community led spaces

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Community-led spaces

A guide or local authorities

and community groups


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Published in 2010 by the Commission or

Architecture and the Built Environment and the

Asset Transer Unit

Graphic design: Draught Associates

Printed by Blackmore Ltd

Cover image: Gambier House, Is lington, London

Jane Sebire

All rights reserved. No part o this publication may

be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, copied

or transmitted without the prior written consento the publisher except that the material may be

photocopied or non-commercial purposes without

permission rom the publisher.

CABE is the governments advisor on architecture,

urban design and public space. As a public body,

we encourage policymakers to create places that

work or people. We help local planners apply

national design policy and advise developers

and architects, persuading them to put peoples

needs rst. We show public sector clients how to

commission projects that meet the needs o their

users. And we seek to inspire the public to demand

more rom their buildings and spaces. Advising,

infuencing and inspiring, we work to create well-

designed, welcoming places.

The Asset Transer Unit helps to empower local

people and organisations to transorm land and

buildings into vibrant community enterprise spaces,

whilst supporting the development o a thriving

civil society. We are the UKs established centre

o excellence providing expert advice, guidance

and support concerning the transer o land and

buildings rom the public sector into mutual and

community ownership and management. The Unit

is led and managed by the Development Trusts

Association the UKs leading network

o community enterprise practitioners in

association with Community Matters and the

Local Government Association. It is unded by

Communities and Local Government.

CABE

1 Kemble Street

London WC2B 4AN

T 020 7070 6700

F 020 7070 6777

E [email protected]

www.cabe.org.uk

Asset Transer Unit

c/o The Development Trusts Association

33 Corsham Street, London, N1 6DR

T: 0845 234 4564

F: 0845 458 8337

E: [email protected]

www.atu.org.uk

This document is availablein alternative ormats onrequest rom the publisher.


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Contents

Introduction 4

1 Why transer public open space assets? 5

2 Looking at the bigger picture 7

3 Understanding public open space assets 9

4 The business case or transer 19

Setting out what you want 19Governance and accountabi lity 22Finance 27

Communications 34

5 Resources 38

Case studies

Bankside Open Spaces Trust 10Croydon Council green spaces 12Warley Woods Community Trust 16Torbay Coast and Countryside Trust 20

Heeley Millennium Park 24Tarvin Community Woodland Trust 28Nene Park Trust 32Park View 4U 36

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Introduction

Well-designed and well-managed open spaces bring

communities together. Research shows that nine out

o 10 people use parks and green spaces and thehigher the quality o the green space, the more likely

it is to be used.1

There is a long history o communities collectivelyowning public open space in England: many villages,or instance, have ancient rights to their common land.However, most are owned and managed by localauthorities or other public bodies.

Many neighbourhood groups, such as residentsassociations or riends groups, already infuence

how their local spaces are managed. And manyalready provide hands-on, practical support throughvolunteering. A recent CABE survey ound that onaverage, volunteers provide the equivalent o threeull-time members o sta each year or public sectororganisations working in parks and open spaces.2

With the right knowledge and resources, communitygroups can become even more actively involved,particularly in underused or neglected spaces, eitherby managing the space themselves or by licensing or

leasing the space rom the local authority and takingownership o it or the benet o the community. This kindo asset transer o public spaces rom public bodiesto community groups is on the rise. A recent survey olocal authorities, in autumn 2009, suggested there were1,000 transers under way in England. Parks and playingelds were the second most popular asset transerredover the previous two years 16 per cent o the total.3

The law already gives local authorities and some otherpublic bodies the power to transer land where itpromotes social, economic and environmental well-being or less than its market value. Permission romthe secretary o state needs to be sought i a proposeddiscount exceeds 2 million.4

There are specic challenges in managing a publicopen space in particular with regard to its unding andmaintenance. While buildings can be let or hired outto generate income, it can be hard to raise enoughregular income rom the use o a public space to coverthe costs o maintaining it to a decent standard. Theeconomies o scale that local authorities can achieve by

maintaining a network o spaces may be lost i individualspaces are taken over by community groups. So newmodels o nance will need to be developed, with theright mix o unding to ensure viability. There is potential,

or instance, or community enterprises to provide newsources o income or spaces. We look at this in this

guide among other income options.

The rst section in this guide explores some o theadvantages o transerring public open spaces tocommunity groups. The implications are considered inthe second section, Looking at the bigger picture. Openspaces unction as part o a network that benets peoplebeyond the immediate locality. It is critical that the role oa public space within its wider green network is properlyunderstood, regardless o who owns and manages it.

The variety o types o spaces, and their specic

characteristics and uses, provide dierent opportunitiesand constraints or community groups that want to takeover their management and ownership. The third section,Understanding public space assets explores theseissues drawing on practical examples, rom turningneglected land on housing estates into communitygardens, to exploiting the opportunities or socialenterprise by the waterside.

Above all, in considering the transer o any asset,a good business case is essential, and the ourth

section explores objectives, governance, nanceand communications.

Throughout the guide we provide checklists or bothlocal authorities and community groups. The variety andcreativity o approaches to asset transer is exploredthrough eight case study examples. And we outline theresources available, such as guidance produced bythe Asset Transer Unit on transerring such assets asheritage buildings and swimming pools into communityownership and management; and guidance rom CABEand others on improving the design and management opublic open space.

Our guide is an introduction to the main issuessurrounding transer o public space assets. Althoughprimarily ocusing on the issues around transerringspaces rom local authorities to community groups,the guide is also o relevance to other public bodiesconsidering transerring their spaces.

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Volunteer time spentin parks and green

space is worth

between 22 million

and 28 million across

England each year

1 Why transer public space assets?

1 Community green: using green space to tackle

inequality and improve health, CABE, 2010

2 Green space skills 2009 National employer survey

ndings, CABE 2010

3 Asset Transer Unit Evaluation: Baseline Report

or the Development Trusts Association, SQW

Consulting, 2009

4 Circular 06/03: Local Government Act 1972 general

disposal consent (England) 2003

5 Community green: using local spaces to tackleinequality and improve health, CABE, 2010

6 Its our space, CABE, 2007

7 Green space employers survey, CABE, 2010

NorthalaFields,LondonFoRMAssociates

Many o the solutions to todays environmental

and social challenges rom adapting to

climate change to improving the quality oneighbourhood spaces can be rooted in local

communities. CABE research has shown that

there is a shortage o decent green space in

deprived areas5 which can be remedied where

local residents take control o derelict or

under-used spaces.6 Long-lasting solutions

respond to local needs and aspirations. They tap

into a wide cross-section o the community, to

bring new perspectives to old problems and fnd

resh approaches.

Some local authorities are considering transerringpublic open spaces as a way o reducing theircosts. In a time o public sector budget cutting,the added value o community involvement will beincreasingly important to complement reducedstate unding.

Unlike local authority budgets or open spaceswhich are not protected, community organisationscan, and do, dedicate their resources to thespaces in their care. Independent trusts, which

can generate their own income, such as the MiltonKeynes Parks Trust, are better able to surviveeconomic downturns and maintain a high-qualitynetwork o public spaces. And we know thatvolunteer time spent in parks and green space isworth between 22 million and 28 million acrossEngland each year.7

Many o the benets o transerring land tocommunity groups exist precisely because thepeople who live closest to the space care mostdeeply about it, and they usually spot opportunitiesor problems rst. Transer can thereore generatebetter quality spaces, which respond to localdemand, or instance or ood growing. It can givecommunity groups greater involvement in shapingtheir local environment, directly involving them inlocal decision making or simply making better useo a neglected site. It can open up new land orcommunity use: even temporary or meanwhileuses8, which dont require the organisationalstability o ull asset transer, can give people goodhands-on experience and generate enthusiasm or

greater community control.

Critically, transer can boost local employment andimprove skills. In particular, as more and dierent

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groups get involved, it may in time help addressthe national skills gaps that exist in specialist

proessions such as horticulture and landscapedesign.

It can also generate more eective workingpartnerships between the local authority andresidents. The experience o community-led openspace improvement projects unded through theTransorming your space lottery programme,or instance, ound that people learned how theircouncil worked and became more trusting andopen to dialogue. The council gained a betterunderstanding o community groups and their

ability to take responsibility or improving thelocal environment. Community groups becamestronger and more condent, with many groupsadopting a can-do attitude, gaining credibility andraising local aspirations.

