UNIVERSITY CHALLENGES
At Trinity College Dublin

BLENDING THE OLD WITH THE NEW
Bray Golf Club

A WELL POLISHED COURSE!
Ierne Social And Sports Club

IDENTIFYING THE TRUE VALUES
Of grounds maintenance

THE INDUSTRY WILL CHANGE & ADAPT
But it will survive

WIRRAL GOLF COURSES SAVED
Renewed hope and optimism for the future

GREEN SPACE CONTRIBUTION TO WELLBEING IS UNDERVALUED
Parks invisible on national agenda

A SHINING LIGHT IN IRELAND'S SUNNY SOUTHEAST
Wexford Golf Club

GREEN SPACES DO NOT LOOK AFTER THEMSELVES!
Keith Kent says we must invest in people

WE SHOULD TELL THE WORLD ABOUT THE UK INDUSTRY
Right time for all sides to come together

SOIL LIFE IS PRECIOUS
Good-quality soil can help save the planet

MORE THAN JUST CUTTING GRASS
Encouraging the next generation

A BUZZ FROM DOING THE JOB
Wide experience of the turf grass industry

PAYING THEIR WAY
Low wages is the bane of the industry

AMENITY MANAGEMENT IMPACTS US ALL
Professor John Moverley

CARING FOR PARKS OF ALL TYPES
Mary Worrall

TOP FIVE FRUSTRATIONS FOR CRICKET GROUNDSMEN
What causes you the most frustration in your role?

PROFESSIONALS AT THE CUTTING EDGE
Vic Demain and Phil Sharples

BOWLS CLUBS IN PERIL
A sad decline

A VERY SPECIAL INDUSTRY
Loz looks back

SNEAK PEAK AT A ROBOTIC "GAME CHANGER"
Commercial model capable of covering 50,000 m2 teased

HALESOWEN PICK A BIG ROBOT UP FRONT
Invest in mowers

COMPRESSED AERATION
The new way

PARKS MATTER MORE THAN EVER
Recent sector developments

ON TEST
STIHL blowers

THREE CORE VALUES TO SHAPE OUR INDUSTRY
Real concerns for the future

ENGLAND'S GREEN SPACE GAP
A split along racial lines

ON TEST
EGO STX3800 strimmer with RTX2300 Rotocut head

A SECTOR FACING IMPORTANT TIMES
Review of the National Action Plan

PARKS MATTER
The role of public parks in the recovery: a discussion paper

A UNIQUE SPORTING VENUE
Wormsley private estate

A BTME OUTDOORS?
A good bet for the industry

PARKS NEED APPROPRIATE POLITICAL REPRESENTATION
Q&A with Philippa Reece, Parks and Foreshore Manager at Adur and Worthing Council

CRICKET LOAM
What does it mean?

A HERCULEAN EFFORT TO GET PARKS BACK TO NORMAL
Q&A with Chris Worman, Rugby Borough Council’s parks and ground manager

ON TEST
STIHL battery products

TURFGRASS STRESS MANAGEMENT
Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) and antioxidants during biotic and abiotic stress in turfgrass plants

AUTUMN DISEASE MANAGEMENT
The coming months are going to prove very difficult

THE ABUSE OF PARKS . .
Is the abuse of society

WHY PARKS MATTER?
A statement from the Parks Management Forum to the Prime Minister

THE 21st CENTURY PARKS MANAGER
Innovative, creative and entrepreneurial

EAT, SLEEP, CUT, REPEAT!
Cricket under covid

TIME FOR A SINGLE SHOW?
Debate brought back into focus

A CHALLENGING TWO MONTHS
Running golf design projects from home

PRESSURE SITUATION
Cementing the reputation

A CLUB TO BE PROUD OF
10 years at the helm of Olton GC

GAME CHANGERS IN TURFCARE
The day the Lord's outfield reconstruction proved its worth

THE ESSENCE OF ESSENTIAL
Finding a sensible way forward on defining "essential maintenance"

THAT WAS THE YEAR THAT WAS
2001

HOW TO LOOK AFTER A GOLF COURSE WITH NO GOLFERS
Fundamental to the survival of almost all courses, if not of the game itself

RAIN STOPPED PLAY WOULD BE WELCOME
. . along with ‘lunch is being taken early’

PHYSICAL CONTROL OF TURFGRASS PESTS
An urgent problem

A DIVERSE & ENTERTAINING WEEK
Successful BTME 2020

INTEGRATED PEST CONTROL
Opportunity to embrace new methods

ENVILLE ON THE UP
Major investments taking place

GREEN FLAG AWARDS 2019
A great success

U.S PROFESSIONAL EQUIPMENT SHOW EXCELS
Buoyant GIE+EXPO

LEGACY OF THE SOLHEIM CUP
At Gleneagles

A DAY OUT WITH THE LADIES
Behind the scenes at the Solheim Cup

COVENTRY UNIVERSITY'S EDIBLE GARDEN SUCCESS
2006 - present

HAIL THE GRASS MASTERS!
Boorish media comments about pitch quality are wide of the mark

CONTRACTOR SEES MULTI-DISCIPLINE SUCCESS
360 Ground Care serving professional facilities

BUSY TIMES
Judging the Green Flag Awards

TAKING AN INTEGRATED APPROACH
What does it all mean in managing turf surfaces?

