APSE Parks Seminar 2018
Thursday 15th March 2018
Mere Golf Spa and Resort, Knutsford, Cheshire
View the programme here
Seminar Objectives
The world’s population continues to grow and concentrate around cities and towns. As a result, the demand on urban green spaces is becoming greater, both in terms of areas for new development and equally as opportunities for recreation.
The view that parks, particularly urban parks and the wider green infrastructure have a critical role in improving the nation’s health and general wellbeing is now widely accepted. By providing places for exercise, cultural events, and for everyday contact with the environment, parks show themselves to
be a vital part of our lives especially as many of us are now increasingly limiting our daily movements to home-working or commuting to and from our places of work.
Despite their value, parks and greenspaces are facing unprecedented budgetary cuts, which are threatening their future existence. Past APSE State of the Market Surveys on Parks, revealed that most parks managers expected revenue for parks to continue to decrease and many expect reductions
in capital investment. So severe are these threats, that Government have now set up a Parks Action Group to look at how best to preserve our parks for both current and future generations.
It is against this backdrop of ongoing budget reductions that APSE’s 2018 Annual Parks Seminar intends to give colleagues some hope, by exposing them to innovative approaches to securing the long-term future of these valuable environmental assets.
Therefore the seminar is a MUST ATTEND EVENT for those officers and members who want to look at new ways of dealing with parks and greenspace issues, whether these be financial, environmental, technological or social.
The seminar will look at key issues for parks managers through feedback on the results of APSE State of the Market report 2018 which highlights responses to many of the questions currently being considered by those officers and elected members tasked with sustaining their parks and green spaces. Linked to this will be how the capital value of parks can be highlighted and explained in order to ensure that parks and greenspaces have a better chance of retaining budgets and also attracting funding from those organisations which receive considerable benefits from these green assets.
Increasingly the development of partnerships with volunteers and like-minded bodies, can not only help finance and manage some of our greenspaces and their facilities but can also bring a new perspective on the future role and value of parks and green spaces. Examples of such partnerships will be highlighted during the seminar.
Income generation as always, will be considered with case studies of successful council generated schemes which could be transferable to other authorities.
A further consideration is how parks managers can use technological advances to not only improve the parks they manage but also deliver considerable efficiencies. True to its role of promoting best practice and innovation, APSE has ensured that there will be information on new developments on grounds maintenance practices which benefit both operational staff and the promotion of biodiversity.
APSE will continue to argue that public parks must be funded by public money, because many believe that income generation and different funding sources are not enough to ensure the future sustainability of parks, and therefore should not be seen as the solution to ongoing budget cuts.
By providing a range of diverse and interesting speakers, APSE hopes to show there is still light at the end of the tunnel for our parks and greenspaces and that the information provided will help colleagues in their future roles to save and preserve some of the nation’s greatest treasures for future generations.
Presentations
Promoting excellence in public services
APSE (Association for Public Service Excellence) is a not for profit unincorporated association working with over 300 councils throughout the UK. Promoting excellence in public services, APSE is the foremost specialist in local authority frontline services, hosting a network for frontline service providers in areas such as waste and refuse collection, parks and environmental services, cemeteries and crematorium, environmental health, leisure, school meals, cleaning, housing and building maintenance.
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