Sarah Royal and her mission to get Birmingham to love its parks

Jul 2 2009 By Jo Ind

"They have gone a long way down the line with that process," says Sarah, "and they've developed a lot of knowledge along the way. We're looking at putting together a pack of what legal information you need, what forms you need to get and so on, so that if other sites are under threat, all that information is there."

Lack of funding is another perennial problem for "friends of" groups, so at every annual general meeting, the forum has speakers giving advice on new funding streams.

"We don't always have the specialised knowledge," says Sarah, "but we are in touch with organisations like the Wildlife Trust so we can point people to those who can answer their questions if we can't."

One of the most positive things the forum has done is getting the park keepers on board to encourage the 'friends of' groups to work with the Birmingham City Council employees.

"Our relationship with the city council has really changed. It's brilliant," says Sarah. "In the past, 'friends of' groups were seen as a thorn in the council's side. They were simply the people who complained.

"But as we've built up this forum, we've got more communication so the 'friends of' groups understand how the council works and the council sees how important the 'friends of' groups are.

"For example, we are able to explain the mowing regimes to the 'friends of' groups. We can say that patch of grass has not been mown because the park manager is waiting for the bulbs to die back. The group can be very quick to complain that something hasn't been mown. We're able to help them get a better understanding of where the council is coming from.

"The park manager is able to understand that the 'friends of' group really cares about the park and is bringing the community into it. Above all, the 'friends of' groups and the park managers have got to know each other and the whole community has taken as step forward as a result.

"Before it was an 'us and them' kind of thing. Now you go to a meeting and the park managers and the 'friends of' groups are saying hello and chatting because they know each other. It's taken a lot of work. It hasn't happened over night, but we're getting there."

As a sign of just how far relationships between the community and the coun- cil has come, last year Sarah and Emma were invited to be part of the council's tender process to appoint new contractors for grounds maintenance.

"Those tenders will be in place for the next ten years, so it's a significant thing," says Sarah. "We were invited to bring the community voice into the process, to represent what the community want to see in their parks.

"We wanted the contractors who come on board to understand from day one, they are working in partnership with the community, not just cutting the grass and disappearing. It was a real step forward." Sarah has evidently caught the working hand-in-hand bug and is developing good relationships in all sorts of arenas. The forum is now working with primary health care trusts to enable them to understand the importance of local parks.

"We would like doctors to prescribe walking around the park," says Sarah. "We're looking at initiatives like park keepers having pedometers on site to help with this."

Sarah and Emma have also attended the first Park Keepers' Forum.

"Before, the park keepers used to work very much in isolation. Now a forum has been set up by Lee Southall, the park manager for Perry Barr. He's the lead to get the Park Keepers' forum up and running and we're bringing the community element into it. There are some parks that have park keepers but don't have 'friends of' groups. We're helping with setting ones up."

And if that wasn't enough networking for a part-time employee, Sarah is going national. She has been working with the parks charity GreenSpace to set up a national open spaces forum linking up the forums all over the country.

"We've had two meetings so far this year," says Sarah. "Our aim is to get a national voice looking at the bigger issues. We want to push parks up the political agenda.

"I know the importance the park gives to a local area. It needs people just to open their eyes and explore what is in their local green space. It's amazing what's there."