‘Clever councillors will invest in great green space’, says CABE

As elections loom, a new report on urban parks and green spaces reveals that if people are satisfied with their local park they tend to be satisfied with their council.

Urban green nation looks at the state of England’s urban green space and its impact on people’s health and well-being. The report shows the strong link between satisfaction with local parks and open spaces and satisfaction with your neighbourhood, which is key to your perceptions of council performance.  

The research also reveals that almost nine out of 10 people use parks and green spaces, compared to three out of 10 people that visit concert halls and galleries.  The historic decline in the quality of green spaces has been reversed. The data suggests residents are now using parks and green spaces more, and they value them more, but not everyone has benefitted equally from the improvements. 

Richard Simmons, CABE chief executive, said:

‘If I were a councillor fighting for votes, I’d commit to invest in what really makes local residents happy. Parks and green spaces have a big role to play in improving health and relieving stress. They also provide great places for anyone to spend light summer evenings at a pretty small cost to the public purse.’

The second part of this research, examining the impact of the quality of green spaces on the well-being of people living in six deprived urban areas, will be published later this year.

Notes to editors

• Urban Green Nation: building the evidence base consists of two pieces of research. The first is available to download from www.cabe.org.uk/publications/urban-green-nation and was carried out by Heriot-Watt University.
• In London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, resident satisfaction with parks has risen by 3% between 2006 and 2009, from 83% to 86%. Satisfaction with neighbourhood has increased by 4% over the same period, from 86% to 90%. The average result for satisfaction with parks in urban areas is 65% and for satisfaction with neighbourhood is 80%. In Epsom and Ewell, satisfaction with parks has risen by 1% (to 87%) and there has been a rise in neighbourhood satisfaction of 4% (to 86%).
• Satisfaction with neighbourhood affects perceptions of council performance. For example, the LGA Reputation Campaign showed that winning a green flag award for at least one park and educating and enforcing to protect the environment makes residents value their council more highly.
• People in deprived areas receive a far worse provision of parks and green spaces than their affluent neighbours. The most affluent 20 per cent of wards have five times the amount of parks or general green space (excluding gardens) per person than the most deprived 10 per cent of wards.
• The 2009 Place survey found that in urban areas, 87 per cent of the population have used their local park or open space in the last year, and 79 per cent have used it in the last six months. This compares with 32 per cent who have visited concert halls, and 26 per cent who visited galleries.
• Appreciation for parks is on the rise. In 2007, 91 per cent of people thought it was very or fairly important to have green spaces near to where they live, and by 2009 this had risen to 95 per cent.
• If an area has high quality parks, it is likely that more residents will use them more often. Parks in the most deprived 10 per cent of wards have an average of 51 visits per year, compared with 62 visits in the most affluent wards.
• Putting in place an open space strategy is an important step to achieving better quality parks and open spaces. Of the authorities that have shown the biggest improvement in residents’ satisfaction in the last four years, nearly three quarters have completed an open space strategy. For more information about open space strategies visit www.cabe.org.uk/publications/open-space-strategies-leaflet
• CABE is the government’s advisor on architecture, urban design and public space. As a public body, we encourage policymakers to create places that work for people. We help local planners apply national design policy and offer expert advice to developers and architects. We show public sector clients how to commission buildings that meet the needs of their users. And we seek to inspire the public to demand more from their buildings and spaces. Advising, influencing and inspiring, we work to create well-designed, welcoming places. www.cabe.org.uk