1. The Importance of working together
National Federation
of Parks and Green Spaces
Dave Morris, NFPGS Chair

2. National Federation of Parks & Green Spaces
Grassroots movement of over 6,000 local groups
Protect and improve UK’s green spaces
Community voice countrywide
Crisis ‘State of UK Parks’ Report
Campaigning for Adequate Resources
Manifesto for action
Pressure on government
Love Parks partnership
Networking and promoting Forums
Share knowledge and information
Partnerships with green space organisations
Meet quarterly in Birmingham
Building up green space partnerships
Presentations
National coordination
Publicity

3. The Importance of Community Action
What Friends Groups achieve
Improvements to sites
Bringing in more money
Protection
More events and activities
Community empowerment
Amazing and inspirational stories!
Linking up Everyone is busy, but helping surrounding open spaces helps your own! What affects one open space, affects them all.
Friends and other user groups
Give yourselves a round of applause
Changing open spaces into places people want to visit

4. Importance of a Community Forum
More city/town/area forums needed
Community voice and network is very powerful!
A Community Forum can:
Protect an area’s open spaces
Provide strategic community voice
Share news, knowledge and skills
Help new groups to start up
Attract new partners and links
Show the importance of volunteers to open spaces
A Forum is essential to defend and protect all open spaces in an area
Regional network brings together Forums and individual groups

5. How to Start - and the benefits
Get your groups together, to communicate and help each other out
Get organised eg committee and constitution
Main partner is probably Council as the landowner – link with others too
Main benefits:
Information sharing with other like-minded groups
Dispelling myths between groups, and working together
Working in closer partnership with landowner to make positive difference
Getting voice of volunteers heard and acted on. Taking part in consultations
Defending jobs and reducing cuts to open spaces
A movement So far there are over 55 Community Forums in UK representing over 2,500 of the local groups

6. Who is already out there?
EXAMPLES
Friends of Glasgow Parks Forum formed 2014, 15 groups. Meet with Council to prioritise Friends and Council annual project plans
Stockport Greenspace Forum formed December 2000, 68 groups. Running training course for groups in partnership with council.
Bromley Parks Forum, set up for 10 years, 42 groups. Helped Friends Groups lobby over transfer of management of parks and green spaces
Doncaster GreenSpace Network formed March 2014, 12 groups
Birmingham Open Spaces Forum formed 2004 with around 130 groups.
Friends of Greenwood Community Forum formed August 2000 with around 17 groups. In 2010 the Forum became an independent constituted group, but now struggling with finding a new chair
Haringey Friends of Parks Forum, meeting bi-monthly since One of 17 such Forums in London boroughs, coordinated London-wide.
This gives you an idea of some of the forums out there at the moment.
There are Glasgow & Doncaster who are both relatively new from last year and then others that have been going over 10 years
They all vary in size from around 12 groups to 130. It does not matter how large or small the forum is, it just has to bring together existing groups to help them out and then look at helping new ones to start up.
All forums have difficulties. The main one is finding the people able to give their time to keep it going. Everyone is busy with their own groups, but the network can make such a great difference that it helps all groups out, so you need 2 or 3 passionate people working together and the sky is the limit!
There will be areas where a forum cannot set up, but in those we can help with the Regional Network and keep everyone talking and helping each other out.

7. TOGETHER WE ARE STANDING UP FOR ALL THE UK’S PUBLIC GREEN SPACES!
What Now?
Start networking with your other local groups
Look at the possibilities for your area
Help out new groups to start up
Work together and get your voice heard
Join in with the new Regional Network
Stay in contact with new people met today
Share knowledge
Link up across the UK through NFPGS
TOGETHER WE ARE STANDING UP FOR ALL THE UK’S PUBLIC GREEN SPACES!