Future Parks Accelerator – a £14million joint venture between the UK’s National Lottery Heritage Fund and the National Trust

Context and problem(s) addressed

Parks keep citizens healthy, soften hard urban landscapes, help to clean the air and provide crucial homes for wildlife. Green spaces also contribute to better mental and physical health. But across the UK, parks have been moved down on the council's priorities list, despite a growing public demand for green spaces.

Intervention and financing model

Future Parks Accelerator (FPA) is an innovative partnership (2019 - 2022) that was created in response to the continuing decline in local authority funding for parks and green spaces. It aims to develop ambitious and sustainable solutions to protect, enhance and put public parks and green spaces to greater use, with the ultimate aim to create healthy and climate resilient cities.  In total, nine areas from across the country were selected through a competitive process to be part of the programme, covering a population of 5 million inhabitants.

Key outcomes (if applicable) and associated measurements

FPA activities have successfully supported the case for budgets to be protected in most places, as well as leveraging investment in new capital, revenue and project funding. In total, it brought in new investment worth almost £43 million. Staff from the local authorities involved in the initiative have taken the learnings from FPA to co-create 10 conclusions to help others improve the use of green spaces in urban environments.

The pioneering programme was a £14 million joint venture between The National Lottery Heritage Fund and the National Trust. The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities also invested £1.2m.

Publications

• Future Parks Accelerator - website
• How our pioneering programme showed what a vital public resource parks are
• Future Parks Accelerator: Key findings and recommendations