Why do we need a parks fund?

In Scotland, we make 162million visits to our parks and greenspaces every year. Greenspaces are our natural health service, our children’s outdoor classrooms and our towns’ and cities’ green lungs. They bring benefits for our communities, health and wellbeing, children and young people, education, economy and the environment.

Parks make our lives better. They are a much loved and greatly valued free resource for many people to enjoy. However, parks are often not protected, and many are under financial and development pressure. Most parks are managed by local councils, but in these times of austerity, they have to make difficult decisions about where their resources go. Unfortunately, this means that the money allocated to parks has been reduced and, in recent years, we’ve seen the quality of our treasured greenspaces decline significantly.

Parks4Life is an opportunity for us all to take action to protect our parks for today and the future.