NFPGS Newsletter

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 Click here to visit our websiteView this email in your browserWinter NewsletterNext NFPGS meeting is our AGM on Saturday 16th March in Birmingham.

Please make a note of this in your diary and more details will follow shortly.
As it is the AGM, we hope to see as many of you as possible
Thanks a lot
NFPGS Team
Update from NFPGSJANUARY 2019 UPDATEWe in the NFPGS continue to be a key participant and influence in the Greenspace Sector / Government liaison body – the Parks Action Group [PAG] – discussing and debating what must be done to address the under funding crisis. We ourselves are coordinating a Community Empowerment work stream, and have proposed a series of regional conferences for Friends Groups to strengthen networking, good practice and partnership-working. There may be some good news to report on this and related matters very soon.Our Chair and reps from other national organisations have held 2 meetings with Clive Betts MP, the Chair of the Communities and Local Government Select Committee. The Committee has written to the Minister for Parks seeking a report on progress made over the last 2 years on addressing their Recommendations in response to the growing under funding crisis facing parks. We have ensured that members of the PAG will be able to respond also, so that the Committee can keep up pressure on Government to take effective action.23 national organisations have now signed up to back the new Charter for Parks calling for proper recognition, funding and protection for all the UK’s public green spaces.Following ongoing discussions with ourselves The Mail on Sunday, has continued with its Save Our Parks campaign, taking many of its demands from the Parks Charter. On 30th December there was a special double page spread ‘We Salute The Parks Saviours’ about the Friends of Parks Groups movement, with some excellent examples and quoting the NFPGS Chair. You can read it by clicking here.We continue to support the Lottery-funded ‘Rethinking Parks’ project – parkscommunityuk – to promote community empowerment throughout the UK. It is being run by the Friends of Lordship Rec in London, working with a dozen other Friends Groups. The project is actually co-managed by our Chair, who is also the Chair of the Friends of Lordship Rec. The idea is to develop a website ‘one stop shop’ for all Friends Groups, with ‘How To’ guides, information, links to supporting organisations, case studies etc to inform and inspire.. watch this space for more details.We have been given a donation of £7,500 by a small charity, so for the first time since we set up 10 years ago we have some of our own substantial ‘unallocated’ funds to help strengthen the NFPGS. We have also been allocated a place in the London Marathon and will be sending out a fundraising appeal very soon! Together these 2 ‘pots’ will help us achieve some longer term financial sustainability.

NFPGS TeamNFPGS Run the London Marathon to Raise Money
Our own treasurer Roland Bruce from the Bristol Parks Forum has taken up the challenge to run the London Marathon to raise money for our work to champion volunteers in our parks and open spaces!

Please can you pass this around all your networks to help raise the profile and we are hoping to raise over £2,000.

Roland will be doing regular updates on how the training is going and we would like to offer all our support and backing.

Click here to find out more!

Good luck Roland!Help Save Cedar Avenue Park
The Winthorpe Estate Residents Group has contacted us as their park is under threat for being sold off for housing. This is a threat to our open green spaces that we need combat.

Cedar Avenue Park was “left for the use of the children of the parish in perpetuity” by the Gilstrap Family.District Councillors acting under the guise of The Gilstrap Charity are attempting to sell the park for a social housing development.

Please help out by signing their petition and give your support.

Click here to sign! All information can be found on their Facebook page and by typing #perpetuity in the search box if you wish to investigate further.
Thank you for your support!Join the Great British Spring Clean
22nd March to 23rd April 2019

Keep Britain Tidy has now launched their most ambitious campaign yet. They want to inspire 500,000 people to join forces to clear litter, including single-use plastic, from our streets, parks and beaches, recycling as much as possible.  Help make history and make the Great British Spring Clean 2019 the country’s biggest ever mass-action environmental campaign.

Add your clean-ups to the map and help spread the word, as we prepare to stand together and declare that litter pollution – that degrades the beauty of our environment and threatens to harm wildlife – is not acceptable.

Click here to join in and find out more.Year of Green Action 2019 (YoGA)
YoGA is about connecting people all around the country with nature, and showing how we can all take positive action to improve our environment. It’s a year-long drive to help everyone get involved in projects that support nature – in our own gardens, schools or workplaces, and as consumers.

In 2019, there are so many things you can do. You could arrange a litter pick or beach clean, create a community garden to grow your own food, make water, waste and energy-saving improvements to your home or organisation, or just spend time out appreciating the beauty of the natural world by volunteering or visiting green spaces.

Click here to find out more!Plan a Picnic in your Park & Have a Field Day
Saturday 6th July

This summer Fields in Trust want you to join them in championing our nation’s parks by planning a picnic at your local green space.

On Have a Field Day, Saturday 6th July, thousands of people across the UK will be coming together once again for summer picnics with friends and neighbours to celebrate why parks and green spaces are so special to our communities.

Their research demonstrates that access to local green spaces has a positive impact on both physical and mental health. Community events in parks are a great way to connect with neighbours, enhancing community cohesion and reducing isolation and loneliness.

Green spaces are good and they do good. Join a movement of park users championing our glorious green spaces and help protect them for good. Register your picnic now and receive your free Have a Field Day pack through the post.Research Project from Sheffield University
What do you want from public spaces? This is the question being asked by a new research project from Sheffield University, which seeks to find what you, as a user, want from public spaces, in order to help improve their quality. Please can we share this far and wide to inform the design debate. There’s a chance to win a £50 voucher too – click here to take part.

The PhD research project “Restoration in the urban environment: informing design guidelines for small urban green spaces”, conducted at the Landscape department of the University of Sheffield, seeks to find which design elements of small urban green spaces will lead users to appreciate these spaces and find them to be relaxing environments. There is increased recognition that cities need to be designed better with health in mind, and that urban nature is an important contributor to this.DEFRA Consultations
The Department of the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs is currently doing two consultations. The first is an important consultation asking how changes to the planning systems can better support improvements to natural environments through biodiversity net gain. Please respond to this – the consultation closes 10th February. Access it by clicking here
 
Secondly, Defra is consulting on the UK government’s proposals to introduce four new measures designed to increase transparency and accountability in the process of felling street trees and to strengthen the Forestry Commission’s power to tackle illegal tree felling. This consultation closes 28th February – respond by clicking here.Copyright © 2019 National Federation of Parks & Green Spaces, All rights reserved.
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National Federation of Parks & Green Spaces88 Dark LaneRomsley, West Midlands B62United Kingdom
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