Countryside Management Association News

A consultation on the future of Northamptonshire County Council’s country parks and open spaces has shown that the majority of people are in favour of public or not–for-profit voluntary sector management of the facilities.

The consultation took place in December in tandem with the council’s bid to find an external partner to take over the management of the services.

There was little support for the involvement of the private sector in country park provision, with concerns about commercialisation spoiling the primary purpose of country parks as attractive, public green spaces for peaceful countryside recreation and wildlife.

A very strong desire was expressed for the preservation and enhancement of traditional country park provision such as:

management of habitats for wildlife;
environmental education;
accessible sites for all sectors of society;
daily ranger staff presence.

The developments people wish to see in the parks are:

more environmental education;
improved toilets;
outdoor children’s play;
themed nature trails;
more park staff;
improved physical access (surfaced paths etc).

The purpose of the consultation was to identify which elements of the country parks and open spaces are most valued by the public and to assess the public’s views on the different potential partners the council could work with.

1391 people took part in the consultation.

Questionnaires were sent to holders of the county parks’ car parking season tickets, registered interested groups, pocket park groups and parish councils. They were sent to a random sample of 2000 people from the electoral role and 350 from the council’s People's Panel. In addition, questionnaires were distributed in country park visitor centres and libraries and were available online.

A full report on the findings is available at: www.northamptonshire.gov.uk/leisure/countryside

The County Council is now about to embark on a formal tender process to seek offers for the provision of the parks and open spaces to identified standards by an external organisation. The information gathered from this consultation will be used to define the standards and to help assess any proposals returned to ensure that service standards are maintained or improved.