Britain's parks need more parkies

We're calling for every significant park to have dedicated staff on site in daylight hours, to make children feel safer and reduce anti-social behaviour.

As England's eight million schoolchildren start of summer holidays, a new CABE survey shows that one in three children feel unsafe using parks some or all of the time.

Children (aged 10-16) reported that gangs, bullies and drunken children are among their reasons for feeling unsafe. Three quarters would feel safer if parks were properly staffed and CABE is calling for every significant park to have dedicated staff on site in daylight hours. Currently, this is true of only a quarter of English parks.

CABE's latest survey of park managers shows that on-site staff can cut anti-social behaviour. Maldon Council in Essex reports that vandalism in its parks has halved over the last two years through this.

After many decades of neglect, there has recently been huge increases in capital investment in England's parks and public spaces. The Big Lottery Fund has just announced a new £124m fund specifically for local areas to spend on play schemes. CABE believes that this investment will be wasted without maintenance, which means proper staffing.

Our Parkforce campaign is designed to champion the critical role played by park staff. This summer we are searching for Britain's best Parkforce and Britain's Best Park Worker. Anyone can nominate someone who works in a park - someone who brings something special to their job in making their park a safe and inspiring place to be.