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Parks and Open Spaces Strategy engagement

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Have your say on a new Parks and Open Spaces Strategy for Barnet which will help us protect, maintain and improve our valuable parks and open spaces.


Overview

Barnet has a great collection of parks and open spaces, and these are an important part of the borough. Our greenspaces provide a range of benefits for residents, visitors and for those that work in the borough.

We have been working hard to improve the quality and provision of Barnet’s parks since we launched our last Parks and Open Spaces Strategy 2016, and our parks are becoming increasingly popular with local


Have your say on a new Parks and Open Spaces Strategy for Barnet which will help us protect, maintain and improve our valuable parks and open spaces.


Overview

Barnet has a great collection of parks and open spaces, and these are an important part of the borough. Our greenspaces provide a range of benefits for residents, visitors and for those that work in the borough.

We have been working hard to improve the quality and provision of Barnet’s parks since we launched our last Parks and Open Spaces Strategy 2016, and our parks are becoming increasingly popular with local people and community groups, many of who play an important role in shaping improvements and investments to their local parks.

A future challenge is to protect, maintain and improve these valuable assets to ensure they meet the current and future needs of our residents, whilst also delivering on some of the council's wider aspirations such as ensuring our biodiversity can respond to climate change.

We have appointed Community First Partnership Ltd (CFP) to help us meet this challenge and support the development of a new Parks and Open Spaces Strategy for Barnet.


What are we seeking your views on?

We also need your help to shape our new Parks and Open Spaces Strategy. The strategy will aim to create a connection and commitment to care for our planet, to work collaboratively with residents and stakeholders, and to make best use of resources whilst identifying opportunities to improve the quality of our parks for everyone to enjoy.


Your views are important to us

Thank you for all your participation so far. We have had a great response to both the residents' questionnaire and the Friends of Parks' Groups questionnaire. Results of these questionnaires will be published in July 2024 on this webpage.

If you missed either questionnaire but would like to provide your feedback on Barnet's Parks and Open Spaces, please get in contact via the email address provided below.

We are also arranging a series of face-to-face workshops with council officers, councillors, community groups, including Friends of Parks, and other key stakeholders to gather their views.

We are also keen to hear from children and young people too

If you are 18 or under, we want your help to shape our new Parks and Open Spaces Strategy. The strategy will aim to create a connection and commitment to care for our planet, to work collaboratively with residents and stakeholders, and to make best use of resources whilst identifying opportunities to improve the quality of our parks for everyone to enjoy.


How can you give us your views?

  • If you are a young person aged 18 or under, who lives, studies, visits or works in the borough, please give us your views by completing CFP's online questionnaire

Please ensure you get parental permission or your carers permission before completing the questionnaire.

You will also have the opportunity to be entered into a prize draw for a £20 voucher for Love to Shop at the end of the questionnaire. For further information on the prize draw please read our terms and conditions.

To request a questionnaire in an alternative format, please email parks@barnet.gov.uk or telephone 020 8359 7404.

Alternatively, you can write to us at: parks@barnet.gov.uk or Greenspaces, London Borough of Barnet, 2 Bristol Avenue, Colindale, London, NW9 4EW.


What happens next?

We will use the consultation findings, along with other engagement findings we are conducting with council officers, councillors, and other key groups to inform our draft strategy.

We will publish the results of the consultation and how we are acting on the results of the consultation on this web page in July 2024.

This engagement has now closed.

  • We asked, you said, we did

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    We asked

    We asked people who live and work in the borough what they thought about the parks and open spaces across Barnet, how you use them and any barriers to use, how they could be improved and for any priority actions.

    You said

    We received 772 responses to the Residents Survey and 142 responses to the Children and Young Persons Survey. We also spoke to 70 parents, children and young people at drop-in sessions at Children’s Centres.

    You told us that:

    • you value parks and open spaces for the range of activities that they support: for providing fresh air and as a place to relax, for walking and jogging, as places to connect with nature and as social spaces
    • parks and open spaces are also valued for environmental benefits that they provide, cleaning the air, providing shade and cooling, and flood alleviation and that actions to address climate change are important
    • over 9 out of 10 residents, including children and young people agree that parks and open spaces help improve mental and physical wellbeing
    • six out of 10 residents are satisfied or very satisfied with the condition of parks and open spaces across Barnet
    • events and activities in parks and open spaces are valued by residents and children and young people and seen as a good way of bringing people together and celebrating arts and culture
    • two thirds of Barnet’s residents, including children and young people would like to see future investment in more activities that help to promote healthy and active lifestyles
    • it was important that we looked at how we could improve standards of maintenance, providing a wider range of facilities and encouraging more responsible dog ownership. Children and young people particularly wanted to see a better range of facilities including skate and wheeled sports provision, balls courts, more social spaces and improved lighting
    • we could improve the information about parks and open spaces and promotion of events and ways to get involved
    • we could increase the range of ways that people can volunteer and help improve parks and open spaces.

    We did

    Your feedback has given us detailed quantitative and qualitative data about parks and open spaces across Barnet that will help in developing and prioritising actions that will be set out in a draft Parks and Open Spaces Strategy. We are currently working on this and there will be formal consultation on the draft Strategy in spring / summer 2025..