Making Britain's towns and cities greener places to live and work is the aim of a new partnership being launched by the Forestry Commission on Wednesday. (25 March 2009)
The Urban Regeneration & Greenspace Partnership (URGP) will be officially launched at the ParkCity conference in London. It will work to bring together a range of government departments and agencies, local authorities and community and environmental groups to work in partnership to create, manage and promote sustainable green spaces in towns and cities.
'Urban greenspace' is a term used to describe natural habitats – from street trees to open grassland, heathlands and woodland - in and around towns and cities. Greenspace provides a wide range of social, economic, health and environmental benefits, including the creation of wildlife habitats, noise reduction, sustainable drainage and flood control, cooling of buildings and the built environment, improved air quality, and opportunities for sport and recreation.
The URGP will aim to:
- demonstrate the value and awareness of the impacts and outcomes of greenspace in and around towns and cities;
- disseminate best practice and case studies;
- enable innovation and knowledge transfer;
- provide a network of research and evaluation sites;
- identify gaps in knowledge and priorities for research and dissemination; and
- provide a link to research services across the UK.
Tony Hutchings from the Forestry Commission's Forest Research agency, based at Alice Holt Lodge near Farnham in Surrey, is the co-ordinator of the URGP. He said,
“The use of greenspace in towns and cities is increasingly being seen as having a vital role to play in helping to regenerate them. This can involve, for example, transforming a neglected area of derelict ground into a park where people can meet, walk, talk and play.
"The URGP will play a vital role in raising the awareness, impacts and outcomes of urban greenspace. We look forward to working with a range of parties from all sectors to establish more urban greenspace and realise the benefits it offers.”
Organisations interested in joining the URGP or being kept in touch with its work and development are invited to contact it at urgp@forestry.gsi.gov.uk.
Further information about the Forestry Commission's work on urban regeneration and land reclamation is available from the Forest Research website at www.forestresearch.gov.uk/landreclamation and www.forestresearch.gov.uk/landregeneration.
NOTES TO EDITORS:
- ParkCity is a two-day conference on the 24th and 25th of March 2009. It is sponsored by the Commission for Architecture & the Built Environment (CABE) and Natural England, the Government's advisors on urban design and the natural environment. It will focus on the central role of green infrastructure in creating the most successful towns and cities of the future, and is intended to galvanise a public debate about how communities can create places which co-exist with the natural environment, instead of developing in conflict with it. See www.parkcity.org.uk for further details.
- ParkCity will also provide an insight into Forestry Commission England's work to ensure that trees and woodlands play a key role in well-designed and effectively managed greenspace networks. This forms a core part of the Commission's delivery plan for England's trees, woods and forests. Speakers will include Simon Hodgson, chief executive of Forest Enterprise England, which manages Forestry Commission land and forests in England, who will be on the panel discussing ways to secure funding for greenspace creation and management; and Simon West, from the Commission's West Midlands team, who will share his expertise on woodfuel and green energy. The Commission is involved in the flagship Ingrebourne Hill and Newlands greenspace initiatives, the latter a partnership with the Northwest Development Agency. For further information see www.forestry.gov.uk/etwf, www.forestry.gov.uk/newlands, and www.forestry.gov.uk/ingrebourne.
- The Forestry Commission is the government department for forestry in Great Britain. Forest Research is an agency of the Commission that carries out world-class scientific research and technical development relevant to forestry. Helping to regenerate towns and cities through greenspace development and contaminated land remediation is an important strand of their work. For further information visit www.forestry.gov.uk and http://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/.
MEDIA CONTACT: Charlton Clark, 0131 314 6500