8 www.meanwhile.org.uk/useul-ino/view/legal

9 The Meanwhile Project has provided advice, guidance and networking to over

700 owners, local authorities and potential occupiers, including the development

o a Meanwhile Lease. The Meanwhile Project aims to expand the meanwhile use

o redundant land and buildings until they can be brought back into regular com-

mercial or public use.

10 www.meanwhile.org.uk/showcase/bradord-urban-garden

11 www.cabeurl.com/en

12 www.buckscc.gov.uk/sites/bcc/parks/country_parks.page

NaturalEngland/DoorstepGreens

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2 Looking at the bigger picture

Parks, green spaces, public squares, streets,

allotments, woodlands and waterways all link up

to create networks o public spaces that providebenefts to local communities beyond just those

who use the individual spaces.

They can provide accessible green routes orwalking and cycling including sae routes to schoolor children; reduce the urban heat island eect insummer through cooling and shading; help lterpolluted air; absorb and store storm water; supplybiomass or biouels to directly replace ossil uels;increase local ood production; and encouragebiodiversity and provide corridors or wildlie to move

through urban areas. Critically, they can boost thelocal economy by improving peoples perceptions oan area, encouraging business and visitors.

Local authorities and communities should considerhow to protect and maximise these broader benets.Most urban local authorities in England have alreadymapped their open space networks as part o theprocess o developing open space strategies, andhave a good understanding o their contributionto this bigger picture. Many have also developed

agreed standards or open space quality, quantityand accessibility as part o their local developmentramework, ater consulting local people.

The Asset Transer Unit has ound that over a quartero local authorities have a dedicated community assettranser strategy, related policies and procedures,although to date ew include guidance specicallyon public spaces. But together, these strategies caninorm an approach to transer that ensures the needso local people are met eectively across an area.

Many local authorities are considering alternativeapproaches to managing and nancing their publicspaces and testing a range o options. Someauthorities are considering alternative managementarrangements or all, some, or just a ew o thespaces in their care. Involving communities in publicspace management can range rom ull transer oownership, to shared management with the localauthority retaining some responsibilities (such asor litter collection, street cleansing or grass cutting),to interim community uses.9 For example, Fabric

Bradords arts development organisation, is workingwith Bradord City Council and retail developerWesteld to develop a temporary use or the plannedBroadway site in the centre o the city. Fabric

received a grant o 25,000 rom the MeanwhileProject, which will make a signicant contribution to

the creation o the Bradord Urban Garden, or BUG.10

Any plans or policies developed or transerringpublic space assets, and any proposals or individualsite transers, should ensure that those groups thatnormally have less infuence on decisions are activelyinvolved. These include young women with children;people with disabilities; travelling communities; andsome minority ethnic groups. This can be consideredas part o an equality impact assessment whichpublic bodies, including local authorities, now havea duty to complete.11

Buckinghamshire County Council is taking a

strategic approach to managing and inancing

its green spaces and country parks.12 It invited

initial expressions o interest in managing the

parks and green spaces rom organisations

including community groups, environmental

charities and trusts. The management models

explored by the council were:

continuing to have the parks and green spacesmanaged by the council, but with greaterreedoms, or instance by setting up a separatetrading account with the ability to carry moneyover rom one nancial year to another

transerring green spaces to other public sectororganisations,such as parish councils

changing to a public sector shared managementmodel, or example, by collaborating with otherlocal authorities

transerring spaces to an environmental not-or-prot trust (local or national in scale)

a combination o the above.

Market testing suggested that no one singlemanagement model was likely to t every park andgreen space. Instead, a mixture o models waspreerred, refecting the range, scale and diversity othe spaces and the dierent maintenance regimesthat were necessary to care or them. Maintainingquality will be important and it is using the Green

Flag Award standard as a benchmark in someinstances. The council is considering the optionsand it is expected to make a decision on the utureo its parks in early 2011.

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LangleyParkCountryPark,BuckinghamshireAndyStevens,FriendsofLangleyPark

What local authorities should think

about when exploring transer

Establish whether you already have a

dedicated community asset transer strategy,

and whether it covers public open space

assets. You should try to augment existing policiesand procedures so that all expressions o interestrom community groups are treated in the samemanner. As a local authority, you can requestsupport rom the Asset Transer Unit i you do notalready have a strategy in place.

Consider the easibility o transerring sites.This may include their condition and suitability,the long-term eect o transer on the qualityo space, including uture maintenance andmanagement costs, and the level o communityinterest. You should involve representatives othe voluntary and community sector and a crosssection o community groups in developingstrategies and policies.

Make sure that options exist or dierent

levels o community involvement. These couldrange rom ull ownership o a space, to riendsgroups and/or volunteering opportunities. Ensurethat there is a long-term strategy or communitydevelopment and support.

Consider the implications o transer on all

sections o the community, in particular anylikely positive or negative eects that transer mayhave on particular groups o people. You have alegal duty to ensure that you conduct an equalitiesimpact assessment o your policy, and publish aplan to mitigate any associated risks.

Check how your various asset transer options

could aect your other policies, or instance onclimate change adaptation, fooding, transport,access, health, culture and education.

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3 Understanding public open space assets

There are many dierent types o public openspace. Each one is physically unique, o course,

and refects both its locality and community. Theymay include a mix o dierent land types anduses. Playgrounds and waterways, wildlie areas,allotments and gardens, parks and cemeteriesmake up a rich mosaic o public space. In additionto the established public spaces, there are alsomany spaces that could be opened up ortemporary public use or unused sites that couldhave public access.

Although the majority o public open spaces areowned by local authorities or other public bodies

such as the Environment Agency, there are other,oten complex, patterns o public, private andvoluntary sector ownership. Even with publicland, responsibilities can all between dierentdepartments such as highways, housing and parks.Some land is held in trust or the benet o thepublic and some is protected as common land.Many parks and gardens are valuable heritage sitesthat may be listed. English Heritage keeps a recordo all listed landscapes and must be consultedon any proposals or a site.13 In rural areas many

parish and town councils already own and managepublic spaces with a high degree o communityinvolvement.

The quality o a space will aect how well it is used.Entering or a Green Flag Award is a good way ocomparing your site against the national standardor parks and green spaces and getting local andnational recognition or your eorts. Community-managed sites can apply or a Green PennantAward to recognise a level o quality has beenachieved. See the Warley Woods community Trustand Tarvin Community Woodland Trust case studies(p16 and p28) or details.

This section considers some o the dierent typeso public space, highlighting issues to consider andwhere to go to or help.

Natural spaces

Almost all public open spaces eature natural

elements that benet wildlie, which in turn canattract volunteers and unding. Some are designatedas national nature reserves, local nature reserves, orsites o special scientic interest, to recognise and

protect their value to wildlie. Natural England adviseson natural landscapes and its nature on the map

website shows the sites that are designated acrossthe country.14

Many local nature reserves are managed directlyby local authorities, and a growing number aremanaged by local volunteer groups, riends groupsor organisations like Wildlie Trusts, in agreement withthe local authority.

There are also many small, undesignated localwild areas that are o great local importance. InNorthamptonshire, the county council has worked with

many organisations to help create 80 pocket parks,in locations rom town centres to quiet villages.15 Thescheme was the inspiration or Doorstep Greens, acommunity-led regeneration programme that providesimportant places or people to enjoy the naturalenvironment close to home.16

National charities that have specialist knowledgeo natural space management, such as the WildlieTrusts17 and BTCV18, can support communityinvolvement.

Playing ields and sports acilities

Playing elds and sports acilities are oten supportedby existing groups that could take on a greater role.For example, there are 2,500 aliated bowling clubsin England. Many local authorities have successullydevolved management o outdoor sports acilitiesto such clubs and community groups, which hashelped to attract outside investment. Some acilitieshave income-generating potential. In Bury in GreaterManchester, 70 per cent o outdoor sports acilities aresel-managed by local sports and community groups.The resulting eciency savings or the council havebeen ploughed back into improving sports acilities.

Registering as a community amateur sports club canbring you benets such as 80 per cent mandatorybusiness rate relie. You can also raise unds rom

13 www.english-heritage.org.uk

14 www.natureonthemap.org.uk

15 www.pocketparks.com

16 www.doorstepgreens.com

17 www.wildlietrusts.org

18 www2.btcv.org.uk

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BanksideOpenSpaces

Trust

Case studyBankside Open Spaces Trust,London

Gardening clubs bring dierent parts o

the community togethe r and help keep the

spaces well maintained

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In the 19th century, Bankside, in the London Borougho Southwark, was a squalid area packed with slums.

