Innovation, Co-Governance and Democracy in Urban Greenspaces

Transforming Understanding and Responses to the Challenges

What is the Project About?

Across the UK parks have faced significant local authority budget cuts, leading to poor investment, loss of park staff and overall decline. Yet the importance of parks for our well-being, nature and the environment is well recognised, and this prompted some local authorities to innovate through: (1) transferring management of one or more parks to a newly created park charity (management trust model), or (2) to working in close partnership with a charity which helps with fund raising and park improvements (foundation model). 

These models offer valuable opportunities and benefits over traditional local authority park governance alone, including mobilising volunteering, additional
ring-fenced funding for parks, improved park assets and services, increased biodiversity, and scope for innovation and, in some cases, faster decision-making. 

However, they also come with challenges. These include: lack of understanding of these new ways of working and how best to set them up for success, together with concerns about long-term sustainability, money-making through parks, and perceptions about a loss of democratic voice or accountability, particularly for trusts that take on park management and operate more at arms-length from local electoral politics. 

‘Innovation, Co-Governance and Democracy in Urban Greenspaces’ is a £118k British Academy funded collaborative research project led by Dr Rachael Chapman at Northumbria University, Newcastle Upon Tyne. Through in-depth and comparative case study research and knowledge exchange, it is:

  • Enhancing understanding of these pioneering models of park provision and management, including about their drivers, achievements and process of setting them up and operating them;
  • Exploring governance and democratic challenges and identifying solutions, lessons learnt and good practice to help address these;
  • Offering new diagnostic tools, frameworks, guidance and support for successful implementation, governance and democratic performance. 

History of the Project

Austerity, and the fact local authorities in England do not have a statutory duty to provide parks, is driving the emergence of new forms of strategic park management and provision. In some areas, management of specific parks has been transferred out of local authority control to a charitable park management trust. In others, local authorities have retained control and a foundation charity set up to help raise funds and facilitate park improvements. In Newcastle upon Tyne, following a 90% reduction in council spending on parks over 7 years, a radical and ambitious move was taken to transfer management of all 33 parks and 61 allotment sites out of local authority control to a newly established independent charity, Urban Green Newcastle (UGN) in 2019. This research project grew out of a collaboration with UGN between 2019 and 2025. During that time the collaboration widened to include several other charity partners, both park foundations and management trusts across England, and the local authorities they work with. Much has been learnt over the last six to twenty years from these pioneering models of park provision and management. This research is playing an important role in sharing that knowledge. In doing so, it aims to support new and ongoing park charity-local authority partnerships and developments, with a view to helping make our local parks thriving spaces for people, nature and the environment into the future.  

Benefits and Impacts of the Project

  • Empowering policy-makers, local authorities and charities to make effective and informed parks policy and implementation decisions at national and local levels. 
  • Increased knowledge of new park management models, lessons, and good practice. 
  • Increased understanding of factors that need to be considered in building and maintaining successful park governance, along with methods, tools and guidance for achieving this.
  • Enhanced democratic voice, trust and performance in park decision-making in the UK though improved understanding of methods, challenges and good practice. 
  • Increased collaboration and networking between policy-makers, practitioners and academics working on parks. 
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