Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole

A sustainable parks service for the 21st Century

Partners Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council and The Parks Foundation are creating a new green infrastructure strategy for the area, designed to improve development for people and nature.

About the project

A sustainable parks service for the 21st century, this partnership has an innovative approach to parks and open spaces. Three pilot parks have been selected across the urban area, with the intention to trial health initiatives and develop new ideas with the community. They hope this will ensure physical and management improvements to the green spaces, making them more relevant to the communities which live around them. The three parks are Watermans Park in Somerford, Winton Recreation Ground and Alexandra Park in Parkstone.

The project aims to

• Widen the charitable partnership to help bring more funds to parks across the area.

• Improve the systems they work with and celebrate volunteers who give their time to local parks.

• Trial different approaches to make parks the health and wellbeing centres of the future.

• Test a landscape scale approach to managing the green spaces along the Stour Valley corridor.

• Ensure green spaces offer opportunities for all ages and abilities.

They also hope to develop inspiring ways of improving the parks – such as re-wilding, upgrading or opening a café, improving access – ensuring the local community are engaged in the process.