In 1887 the social reormer Octavia Hill establisheda tiny site, Red Cross Garden, as an open air sittingroom or the tired inhabitants o Southwark. However,by the end o the 20th century it was run-down andunderused. In 2005, the local charity BanksideOpen Spaces Trust (BOST), with support rom localpeople, secured unding to pay or its restoration. Itcontinues to manage the site today.

The original design o the garden had been lost, sothe improvements mixed restoring old eatures andadding new ones. The garden now includes a pond,

19th century-style planting, ecological planting, aplay area, mosaics and a maypole. BOST raisedthe money or the work rom the Heritage LotteryFund and Southwark Council, rom which the siteis leased. The gardening is done by volunteers. Thecost o co-ordinating the work comes rom a mix tureo grants, particularly rom Southwark Council andthe Sainsbury amily charitable trust.

BOST was established in 2000 to oster a senseo community through the protection, care and

development o local green spaces. In addition toRed Cross Garden, it runs Waterloo Green, and,again in partnership with Southwark, eight othergreen spaces. BOST also acilitates temporaryspaces like the urban orchard in nearby Union Street.

At Waterloo Green, BOST ound that the space hadvery strict covenants that made it dicult to use togenerate income, including rules that prevented itrom having any structures on the space.

Despite BOSTs success, nding money to payor core costs and the day-to-day maintenanceo spaces is dicult. Helen Firminger, the trustsdirector, says: the largest portion o our undingcomes rom grants. Most o these grants are orinvolving people who are marginalised. It is veryunusual to be unded or managing open space grant makers understandably tend to think that thecouncil should be doing that. Its the people-basedwork that unders are interested in.

Running projects on housing estates and in parks

ater school has proven the most eective way obringing a diverse community together. This includes

using pictures and objects to illustrate ideas,demonstrating change with ropes and poles on site

rather than with a map in a meeting. Isolated peoplerom dierent cultures have overcome shyness andcome into contact with their neighbours throughsimple gardening projects such as planting a hedge.

Ideally BOST would like to secure an asset, suchas a building, that could be used to generate long-term income. However, despite BOSTs good trackrecord, lots o ideas, and support rom many withinSouthwark Council, this has proved challenging.

Yet BOST has become a vehicle or the Bankside

community to act as a client and infuence thequality o local green space, and it encourages highaspirations, including high-quality design. Typically,or each project, its consultation identies peoplesneeds and these are written into a design brie that asteering group reviews and approves. A design teamis appointed and, once the design is developed indetail, landscape contractors are selected.

BOSTs board o trustees is drawn rom the localresidential and business communities. The trust

keeps everyone inormed o project developmentand activities taking place in its network o greenspaces. Working as a trust to improve many greenspaces, not just one, has benets: the organisationcan build and sustain knowledge and skills,relationships can be built over time, andresources can be shared across sites.

Lessons learned

I asset transer is to be successul, the relevantpeople in the council need to be enthusiastic andsupportive. It will be ar more dicult i they are not.

Taking on the management o open spaces is hardwork: trustees and sta need commitment andimagination.

Some green spaces, such as millennium greens,have very strict covenants that make it dicult touse the space to generate income.

www.bost.org.ukwww.unionstreetorchard.org.uk

How council and community have come together to

inject new lie into local spaces

11
http://www.bost.org.uk/http://www.bost.org.uk/


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Case studyCroydon Council green spaces,London

Croydon cemetery is managed in partnershipwith The Shaw Trust, providing employment

opportunities or local people and an

improvement in horticultural standards

Cro

ydonBereavementServicesin

partnershipwithTheShawTrust

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In the London Borough o Croydon, a strategywas agreed or the transer o surplus public

assets, including green spaces, rom the council tocommunity groups.

The strategy or transerring Croydons assets wasagreed in 2007 by the boroughs strengtheningcommunities partnership a sub-group o thelocal strategic partnership that works to promotecommunity involvement in the borough.

For the purpose o the strategy, surplus assetswere dened as buildings or spaces that wereno longer used or that did not have a signicant

redevelopment value.

At the time work began on the project, the councilassumed that the community assets that might betranserred would be buildings. However, Croydonreviewed its green spaces and, as a result o stronginterest rom local people, it became clear thatpublic spaces should also be considered. Thecouncil developed its interest in transerring greenspaces on council-owned housing estates to thecommunities that lived on those estates. Echez

Ubaka, senior policy ocer at Croydon, explains: Alot o these spaces are land-locked between estates.Some are used by people so it is a matter o ndingout who is using them and i theyd be interested.

The councils asset transer project came aboutthanks to support rom the Development TrustsAssociations advancing assets or communitiesprogramme.

The plan is that the council would pay around2,000 per asset or a easibility study to considerits condition, accessibility, location, use, potentialor community management, investment required,and potential sources o unding. I the asset wastranserred to a community group, support wouldbe provided by Croydon Voluntary Action (CVA),the local centre or voluntary services. Communitygroups would have been expected to maintainthe site themselves and no money would havebeen transerred along with the site. However, thecouncils unding to CVA is being reduced and itis not yet clear what the implications will be or the

asset transer project. The council hopes to havebegun work on two pilot projects by summer 2011.

Croydon learned the value o good internalcommunication and a shared commitment within the

council to the process. Given that the sites beingconsidered were green spaces in council-managedhousing estates, it was vital to include the acilitiesmanagement teams in the discussions.

During the process o developing its strategy the

partnership arrived at seven key principles:

It is desirable and benecial to transer publicassets to community management and ownershipwhere appropriate.

Asset transer projects must be nancially viable andnot leave communities with a liability that would thenhave to be returned.

The maximum level o community control otranserred assets should be allowed, takingaccount o wider regeneration programmes, legalconstraints and planning obligations.

A ull assessment o risk to all stakeholders shouldbe done to minimise and apportion risk.

Where necessary, support will be provided bypublic agencies to community groups to buildcapacity to manage assets including, supportingthe development o new organisations.

Public bodies will support community organisationsin exploring opportunities or new sources o undingto support asset transers.

Public sector bodies will explicitly include thetranser o assets to the community in their propertyand asset management strategies.

www.croydon.gov.uk

How a local authority is taking a strategic approach

to asset transer

13
http://www.croydon.gov.uk/http://www.croydon.gov.uk/


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individuals under Git Aid, meaning that you canclaim up to 28 in tax or every 100 donated, and

prots derived rom property income are tax exempt.To date 6,000 clubs have signed up, meaning moremoney is kept in the club or investing in assetsand activities.

School playing elds are protected romdevelopment by planning law, and any proposedchanges to playing elds need to involve SportEngland. Transerring ownership o some playingelds to a charitable trust is one way o ensuring theyhave greater protection rom development. Fields inTrust can advise on this.19

Community gardens and ood growing

There is increasing demand rom communities orplaces to grow ood. In researching the idea o anational community land bank the Federation oCity Farms and Community Gardens has oundthe demand or land or ood growing ar exceedssupply. The waiting list or allotments nationally isaround 100,000.20 Food growing can be a great way

to engage people who may not normally get involved,as well as improving peoples health. Gardening andood growing may also be appropriate on temporarysites. For example, the London Wildlie Trust hasset up temporary allotments on a site awaitingdevelopment behind the British Museum in London.A partnership between the trust and the UK Centreor Medical Research and Innovation to promoteood growing and support biodiversity relies on asimple partnership agreement between the relevantorganisations. The Federation o City Farms andCommunity Gardens provides advice and supportor local ood-growing initiatives.21

Cemeteries

Cemeteries are oten both heritage sites and greathavens or wildlie as well as providing valuabletranquil spaces or people. They are oten underusedcommunity assets with potential or greater use.Many have active riends groups. For example, theFriends o Arnos Vale Cemetery in Bristol undraises

or physical improvements to the cemetery, helpwith grounds maintenance and support or thereception service.22 Nationally, support is oered bythe National Federation o Cemetery Friends.23

Playgrounds and play spaces

There has in recent years been much publicinvestment in childrens play spaces across thecountry, with many including more natural playspaces that emphasise interaction with naturallyoccurring eatures. There is also a history ocommunity involvement in the creation andmanagement o adventure playgrounds, oten onunder-used land, with many winning awards such asthe Glamis adventure playground in Tower Hamlets ineast London.24 Guidance on design and managementis provided by Play England in its Design or Play25guide. Its Playul Communities toolkit26 can help or

anyone wanting to get involved in creating, improvingand maintaining play spaces. It is particularly aimed atcommunity groups.

