Keep Britain Tidy responds to Select Committee report on public parks

Allison Ogden-Newton, Chief Executive of Keep Britain Tidy, said: ‘We’re disappointed that the committee didn’t see fit to recommend making provision and maintenance of parks a statutory service. We recognise this is not without difficulty but we believe it would have provided a clear focus for future investment and maintenance.’

‘However, there is much to recommend and we’re pleased that the Committee responded to our call for a cross-departmental team working across government to ensure that the myriad benefits provided by parks are recognised and factored into policy and future spending decisions.

‘We’d like to see this group ensure that Local Authorities and Health and Wellbeing Boards work together in the preparation of the proposed local parks and green space strategies.

‘Funding is a significant issue for parks and, while we would have liked to see more from the Committee on this issue, we welcome the proposal that S106 and Community Infrastructure Levy funds provide for maintenance of facilities and not just new capital projects as very often the quality of new infrastructure can  suffer when short-term grant-funding ceases.’