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Neighbourhoods Green Conference

1st December 2003

The Neighbourhoods Green project was launched at the Neighbourhoods Green Conference held at Regents College on December 1 2003. The conference was organised by English Nature, Notting Hill Housing Group and Peabody Trust (in partnership with CABE Space).

The conference had two key aims:

• to raise the profile of green space policies and initiatives relevant to the social housing sector in London and those issues that affect the design, management and use of housing green spaces
• to promote the needs and values of green spaces within the sector and to a wider audience.

The conference was attended by more than 100 delegates from local authorities, statutory agencies and voluntary groups.

The conference was also used to raise the profile of the London Housing and Greenspace Network (LHGN). The purpose of this Network is to assist the social housing sector in working together to help document and share good practice and develop training and guidance for staff and residents. The group also aims to bring in new partners with proven expertise in planning, building and managing green and open spaces.

The Network is integrally linked to the London Parks & Green Spaces Forum, and will aim to further green spaces issues amongst the sector, and promote its needs and benefits to a wider audience. Yvette Cooper, Parliamentary Under Secretary and Minister for Parks and Green Spaces, addressed the Neighbourhoods Green Conference. She said: "As the Deputy Prime Minister said when he outlined his vision for sustainable communities, it's not just about bricks and mortar. If people don't like what they see when they open their front doors, they don't want to live there. Communities that work need to be well thought out and meet the needs of the local people. I hope to see this sector take on board the value of open green spaces and the part they can play in creating a better quality of life for communities across the country."

Why?

Research suggests that there is a strong correlation between economic deprivation and environmental deprivation. Poorer communities tend to live in more polluted, less green, locations. Apart from a few exceptions, the quality of open spaces within and around social housing estates has declined dramatically since their creation, to the effect that many are in a state of neglect, under-used, or have even become no-go areas. These are spaces which are on the doorstep of a significant number of people, and could provide them with some of the benefits of a quality park, including a connection with the natural world. However, accumulative disinvestment, the lack of statutory obligations, a haemorrhage of skills, and the competition for parking space are just some of the factors that have contributed to the decline in the quality and quantity of green spaces.

This mirrors a similar decline in public parks, and although recent Government initiatives have started to address these, there is concern that social housing spaces have yet to merit the attention they deserve. Registered Social Landlords are increasingly becoming regeneration agents, and will inevitably become further involved in the creation of new green spaces in housing developments, and concerned about their future use and care.

The creation of CABE Space in 2003 to champion open spaces, of all types, provides a welcome opportunity to ensure that the concerns of RSLs can be incorporated into future policy and funding initiatives.

The conference was seen primarily as an opportunity to raise the issue to a sector that has been largely overlooked by greenspace policy makers. It provided housing professionals with the contemporary policy context and opportunities being made available by Government and its agencies and partners. We hope, that this topic will stimulate seminars in the future to address more detailed issues of green space design, management, and usage.