I you are planning to take on a new or existingplay area, staed or un-staed, you will need abasic understanding o the regulations and legalobligations, including keeping children sae, healthand saety, insurance, registration and inspection ostaed play provision. The Managing Risk in PlayProvision: Implementation guide provides guidance

on health and saety, insurance and risk. Furtheradvice is available rom local play associations, yourlocal authority and the Play Saety Forum.27

Spaces around social housing estates

Social landlords provide more than our million homesin England, and the quality and accessibility o thegreen space around those homes has a undamentalimpact on the health and well-being o thoseresidents. From a recent CABE study, less than 1 percent o those interviewed that live in social housingreported using the green spaces in the housing estatethey live in. This may be due to concerns about saety,lack o access, or poor quality.28 There is a hugeopportunity or social landlords to work with residentsto transorm their local spaces through asset transer,and some estates are already managed by tenantmanagement organisations, under managementagreements. The Growing Kitchen Residents Groupon the Wenlock Barn Estate in Hackney, east London,shows what is possible. This group brings unused or

underused open public spaces on the estate into useas gardens where residents can grow their own ruitand vegetables, aiming to improve the quality o thelocal environment and the lie o the community.

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Food growing can be

a great way to engage

people who may not

normally get involved inpublic spaces

19 www.eldsintrust.org

20 www.armgarden.org.uk

21 www.armgarden.org.uk

22 www.arnosvaleriends.org.uk

23 www.cemeteryriends.org.uk/index.html

24 www.cabeurl.com/em

25 www.cabeurl.com/el

26 www.playulcommunities.org.uk

27 www.playengland.org.uk

28 www.cabe.org.uk/publications/community-green

29 www.neighbourhoodsgreen.org.uk/ng

30 www.cabe.org.uk/publications/decent-homes-need-decent-spaces

31 www.britishwaterways.co.uk/home

A partnership programme, Neighbourhoods Green,highlights the importance o green spaces or the

residents o social housing, to raise the qualityo their design, management and sae use andprovides guidance, support and tools.29 CABE andthe National Housing Federations Decent homes,decent spaces action plan sets out 10 priorities orchange on social housing estates.30

Waterside spaces

Canal towpaths, riverbanks and searonts oerpeople the benet o contact with the natural water

environment, access to recreation and orm animportant part o the transport network, providinglinear routes or walking and cycling. Many orman important part o our industrial heritage andall are o benet to wildlie. Ownership is varied,British Waterways, which owns and manage athird o the inland canal network, is moving rombeing a state-owned organisation to become a civilsociety organisation. This should provide manymore opportunities or volunteer involvement , socialenterprise and asset transer.31

Charitable trusts support community involvementin waterways such as The Waterways Trust, anational charity that works to promote greater publicenjoyment o inland waterways32 and the InlandWaterways Association33, which aims to ensure theinland waterways are restored and maintained to thebest possible standards, and kept accessible to all.

Waterways can oer possibilities or incomegeneration, such as through the use o associatedbuildings, charging or moorings and licences

BluebellAllotm

ents,NorwichAndyHendry/NewCenturyPictures

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WarleyWoodsCommunityTrust

Case studyWarley Woods CommunityTrust, West Midlands

Volunteers help out at a Big Spring Clean

event at Warley Woods. The trust has a

membership o 800 peopl e, many o whom

volunteer on the site

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Warley Woods is a 40-hectare urban park in

Smethwick, in the West Midlands, which was run

by Birmingham City Council or most o the 20thcentury. However, by the late 1990s the site was

in a poor condition and in 1997 local residents set

up the Warley Woods Community Trust to support

it. In 2004 the trust took over the management o

the site and has since raised nearly 2 million to

invest in improvements.

Warley Woods dates back to the 1500s, but itslandscape was designed by the acclaimed 18thcentury landscape architect Humphry Repton andis listed on English Heritages Register of historic

parks and gardens. The site consists o a meadow,large woodlands and a public gol course.

Although Warley Woods was run by BirminghamCity Council, it is located within the borougho Sandwell. Because o this, Warley WoodsCommunity Trust, in conjunction with SandwellCouncil, applied or and was awarded 757,000rom the urban parks programme o the HeritageLottery Fund (HLF) in 1999. This unded theresuracing o paths and drives, new boundary

railings, a woodland management plan, and anarchaeological investigation.

Following the HLF grant award, Sandwell, inconjunction with the trust, started the legal processto take out a lease on the site. This took timebecause the park was covered by ve dierentcovenants. However, in 2004 the park was leasedto Sandwell or 99 years and subleased to WarleyWoods Community Trust or the same period.

The aims o the trust are the conservation o WarleyWoods, promotion and education o the historical,horticultural and archaeological importance o thehistoric site and the provision o recreational acilitiesor all sections o the local community. The trust runsa variety o events such as a Kickstar t boot campand works to involve as many people as possible.The trust is a company limited by guarantee and aregistered charity. It employs nine sta and has amembership o 800 people, many o whom volunteeron the site.

The volunteers include a councillor, a town planner,an architect, a business analyst, a chartered

surveyor, and a university researcher in communityplanning. The proessional skills o these volunteershave been very valuable. Viv Cole, trust manager,says: Without a proessional base, youd struggle.

The trust has been successul in raising money totackle the backlog o investment. Donors includethe Big Lottery, Groundwork UK, Smethwick townteam and the Charles Henry Foyle Trust. The moneyhelps to ensure that damage or vandalism is dealtwith quickly.

The day-to-day management costs or the park comerom: income rom the gol course (57 per cent); aservice level agreement with Sandwell Council (23per cent); various undraising activities (around 11per cent); and public donations and sponsorship (5per cent). Income is also generated rom the sale oWarley Woods Christmas cards and a contract withan ice cream seller.

Lessons learned

Have a clear vision o what you are aiming toachieve: the vision may gradually change as timegoes by, but without one it will be dicult to keeppeople working to the same objectives.

Volunteers with nancial, legal and environmentalskills can be vital to the projects success try toattract these sorts o people as well as those whoare oering practical support, such as helping tomaintain the space.

Those involved need to have an attitude odogged determination. Whether trustees, sta orvolunteers, they need to carry on supporting theproject in the ace o setbacks.

Keep up contact with ocers rom the council they have many skills and it is helpul to havesomeone you can call or advice.

www.warleywoods.org.uk

How a trust ensured long-term community management

o a historical woodland site

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and or some recreational activities. A goodexample is Stourport Forward, a company limited

by guarantee, which has attracted unding toregenerate Stourport canal basins and improvestreets and parks across Stourport.

Public open space and new

development

Public open spaces planned or newdevelopments can be considered or assettranser rom the outset as an alternative to localauthority adoption, or ownership by a private

management company. This can encouragepeople to get to know each other in newneighbourhoods and give residents a greater stakein the management o their local environment.

New developments can also bring opportunitiesor investment in public open space beyond thedevelopment itsel. Section 106 agreements oercontributions rom the developer negotiated by theplanning authority. These have provided a sourceo unding or many public space improvements

and in some cases or ongoing maintenance osites. The new community inrastructure levy,(which will largely replace section 106 agreementsin time), may provide a potential source ounding or public open spaces, providing thatlocal authorities include public spaces in theirlist o types o projects that can benet romthe levy.34 Community groups looking to takeover responsibility or public spaces will need todiscuss how to access planning contributionswith their local authority planning ocers. It willbecome increasingly important also to approachdevelopers o local sites to see what they canoer directly or include in their negotiations withlocal planners.

New Ash Green in Kent is home to 6,300residents who have owned, paid or and managedthe green space on their estate since it was builtin the late 60s and early 70s. The management isorganised in neighbourhoods by volunteers whoare members either o the individual ResidentsSocieties or the Village Associations Council o

Management. Maintenance is carried out by anexternal contractor and sometimes by residents.This arrangement has worked well and the publicspaces under their control are well looked ater.

