We were delighted to welcome distinguished guests from organisations ranging from government departments to fellow charities to launch our report Harnessing Parks and Gardens in the 21st Century: How historic landscapes can support and enhance our today and tomorrow at Red Cross Garden in London.
The report emphasizes that:
- parks and gardens are at the heart of our communities and national story but are often taken for granted or undervalued;
- these historic designed landscapes have a key role in meeting the challenges of today, particularly around meeting the need for growth and housing whilst not sacrificing the health of communities;
- historic parks and gardens have a critical role to play in nature recovery and helping combat the effects of climate change, by providing established habitats and being highly effective for carbon capture and sequestration.
Contributors include Christopher Blandford OBE, Dr Paul Rabbitts, Dr Victoria Thomson, John Watkins, Jenifer White MBE and Imogen Wood.
At the launch Gardens Trust Chair John Watkins said that as a nation with gardens admired across the world, there is a need for “new initiatives and greater investment so that historic designed landscapes can be harnessed to fulfil their potential in addressing key challenges of our time.”
Trustee Chris Blandford OBE echoed this by speaking fondly of his involvement of the redesign and restoration of Red Cross Gardens in 2003, saying that the garden has “stood the test of time” where the “follow up management and maintenance of the Garden landscape and features has been exemplary.”
He went on to say “Red Cross Garden clearly demonstrates that historic parks and gardens play a crucial part in our environmental and social wellbeing as they always have done and they do need to be accessible to all.”
Author and passionate park champion Dr. Paul Rabbits also spoke about our rich heritage of public parks and his long involvement in helping to restore them. “We become fitter, healthier and better citizens as a result of having access to high quality parks and green spaces. We all acknowledge this and yet we still debate it…Our parks matter. They all matter.”
We were also joined by writer, historian and television presenter Advolly Richmond who spoke passionately about gardens throughout history being spaces “for retreat and spiritual healing” and that “gardens in any shape or form matter more today than ever.”
“Garden history is for everyone. It helps us to understand the value of these places and only when you understand this can you protect them for future generations.”
We seek your help to achieve our aims
The Gardens Trust champions the crucial role parks and gardens have in creating and supporting a happy, healthy and prosperous society and we need your help more than ever to help protect them for future generations.
You can help by supporting our aims of:
- celebrating that we are a nation of gardens and gardeners, recognised and admired across the world;
- better recognition and protection for our historic legacy of parks and gardens, by improving control and consents and aligning their treatment with other heritage assets;
- increased awareness that thousands of high-quality parks, gardens and other designed landscapes already exist and require skilled maintenance and management;
- investment in the conservation and care of historic green spaces, so that they can continue to support communities for generations to come;
- improving the quantity and quality of expertise available to local planning authorities in historic designed landscapes, through improved training of conservation officers, planning teams and better-connected external advice;
- new guidance and investment to ensure that historic designed landscapes can be harnessed to fulfil their potential in addressing key challenges of our time such as communities’ health and wellbeing, social cohesion, climate change and nature recovery;
- a more holistic and joined-up role for the Gardens Trust, stretching beyond our work commenting on planning applications, enabling our expertise to fully support positive development, economic growth and conserving our green heritage for future generations.
