The condition of the UK`s parks has been comprehensively assessed for the first time, in a new survey commissioned jointly by the Heritage Lottery Fund, the DTLR, English Heritage and the Countryside Agency. The survey was undertaken in two consecutive phases over a period of 18 months, with the final report written by the Urban Parks Forum. The survey achieved a response from 405 out of 475 local authorities across the UK and headline findings were:
- the 405 responding authorities manage and maintain over 27,000 parks (approx 125,000 hectares), of which 2,500 were of historic interest.
- 87% of the reported parks and open spaces are considered to be in good or fair condition, whilst 13% are considered to be in poor condition
- the condition of 39% of all reported parks and open spaces are considered to be declining
- there is evidence that good parks are getting better while poor parks are getting worse
- there is evidence of a long-term decline in funding for parks
At the Heritage Lottery Fund, we are at the forefront of organisations championing the improvement of the UK`s parks, and have committed £250 million in funding through our Urban Parks Programme.
You can read the survey by clicking on the links below. We have split the document into different sections to make it quicker to download.
Public Park Assessment Survey report (pdf file 538kb)
Public Park Assessment Front cover (pdf file 7.7mb)
Public Park Assessment back cover (pdf file 3.1mb)