The importance o investing in community developmentand inrastructure in new housing developments is a

key lesson in Learning from the Past, drawing romthe experience o building new towns which startedin the 1940s and relating them to current housingprogrammes such as eco towns.35

32 www.thewaterwaystrust.org.uk

33 www.waterways.org.uk

34 wwe.cabeurl.com/eu

35 www.dta.org.uk/activities/campaigns/communityanchors/learningromthepast

36 www.charity-commission.gov.uk

37 www.cabeurl.com/es

The new community

inrastructure levy is

a potential source ounding or public

open spaces

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4 The business case or transer

Once you have decided to consider an asset

transer, both the local authority and the

community group will need to develop abusiness case. The success o transers to

community groups can hinge on a well thought-

through business case. This should be divided

into our themes:

Setting out what you want what is the statuso the site and what is it that you want to achieverom the transer?

Governance and accountability what kindo organisation, people and skills are needed?

Finance where is the money coming romor improvements and ongoing maintenance,and or how long?

Communications who needs to be inormedabout what? What is the best way to get themessage across?

This section outlines the main things you need toconsider under each theme, and oers checklists

or local authorities and community groups.

Setting out what you want rom transer

The business case should clearly set out yourobjectives or doing an asset transer. Theseobjectives should ideally have been agreed andshared with stakeholders.

Setting out what you want checklist or

local authorities

Check whether the land that you plan totranser is entirely owned by the local authority,or i it has been gited or held in trust. I it isowned by a charitable trust, transerring it to a

community group will be subject to the charity lawramework.36 Investigate what legal constraintsand planning obligations exist on the site, and theimplications or any prospective transer.Agree a long-term clear vision statement orthe site with local community groups. Yourvision statement will set out your broad aimsrom the transer and what you want to seehappening to the site in uture. This will help toensure that everyone is working to the sameobjectives rom the start.

Ensure that there is broad political and stacommitment to the transer o the open space tothe community, through consultation.Oer community groups inormation and adviceabout the design, management and use o thesite to help their business planning.Ensure that you have the capacity and thetechnical skil ls to support a transer. You willalmost certainly need to oer some ongoingsupport and guidance to the communitygroup. They will almost certainly want advice onissues like open space management, horticulture,governance, legal and community development.It is possible that sta, as well as land, maybe transerred to the community organisation.Involve your human resources team and therelevant trade unions at an early stage andensure that the implications o the Transero Undertakings (Protection o Employment)Regulations 1981, or TUPE, which protectemployees terms and conditions when a businessis transerred rom one owner to another, havebeen considered.37

BayleyHallCaf,HydeParkManch

esterJaneSebire

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Case studyWarley Woods CommunityTrust, West Midlands

Case studyTorbay Coast and CountrysideTrust, Devon

Cockington Country Park, managed by thetrust includes a demonstration organic garden,

disabled-riendly childrens play area, lakes,

woodland, armland and a network o walking

and cycling paths

IanLloyd

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In 1999, Torbay Council established an independent

charitable trust to manage almost 500 hectares

o its land. Under this arrangement, the trust canaccess unding and support that the council cannot.

There was long history behind the move. In the 1930s,coastal land around Torbay, in Devon, came underpressure rom uncontrolled development. To preventurther damage, the council bought up large areaso coastal armland. By the 1990s this was managedby the Torbay countryside service, the councilscountryside management department.

In 1997 Torbay was preparing to become a unitary

authority and it reviewed all o the services it provided.It approached the National Trust to see i it would bewilling to take on some o its heritage assets, includingland. However, the move would have required a largecash dowry to und the cost o uture management.So the council decided to explore setting up its ownlocal trust to take on the management o its greenspaces instead.

Council research showed that an independenttrust could:

generate income through membership, sponsorship,and grants

generate more volunteer support remain dedicated to the conservation o Torbays

heritage develop partnerships and projects with other

organisations improve standards o care and maintenance saeguard greeneld sites against development.

So in 1998 the council ormed a trust, and itscountryside service team transerred to a neworganisation, the Torbay Coast and Countryside Trust.The trust took on the ownership o 486 hectares oland under a 60-year lease. The council subsequentlyleased more land to the trust, which now manages708 hectares.

The council is the trusts main landlord and the termso the lease to the trust are a signicant eature o therelationship between the two. In addition to the lease,a management agreement was created. This setsout more details o the relationship between the two

organisations. It provides or: one Torbay councillor to be a trustee council ocers to attend trust meetings quarterly meetings o the trust liaison group,

involving two councillors and two trustees

the trust to present its business plan each yearto the council

the trust to work to management plans or its sites the trust to provide a programme o eventsand activities

the council to pay the trust a managementee each year.

Since the trust was set up, 22 per cent o its annualrevenue income has come rom the managementee paid by the council, the balance coming rom arange o sources including rents, grants, membershipsubscriptions, undraising appeals and trading income.The trust has raised 6.2 million over 10 years or

various capital and revenue projects rom grants,legacies and charitable trusts. Events, too, are a goodsource o income the trust earns money rom eventssuch as Cockington Apple Day and the OccombeBeer Festival.

Dominic Acland, the trusts director, says: Theormation o the trust was the key to unleashing thereal potential o Torbay Councils countryside assets.Charitable status has helped us motivate and enthuselocal communities, so we have seen volunteering

increase at least our-old, and our undraising ability hasbeen massively boosted. Partnerships with the private,voluntary and public sectors have been easier to ormand our decision-making processes are leaner and moreocused. We have gained independence whilst retainingclose and supportive links with Torbay Council.

Lessons learned

Securing a three-year service level agreement romthe council helped to establish security or the trust

Having a senior councillor on the board o trusteescan help create a close working relationship with thelocal authority.

Being independent rom the council is important -it can be easier to work with the local communityi you are separate organisation.

When negotiating who will sit on the board o thenew trust avoid allocating seats to organisations andthen allowing them to nominate someone to take onthe role. The people who sit on the board shouldhave the skills you need.Events and legacies are a good source o

income or charitable trusts.

www.countryside-trust.org.uk

www.torbay.gov.uk

How establishing charitable trust saeguarded the

councils green spaces

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Setting out what you want checklist or

community groups

Ensure that you have a clear vision statementsetting out what you want to see happen tothe site in uture. This will ensure that everyoneunderstands the aims o the transer rom the start.

Talk to people to establish the levels o supportor transer: setting this out will strengthenyour business case.

Consider how to involve, inorm and consult thepeople who live and work around the site on anongoing basis, so that you stay in touch with theiraspirations as the project evolves.

Consider and promote the dierent opportunitiesthat the transer can oer to new and marginalisedgroups o people to become involved.

Support and develop options or income-generating activity. Conduct market researchto nd out i the proposed methods o incomegeneration are realistic.

Be aware o any liabilities on the site or historicallegal requirements.

You will need the help o lawyers or otherproessionals to help draw up lease agreements;

ensure that you have access to legal proessionalsand other advisors, and sucient money to payor this. A suite o legal tools covering all aspectso transer are available at www.atu.org.uk

You may need to draw up management plans orthe site. The complexity o these will depend onthe size o the site and the number and variety oacilities and events that may take place. Once inplace, the plans will need regular review.

Governance and accountability

Good governance is undamental to the success oany asset transer. The way that you manage sta ,money, assets and resources will depend on the sizeand complexity o the space itsel, its ownership,who uses it, who else has an interest in it, and so on.

Governance structures

The governance structure should be devised tomeet the needs o the project. Community groupswill need to consider what sort o legal status theirorganisation should have and this will depend on

what they want to achieve. A simple constitutionmight be right or a small community groupoverseeing an interim use or a small space and couldgive it the independence to undraise and involvelocal people in inormal ways. More complex projectsare likely to need more ormal structures. Optionsor your structure include a community interestcompany (CIC), an industrial and provident society(IPS), a charitable trust or a company. You maywant to consider incorporation to protect membersrom personal liability. This could also increase the

condence o partners and unders.38

Quality assurance tools and standards candemonstrate that an organisation is t or purposeor asset transer. These include CommunityMatters Visible standard39, the Development TrustsAssociations Healthcheck40 and the CharitiesEvaluation Services Practical quality assurancesystem for small organisations (PQASSO).41

T

heBoxMoorTrust

38 For more inormat ion on structures see, To have and to hold, Development

Trusts Association, 200539 www.communitymatters.org.uk/projects/visible-communities

40 www.dta.org.uk/activities/programmes/healthcheck

41 www.cabeurl.com/e

42 www.adventurecapitalund.org.uk

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Accountability

Open spaces play a central role in the lie o localcommunities, providing a hub or civic lie andeatures that attract newcomers to an area, whichcan in turn help stimulate the local economy.Because o this, the people who use or value theplace should be able to hold the people that runthe space accountable, and get involved with whatthey do. This is as important or woodlands andcountry parks as it is or busy urban parks. Eveni a community organisation is managing a smallspace serving the needs o a particular part othe community, such as an allotment on a housing

estate, it should not exclude use by any part othe community.

