Urban Green Newcastle: what it’s been like to be a part of the Future Parks Accelerator programme
Urban Green Newcastle (UGN) has been fortunate to be part of the Future Parks Accelerator (FPA) since its inception in 2019. The organisation is subtly different to the other cohort members; we are an independent charity, responsible for the parks and allotments transferred out of local authority management. UGN was also set up as a direct outcome of the work carried out, over a number of years, by the National Trust (NT) with Newcastle City Council and funded by National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Despite being a forerunner to the FPA, there is no doubt that continuing to be part of the cohort, and participating in the shared learning, training and support, has been enormously valuable to UGN.
As a new charity, we have faced the challenges of establishing the organisation, identifying new ways of working, finding new funding streams, and demonstrating delivery, all from outside the established structures, systems and processes of the Local Authority. Not to mention the added challenge of an international pandemic from our second year of existence! While some of our needs and pressures may be different to the rest of the cohort, there is no doubt that we would have felt very exposed and isolated without being able to tap into the huge bank of knowledge and experience provided by the FPA programme. Regular sessions with our excellent FPA Account Manager, Helen Moir, have provided much-needed advice and encouragement, and she has been hugely influential in identifying opportunities for us to work together more closely, for example through Blossom Together, or the NE Community Forest (which is a new proposed partnership comprising of 6 North East Local Authorities, looking to create a new Community Forest in the North East of England. The submission will be determined in June 2021).
UGN staff have consistently said how much they have benefitted from, and valued the training and support available through the FPA. This has been of the highest quality, whether it has been delivered by FPA staff or external providers. Despite the events of the past year, the FPA programme was able to quickly find alternative ways of delivering this support virtually, which was hugely appreciated during such a difficult time.
In addition, the depth and breadth of expertise that exists within the National Trust and Heritage Fund has meant that UGN has been able to access specialist input on issues which would otherwise have been unaffordable to us as a new charity, or very difficult to source. While inevitably, the events of the past year have meant that we have not been able to pursue as much as we might otherwise have wanted, we are now working with our Account Manager to identify our priorities for the next 12 months, and are pulling together a programme to ensure we make best use of the excellent support available.
“The depth and breadth of expertise that exists within the National Trust and Heritage Fund has meant that UGN has been able to access specialist input on issues which would otherwise have been unaffordable to us as a new charity, or very difficult to source.”
UGN is enormously grateful to the FPA for enabling us to continue to be part of the cohort. There is no doubt that our involvement in the programme has had huge benefits for us as a new organisation, just finding our feet, and having such strong organisations behind us every step of the way has provided great reassurance and substantial benefits in so many ways – thank you!
