Mission and strategy

“Working together so that everyone in Scotland can access and enjoy quality greenspaces which meet their needs and improves quality of life”

We work with a wide range of national and local partners on the planning, development, sustainable management, use and evaluation of greenspaces, green networks and green infrastructure.

Our activities include: developing and sharing practice, research and knowledge management, policy and funding advocacy, partnership development and support, training and pioneer projects. We also provide bespoke consultancy, training and support to national, regional and local organisations – read more about 'Greenspaces and...' and Our services in the 'What we do' section.

Business plan

We have updated our Business Plan for the period to 2021 – you can view the logic model than underpins our strategy.

To achieve our goal, we have set five broad organisational objectives to:

• inspire and enable communities to make the most of their greenspace assets
• help public, private and third sector partners turn positive ambitions for greenspace into practical action
• pioneer new approaches to unlock the potential of greenspace to realise Scotland’s policy ambitions
• demonstrate the multiple benefits of greenspace and place it at the forefront of national and local priorities
• make greenspace scotland financially resilient and sustainable through a social enterprise model that can generate a financial reserve to re-invest in delivering our objectives

Our activities contribute to many of the Outcomes in the Scottish Government’s National Performance Framework and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Read our Business Plan 2018-2021

Our values

Our work is underpinned by the following operating values and principles:

• Ambition
  We are ambitious for what we, partners and communities can achieve through greenspace. We believe that greenspace is not an end in itself but a vehicle for delivering a wide range quality of life impacts. 
  
  
• Quality
  We aim to achieve the highest possible standards in all our activities, services and products. Our goal is about achieving quality greenspaces which are fit for purpose, meeting the needs and aspirations of local people – a community-focused approach to greenspace.
  
  
• Needs-driven
  Our actions are rooted in reality; responding to needs identified by communities and on-the-ground delivery partners. We believe in commissioning research and developing guidance for a purpose – to inform policy and improve practice. Our guidance is evidence-informed and draws on emerging best practice from Scotland, the UK and internationally.
  
  
• Learning
  We learn from everything that we do. Working in new and innovative ways means things don’t always work out as planned; how we and partners learn from this and apply that learning is important. We recognise that knowledge has little value unless it is disseminated. We value innovation but also believe it is important to support and consolidate existing practice that is tried-and-tested and delivers.
  
  
• Collaboration and partnership
  A range of organisations have a role to play in delivering greenspace; no one organisation has all of the skills, knowledge, capacity or influence. We believe that we can achieve more by working together.