To ensure accountability, the adventure capital undsuggests the ollowing approach42:

Governing boards should wherever possibleinclude community connectors people withwide and deep links with the community.

I the group is membership-based it should beproactive in eorts to increase the number o

members. Elections should be held at regular intervals and

a proportion o the elected members shouldstand down each year. This should be supportedby proactive recruitment rom the localneighbourhood, especially trying to encouragepeople rom hard-to-reach communities to ensurebroad participation.

Organisations should engage with people inthe broadest way, and by using a variety otechniques, including social and communityevents, newsletters, and digital surveys/media.

Community groups should work with a widerange o partners. This will help to create robustinormation and reduce any over-reliance on thelocal authority.The compilation o social impact accounts asrecords o achievements, as and when required bythe asset owner. This ought not to be onerous orunmanageable in the absence o permanent sta.

Insurance

A community group taking on responsibil ity or aspace will need to consider insurance i the councilremains the landowner. Public liability insuranceis needed to cover members o the public using

StNeotDoors

tepGreen,Liskeard,CornwallNaturalEnglan

d/

DoorstepGreens/NickTurnerPhotography

People who use a

space should be

able to hold the

people that run the

space accountable

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Case studyHeeley Millennium Park,Sheield

Festivals and community events raise

awareness o the park and encourage the

community to get involved

HeeleyDevelopmentTrust

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The Millennium park is a antastic asset or thecommunity which the trust is very proud o. But in

isolation, with its ununded ongoing maintenancerequirements and zero valuation in accountingterms, it could be seen as a liability or theorganisation, he says.

The trust is working to develop other assets withthe aim o using these to secure regular long-termincome, all o which should help saeguard theparks uture.

Lessons learned

When designing a green space, consider whatmaintenance it will require. When the trust tookover the park it was a green desert. Now thepark now has a variety o dierent spaces andacilities which makes it more valuable to the localcommunity, but does cost more to maintain.

Securing ongoing contracts helps with cashfow.One o the reasons that the social enterprise setup by the trust to bid or landscape work did notsurvive was that most o the contracts it won were

time limited, rather than ongoing.

Buildings on land can generate an income to helppay or the maintenance o the land. However, it islikely that no single method o raising income willbe enough to cover maintenance costs.

Because most public spaces are protected andcannot be sold or developed, they are otenconsidered to have no nancial value whichis why Millennium Park is not listed on thedevelopment trusts balance sheet as an asset.This can deter potential investors, who are waryo spending money on an asset that is consideredto have zero value. For more inormation aboutthis problem, and how to overcome it, see Makingthe invisible visible: the real value of park assets,CABE, 2009.

www.heeleydevtrust.com

Heeley Millennium Park, a our-hectare greenspace in south Sheeld, was created ollowing

a campaign by local residents. It is owned andmaintained on behal o the community by HeeleyDevelopment Trust.

The area that is now the park had once beenhousing, but this was demolished and the spacelet derelict. In 1997, Heeley DevelopmentTrust was given a 125-year lease on the landby Sheeld City Council. Initial unding orcreating the park was rom a variety o sources,including the single regeneration budget, theEuropean regional development und, and English

Partnerships. Now, as well as open green space,the park includes native woodland, childrensplay acilities and Sheelds rst articialclimbing boulder.

Heeley Development Trust has strong links withthe community and tries to ensure that localpeople are employed in its schemes wherepossible. But nding unding to pay or the day-to-day maintenance o the park has always beendicult and, rom time to time, there have been

crises.

Ater the initial grants or the park ran out, thedevelopment trust set up a social enterprisecompany, White Horse Green People, with theidea that its employees would maintain the parkwhile also bidding or other local landscapecontracts to cover its costs. However, ater it wasunable to secure contracts with a big enoughprot margin to support the maintenance teamat Millennium Park, and with the constructionindustry in a slump, the project ailed.

In March 2010 the trust was awarded 450,000o Big Lottery community spaces fagshipunding or the park. Most o this will be spent onimproving and extending existing acilities. Thechallenge remains to secure unding or ongoingmaintenance.

Once the lottery money has been spent, thetrust will have invested more than 1 million inthe park. However, because o the way in which

green spaces are traditionally valued, the parkdoes not appear as an asset on the trusts balancesheet. In act, according to Simon Bartles, nancemanager, the park could be seen as a liability.

How a community is overcoming the long-term

challenges o running a public space

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the site. Employers liability insurance will beneeded i the group has paid sta. Insurance is

needed or events on site, tools, machinery andoce equipment such as computers. I a communitygroup employs an organisation to run an eventor training on a site, that group should have theirown liability insurance.

Where the council remains the landowner,volunteers who are not employed or supervised bycouncil sta will also need their own insurance. Ia member o the public is injured because o theactivity o the volunteer, then the councils insurancewill not pick up the volunteers liability and

the individual volunteer could be liable. I the councilsupervises or manages the activity o the volunteerthen they will be covered under the councilsinsurance but the volunteer must make sure thatthere is a written agreement between the parties.

Skills

Community groups wil l need to have access tothe specic skills necessary to manage a publicspace, within the group, through a partnership

or by buying particular services. They will needgreen space skills like horticulture, ecology,landscape design and management, as well asmanagement skills like community development,undraising, communications, event management,budgetary control, personnel management,contract management and partnership working. Itis particularly important that there is at least oneperson on a board o trustees with experience oopen space management. Some organisations,such as Groundwork, run horticultural trainingschemes or the long-term unemployed and theremay be opportunities to link with programmes likethis, or set up similar schemes to develop the skillso local people on site.

StNeotDoorstepGreen,Liskeard,CornwallNaturalEngland/DoorstepGreens/Nick

TurnerPhotography

Community groups will

need to have accessto the speciic skills

needed to manage a

public space

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Governance and accountability checklist or

local authorities

Establish whether community/voluntaryorganisations already exist with the knowledge,experience and trust o the community thatcould support or even take on the transer.Find out who in your organisation has the skillsand capacity to advise community groups ongood governance. I no one is available, youcan get advice rom local voluntary servicesor rom a range o national community asset-related networks (see resources section onpage 38).

Ensure that you have set up ormal reviewstructures and agreed joint undertakingswith the community group to ensure theobjectives in the business plan are beingdelivered. You should agree operational andmanagement expectations or managementand maintenance.

I appropriate, ensure that there is localauthority liaison with the board o thegroup to oer a strategic overview, andor accountability to the wider community

and public unding.

Governance and accountability checklist or

community groups

I you are already an established group,decide whether your existing governance andaccountability structures are t or the prospectivetranser.Have an idea o how long you intend theproject to last. Is it interim, short term, or longterm? Decide whether a phased approach toownership could allow capacity to develop tohelp long-term success. Consider whether thegovernance structure, required skills and legalobligations (such as insurance), will change over

dierent phases o the project, such as whendoing any capital improvements, and when doingongoing maintenance.

Ensure that the governing board is representativeo the local community and/or accountable tothem, through groups and individuals.

Consider who will be on the board and whetherthey are appointed or a set period. Decisionsabout the numbers o trustees/directors, and theirlength o service, can be made in the constitutionor memorandum and articles. Knowing the length/

depth o commitment required o communityrepresentatives oten helps to identiyinterested people.

Consider how the wider community couldcontribute to the governance o yourorganisation. This could be through user groups,community orums, or as potential trustees,volunteers, consultees, participants, users, criticalriends and communicators.

Find out whether the public open space had beendesigned to meet specic needs, such as theneeds o minority ethnic groups, older people ordisabled people. Find out whether inormation hasbeen gathered on the impact o the transer onequalities. Work out what should be done toaddress this and make the space more attractiveto a wider range o people.Consider signing up to the code o conductgoverning working relationships between thepublic and voluntary and community sectors43.

