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Friends of Daisy Farm Park, Billesley.
Parks Need Park Keepers
PARKFORCE - A FORCE FOR THE COMMON GOOD
Imagine a museum without attendants, or a municipal swimming pool without a lifeguard. They don’t feel right; something’s missing. Parks are no exception. Without visible figures of authority, our parks, gardens and squares can feel uncared for and intimidating. A recent research report showed that 39 per cent of women feel unsafe in London’s green spaces. 89 per cent of them said that more staff would make them feel safer.
CABE Space believes that putting staff on site is essential to ensure the success of a decade of parks regeneration and turn around problem parks - where they can encourage more people to enjoy using their parks and tackle problems. That’s why we’ve launched Parkforce, a campaign to celebrate the role that park staff – from rangers to neighbourhood wardens, café staff to volunteers - play in the success of local communities. We want to bring public perceptions about park staff right up to date, and to challenge and support public authorities to reinvent the way they manage parks.
CABE Space wants to see on site staff dedicated to caring for every significant urban park in England during daylight hours.
The Park Keeper - English Heritage
The future of our public parks is under debate. To help inform this debate and illuminate the evolution in parks management, English Heritage commissioned David Lambert of the Parks Agency, to prepare a brief history of park-keeping.
Most of us remember the park keeper of the past. More often than not a man, uniformed, close to retirement age, and – in the mind’s eye at least – carrying a pointed stick for collecting litter. It is almost impossible to find such an individual . . . over the last twenty years or so, these individuals have disappeared from our parks and in many circumstances their role has not been replaced.
English Heritage, as the government’s advisor on the historic environment, has joined forces with other agencies to research the skills shortage in public parks.These efforts have contributed to the government’s ‘Cleaner, Safer, Greener’ agenda,7 with its emphasis on tackling crime and safety, vandalism and graffiti, litter, dog fouling and related issues, and on broader targets such as the enhancement of children’s access to culture and sport in our parks and green spaces.
It is hoped that the following historical account will be of value to all those with an interest in the evolution of our parks, whether in government agencies, in local parks departments or in a future generation of ‘parkies’ in their many guises.