UNDER PRESSURE
Dry weather conditions continue to keep turf managers focused on moisture management

EDDIE SEAWARD
Death of Wimbledon’s influential grounds manager

MAJOR NEW IRRIGATION PROJECT
At Top 100 classic Berkhamsted Golf Club

NEW HORIZONS FOR THE HATTERS
Investment paying off at Kenilworth Road

ELIZABETHAN RESTORATION
At Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens

WHAT IS BIOPHILIA?
The vital impact of parks and green spaces on health and well-being

WORM CONTROL
Without carbendazim

THE TRUE COST OF PETROL
Battery-powered outdoor power tools are now turning the heads of professionals

SANDS OF TIME
Sand-based pitches are now the norm in professional sports

WHY DO WE DO THE RIGHT THING?
We must maintain industry standards

CHASING GRASS PERFECTION?
11 things you need to know . . .

MAINTAINING STANDARDS
Q&A with BASIS ceo, Stephen Jacobs

STRI RESEARCH DAY 2018
Hosted at research trial grounds in Bingley

THE MECHANIC
Leicester City FC invest in new role

LORD'S 'GRASS-GUVNOR' TO RETIRE
Mick Hunt bows out after 49 years

HOLLOW CORING & DEEP SCARIFICATION
Is it really necessary?

A new report, ‘The State of the UK Public Parks’, published by APSE using data from CFP, finds that from 2010 onwards parks budgets have reduced by £690 million, leading to industry calls to stem this decline and leverage new investment in these valuable local community assets.

With local councils responsible for managing 85% of the UK’s urban parks, the past decade of austerity has delivered sharp cuts to parks repairs and maintenance budgets.

Paul O’Brien, APSE Chief Executive said, “Whilst our report reflects on initiatives to stimulate parks, we find that continued austerity measures have not been ameliorated by central government support, which has amounted to sporadic and small-scale grants to support initiatives such as ‘pocket parks’ and small renovation projects."
 
O’Brien continued, “In many cases, funding can only be accessed by costly and inefficient bidding systems, which take little account of local need. As a consequence, the financing of urban parks has continued to be woefully inadequate for local authorities.”

The report authors found that the impact of the COVID-19 health pandemic has created further challenges for UK parks. At the very point that parks became the lifeline for local communities during lockdown and travel restrictions, the ability to raise income from activities such as cafes, sports pitch hire and events was effectively stopped by public health restrictions. This income had become a lifeline to parks during the age of austerity, to meet the gaps in local budgets. Parks have therefore faced a double whammy; the loss of income but at the very point when footfall in parks has massively increased, placing additional budgetary pressures to clean, and maintain, our parks for the benefit of local communities.

The report finds that once again the level of funding for parks will not meet the needs of local communities, and yet parks could be regarded as a ‘spend to save’ investment initiative, meeting the outcomes of many public policy objectives.

Parks can offer:

• A means to support the levelling up agenda, through the development of new parks to address the often-unequal outcomes in some of the poorest communities, when it comes to accessing green space.
• A means to support climate change action in both mitigation, in capturing carbon and enhancing biodiversity, and in adaptation, as part of action plans on flood defences, heat protection and air quality.
• A means to secure the future green skills within the UK. Our research found that parks are at risk of becoming de-professionalised because of a failure to recognise the key skills needed for parks, and the need for career pathways, to ensure the future of the parks workforce.
• A means to engage communities in volunteering; the pandemic decreased volunteer capacity due to self-isolation and public health regulations but parks offer a golden opportunity to engage young and old alike, and all within our communities to take pride and care in their local environment and enhance inclusion.    

The report does show some glimmers of hope with some local authorities expecting the quality of their parks and associated budgets likely to increase.

However the majority of councils are still facing the threat of static or declining standards and further budget reductions, coupled with increasing demands for space for new developments. Moreover, the issues of inequality, which government states it wishes to address, poses a further conundrum. Not only does the report find problems in maintaining existing parks, but there is a clear need to create more parks, in areas of need, in order to level up the distribution of parks across the UK.

In conclusion Paul O’Brien said, “Whilst the Government has stated as a key element of its 25-year Environment Plan is that it wishes to  leave the environment in a better state than we inherited, I would suggest that one way we can help to achieve this is through the proper funding of one of the most treasured community facilities, our local parks”.

Download a copy of the report.