Finance

Transerring public space to community groupshas the potential to bring in new sources o grantincome unavailable to local authorities. While thismight seem an attractive prospect, undraisingand income generation is time-consuming andchallenging and requires both knowledge andskills.

A local authority or public body that is going totranser a public open space to a community groupmay need to support it in the initial stages to helpthem gain access to unds, as well as providingongoing advice.

The local authority should consider undingthe community group to enable them to leverin match unding or the costs o maintainingthe site. Experience shows that it is easier

to raise money or capital projects, such asbuilding a new playground or acility, than orday-to-day maintenance. A community groupconsidering taking on an asset transer should43 www.thecompact.org.uk/homepage/100016/home/

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CheshireWestandChesterCo

uncil

Case studyTarvin Community WoodlandTrust, Cheshire

Securing a long term lease or the site

gives conidence to unders and is an

important step or the trust

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When a road bypass was built around the Cheshire

village o Tarvin, an area o land planted with trees

was included between the road and the villageto screen the trafc and integrate the road into

the surrounding landscape. Following a local

campaign, and negotiations with the Highways

Agency, this land is now managed by a community

trust as amenity woodland or local people.

The bypass, a new section o the A51 trunk road, wasbuilt in the mid-1980s. The adjacent land, designedto hide the road, was approximately 1km long and vehectares in area. A local parish councillor, Jim Grogan,recognised the potential o the site: it could be used

as an amenity area and still provide a trac barrier. In1993 he began to campaign to secure the area as agreen space by negotiating with the Highways Agencyor the land to be used as community woodland.

In 1997, this was achieved and Tarvin Parish Councilagreed to become the licence holder to use the land.A licence was signed agreeing terms or its use.Richard Stephenson, regional environmental advisorat the Highways Agency says: we are proud o ourrelationship with the local community; the woodland

provides a much loved place or local people and inreturn we share the maintenance costs.

The council set up the Tarvin Community WoodlandGroup, which consisted o ve people, two o whomhad to be parish councillors. The group had to be selunding and not nancially reliant on the council.

The ollowing year a grant rom Cheshire Rural Actionunded access gates and a ootpath or the site. TheHighways Agency contributed design advice andplanting. On Remembrance Sunday villagers plantedan avenue o 25 English oaks to commemorate themembers o the armed orces named on the villagewar memorial. Commemorative tree planting o Englishoaks has continued over the succeeding plantingseasons.

The group realised that the short-term licence they hadto use the land was o-putting to potential unders andthat a long-term lease was necessary. In partnershipwith the council it began negotiations or the lease anddecided to set up a trust to take on the lease, should it

be granted.

Tarvin Community Woodland Trust was created in2008. In 2009 the trust took over ormal responsibility

or the management o the site by signing a 125-yearlease, or a peppercorn rent, with Cheshire Westand Chester Council, which was by then the relevantauthority.

Jim Grogan, chairman o the trust, says: The 125-year lease reassures unders that the trust has long-term control o the site. Security o tenure is a vitalingredient to securing uture unding.

The anticipated annual cost o maintaining thewoodland is 2,500. The trust receives 1,000 a

year rom the parish council. In addition it raises2,000 rom local events and plant sales. Additionalunding is raised through grants and donations romvillagers. The trustees are condent that they canobtain sucient unds to meet long-term managementcosts. Projects that will incur high maintenance costsare avoided. The key thing is not to be too ambitious.Otherwise, when grants dry up, things will all intodisrepair, says Jim Grogan. The site has won a GreenPennant Award and this has helped give the trustswork credibility.

Lessons learned

Involvement o the whole community is essentialto create a sense o ownership, something theycan be proud to be a part o. Their voluntary workand donations towards the scheme ensure thatvandalism and damage are less likely.

A community group will struggle to attract undingor a space it manages without a long-term leaseover the site.

Dont be too ambitious in your plans. Try not tointroduce things that will require expensive long-term maintenance that might be dicult to und.Better to have something simple that you can lookater, rather than something complicated that allsinto disrepair.

Awards, such as the Green Pennant Award orcommunity run green spaces, are worth entering.The criteria required to achieve this award givescredibility to the community group and its ability torun the space properly. This helps reassure potentialunders.

www.tarvincommunitywoodland.org

www.highways.gov.uk

How a landscape traic barrier was transormed into

community woodland

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Approaches more common abroad include taxationinitiatives, where parks are unded by local tax

levies, and commercial nance. In the USA somelocal authorities have issued bonds to pay or publicopen space, which are repaid over many years.

Finally, volunteer involvement in itsel is a source oincome. Volunteers working or community groupscontribute time and expertise to managing openspaces, and this can be used as match unding.

The business case must set out how the managementand maintenance o the transerred open space willbe paid or. An accurate record o running costs,

and a prediction o uture costs, provides a baselineor business planning. Local authorities should beprepared to share their data with community groups inorder or them to prepare realistic plans. Any nancialproposals should also take account o the act thatlocal authorities do not pay VAT, but the organisationtaking on the management and /or ownership o theasset may well need to.

The fnancial value o the public open space

Spaces are oten transerred to community groupsor a symbolic value, such as a peppercorn rent.But any group taking on a public space asset musttake account o the inrastructure, such as paving,railings, ences, benches and trees. Knowing theirvalue, or replacement costs, will help establish arealistic estimate o the uture maintenance costsand it may also be useul when negotiating withinvestors.

Taking a whole-lie costing approach will provideinormation on the maintenance and replacementcosts over the lietime o the lease or ownershiparrangement. This approach is usually applied tobuildings. The whole-lie value o green spacesraises a range o new issues. Dierent elementswithin a green space, such as paths, trees, fowersand shrubs, will have dierent maintenancerequirements and liecycles. Some assets, liketrees, will appreciate over time. Flowers and shrubswill have ar shorter liecycles. The initial cost o aspecic element will not correlate with the level omaintenance required over its whole lie. In some

cases it will be prudent to invest in quality up rontto save money in the long term. When valuing publicspace it is not appropriate to include the landvalue because it is overwhelmingly infuenced

explore the potential o securing a lump-sumdowry rom the local authority at the time they take

over the site, or having a service level agreementwith them to pay or maintaining the site in theearly years.

Endowments are another option. Here money, orassets, are allocated to the trust runningthe public open space and the income generatedis used to und maintenance. Endowments canund public open spaces in perpetuity. The publicopen spaces in the city o Milton Keynes, whichare managed by an independent trust, provide agood example o this.44 Local authorities can und

endowments through the planning system, raisingmoney through planning gain, when negotiatingnew developments. The amount o money orassets required to und the maintenance o apublic open space in perpetuity is extremelylarge, which is why endowment unding as a solesource o income is rare.

One o the benets o transerring public assets isto acilitate greater community enterprise. Income-generating activities which can help maintain

open spaces could include sponsorship, ca andrestaurant concessions, or rental or sportsacilities. Coin Street Community Builders is adevelopment trust and social enterprise basedon the South Bank in London. The creation andmaintenance o the Bernie Spain Gardens and theSouth Bank riverside walkway has been undedby the income rom the development o new socialhousing, shops, restaurants and studios under theownership and management o Coin Street.45

Community shares can und public open spaceby raising money rom local people to investin local service provision with which they areactively involved.46 This suits an organisationstarting out, in that it raises instantly accessiblecapital not tied to outputs usually speciedin grant aid, although does rely on the assethaving the potential to generate prot. Financialreturns or investors are available only once aprot is made. The process o oering sharescan increase the prole o the organisation,attracting more local support which helps it

to be more resilient. The Tutbury Ecopowerproject in Staordshire is a community-led minihydroelectric project that will use prots to investin local green spaces.47

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Finance checklist or local authorities

Establish, and make available, the historic andpotential uture costs o the site and its individualcomponents.

Funding or the short term (the rst three to veyears) may need to be paid as a lump sum at thestart o the project to enable the community to usethe money to raise other unds.

Consider whether community groups that take onspaces could be oered a unded service levelagreement to cover basic maintenance.

When negotiating planning gain, consider using

the money generated to und endowments orcommunity-run spaces.

I there is building on or near the space thatcould generate income or the maintenance andmanagement o the site, consider whether it couldbe transerred with the open space.

It might be benecial to oer knowledge and skillsrom your sta to work with the community groupto support income-generating activities.

