APSE Northern Region and Annual General Meeting

View the programme here

View the minutes from the 2017 AGM here 

About the seminar

The Forum is an ideal opportunity for officers, elected members and local authority partners and trade unions with an interest in parks and greenspaces, to hear speakers who are addressing some of the key issues which have been affecting the delivery of parks services across the country.

The funding of public parks is facing serious threats, as local authority, and by association parks budgets, continue to be cut as part of the Government’s austerity measures. As a result, parks professionals are having to review services and look at new and often innovative ways of funding parks in order to plug funding gaps.

Income generation, community involvement, service reviews and developing partnerships with stakeholders who benefits from parks and greenspaces such as the National Health Service are just some of the approaches being used.

The Forum will hear how local authorities have addressed some of these approaches, as well as providing a workshop opportunity to discuss how performance management techniques are playing a vital role in highlighting to senior officers, elected members and the public, how effectively local authority parks services are being run.

PRESENTATIONS

Reinventing parks and greenspace services: protecting our parks for the next generation
Paul Barton, Director of Environment and Matthew Kelly, Service Manager for Street Scene Services, Wigan Council

The importance of creating strategies for parks and greenspaces
Mike Kinnaird, Development Manager, Parks and Countryside, Leeds City Council

Developing a working relationship with Parks Friends Groups
Annie Heslop, Parks Project and Development Manager and Paul Galley, Friends of East Pines Park, Blackpool Council