Finance checklist or community groups

Try to negotiate unding rom the local authorityto contribute to the cost o maintaining the siteor an initial lump sum to either invest or use asmatch unding or grants. Valuing volunteer time orsweat equity can also be used as match unding.

Investigate opportunities or alliances orpartnership agreements with other organisationswho may have an interest in the site.

Explore all income-generation opportunities thatthe site can oer making sure that any commercialactivities do not aect the accessibility o thespace to the wider community.

Check whether your group has the entrepreneurialskills to set up a community enterprise (not-or-private-prot) business by conducting a skillsanalysis/audit o potential board members andvolunteers. Research whether there is a market orwhat you intend the enterprise to do.

by its planning status: land that can be developedis ar more valuable than identical land thatcannot.48

CABEs guide, Making the invisible visible,questions the application o traditionalaccounting methods to parks and green spaces.The historic cost accounting approach is basedon the value o the asset at the time it wasacquired and current value accounting is basedon what it would cost to replace the asset witha similar asset in a similar condition. When itcomes to valuing parks, instead o buildings,both approaches have drawbacks. Making theinvisible visible proposes a new rameworkor measuring the value o parks and green

spaces. This ramework enables the methodicalassessment o the quantity and condition oassets within spaces, planning over long-termperiods and anticipation o expenditure.

Dukes Meadows Trust has a lease rom the

London Borough o Hounslow to manage the

water play area, unded through rental income

rom adjacent artists studios and a cae kiosk

DukesMeadowsTrust

44 www.theparkstrust.com

45 www.coinstreet.org

46 www.communityshares.org.uk

47 www.tutburyecopower.co.uk

48 Making the invisible visible: the real value of park assets, CABE, 2009

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Case studyNene Park Trust,Cambridgeshire

Nene Park oers a wide range o activitie s

and is well used by the whole community.

The park is entirely sel-unding rom income-

generating activities

NeneParkTrust

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Nene Park in Cambridgeshire began as an idea in

the 1960s vision or the expansion o Peterborough

as a new town. In the 1980s, Nene Park Trust,a charity, was created to manage and protect

the park orever.

Nene Park, which runs or 10km along the valley othe River Nene, was conceived by the PeterboroughDevelopment Corporation, Peterborough City Counciland Cambridgeshire County Council. The park, whichopened in 1978, was designed as an accessiblenetwork o spaces and waterways, and a gatewayto the countryside or the people o Peterborough.Today it includes a range o landscapes and acilities

including gol courses, horse riding, hotels, pubs,caes, a garden centre, armland and a sculpture park.The trust has programmes to ensure that the parkis accessible to all users, including the sailabilityscheme which gives hundreds o park users withlimited mobility the opportunity to sail on the lake,and the Peterborough adapted cycle scheme, whichenables park users to become procient in the use ohand cycles (powered by arms rather than legs) andhire them to explore routes around the park.

In the 1980s the Peterborough DevelopmentCorporation was at the end o its li e, havingestablished the new town, and a decision had to bemade about the uture ownership and management oNene Park. It was decided that the best way to securethe parks uture would be to set up an independenttrust. This would protect the park rom changes in localand national government policy and, i independentlyunded, would protect it rom the uncertainties opublic unding. So, in 1988, Nene Park Trust was setup. Peterborough Council gave it a 999-year leaseon the 660-hectare site and it was endowed withcommercial property and other assets that wouldgenerate an income.

Today, the trust spends more than 1.5 milliona year looking ater the park. This is entirely sel-unded. Around 100,000 is generated by the trustrom commercial activities such as car parking andevents; around 600,000 is income rom leases andlicences to caes, pubs and hotels on the land; andaround 800,000 comes rom the endowment andinvestments. Because the trust has had a secure

income it has been able to employ all the sta it needsand or many years did not really see any reason toattract volunteers. This, however, is likely to change:the trust recognises that having volunteers is not about

saving money: it is a way o getting local people moreactively engaged with its work. James McCulloch,

chie executive o the trust, says: Its not enough tosit here and hope people come. Youve got to getout and speak to them.

Nene Park Trust is a company limited by guaranteeand a registered charity. The trust works closelywith more than 25 organisations and businessesthat manage land or acilities in the park. Its work isoverseen by its board o trustees, which was set up toinclude representatives o local, national and regionalorganisations. The trust is reviewing its governancestructures to ensure they are t or the next 10 years.

Oten, its the individual people who are important,not so much who they are appointed by, says JamesMcCulloch.

Lessons learned

When setting up a trust to manage public space itis vital that the long-term calculations or the costo managing the space are accurate. Getting thisright and ensuring that long term inrastructurereplacement is accounted or minimises any uture

nancial burden

The nancial endowment gives the trustindependence. However, it is important to maintaincontact with a wide range o stakeholders, partners,and community groups: without their support , workcan be more challenging.

It is important to get the right range o skills on theboard o trustees and to review the composition othe board as the organisation and its work changesand develops.

Compared with a local authority, which has to dealwith a range o issues, a trust benets rom beingable to ocus solely on public space management.

www.neneparktrust.org.uk

How an independent trust was established or public

space with its own income

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Dierent

communication

strategies will beneeded at dierent

stages o an asset

transer project

Communications

The success o an asset transer oten comes downto the quality o its communications. They governwhether relationships are positive or not; whethera representative cross-section o local peopleis involved; and whether undraising activity issuccessul.

Regular and purposeul communication starts withputting time aside to prepare an infuencing plan. Thisis a good way to ocus and prioritise; clariy what itis you are trying to change and plan ahead and beproactive. Dierent communication strategies will

be needed at dierent stages o an asset transerproject. Initially communication is likely to be aboutraising awareness and getting wider support andinterest in a project. Once a transer has progressed,the ocus may move to reaching out to the communityto encourage volunteer support or talking to specicgroups about providing activities on the site.

The local authority will want to ensure that everydepartment involved in the transer is onside, romproperty services, asset management, planning

and regeneration to those currently responsible ormaintaining the site. I a shit in culture is required,this could involve senior ocers or members directlyaddressing their concerns such as how risks arebeing assessed and managed.

It is important to mobilise the support o organisationssuch as wildlie trusts, whose remits are relevant andwhose members will be keen to get involved, bringingknowledge and resources. A bigger challenge isreaching more deeply into the community.

So an integrated publicity campaign will need toinclude both broadcast and outreach. Broadcastmeans raising general awareness to maximise localsupport and involvement, using the media, leafetdrops and public meetings. It needs to ensure thatas many people as possible are included; nobodyshould be excluded because o the physical accessto the meeting place, or the timing o meetings, orlack o appropriate support (eg child care).

TrelogganCommunityProject,Treloggan,CornwallNaturalEngland/

DoorstepGreens/NickTurnerPhotography

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Outreach is, by contrast, small scale, buildingrelationships and establishing trusted networks.

The more personal the contact with volunteers,the more rewarding they will nd their involvement,and the more reliable and enthusiastic they will be.Liaison with specic groups about providing activitieson the site, such as education programmes, willbroaden and deepen the projects value to thelocal community.

Outreach will be the most eective way to appealto those whose voices are not oten heard. Theequalities impact assessment will have identiedthe dierent people in the community with which the

project needs to engage, or instance by workingthrough community centres and established voluntaryorganisations. In Birmingham, or example, CSVEnvironment49 and the Bangladeshi Womens GardenClub manage the Concrete to Coriander project,working with Asian women to bring neglectedgardens into productive or recreational use.

When there is a need to consult about specic issuesor improvements, options range rom participatoryworkshops, which bring people rom dierent

disciplines and backgrounds together to explore newpossibilities, to online consultations. The latter givethe people who know most about the site the chanceto comment. Whatever the method, be clear romthe outset what residents can and cant infuence,and tell people what has happened as a result o theconsultation and why.

Community groups should use their infuencingplan to identiy which media will be most helpul inreaching the wider community. One spokespersonshould be appointed to establish relationships withnewspapers and radio stations and be their rstpoint o contact. Publish your press releases andnews stories somewhere online so that there is apermanent location or inormation about the projector anyone who is interested.

49 www.csvenvironment.org.uk

50 www.parkview4u.org.uk

Be creative and tap into existing skills and enthusiasms.Fyldes Park View 4U group made a video about its

park or their website50

showing how people have beeninvolved in improving it. All publicity associated with theproject, rom the noticeboard on site to newsletters,needs branding which projects

community led spaces

Documents