Journal
The third way
The recently created Department of the Third Sector and the appointment of Ed Miliband as Third Sector Minister with a remit from PM Tony Blair to develop public service delivery, philanthropy, volunteering, the building of strong communities and social enterprise signals an important change for the role of the voluntary sector in regeneration. Now no longer a fringe activity struggling to achieve results on hard-won and often tiny budgets and with the added tensions of trying to find effective ways to work together, many of the ideas fostered in the community and voluntary sector over the past 25 years have now finally been given centre stage in the Government.
In the North West, the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES) examined a number of community landscape projects in their report From Community Garden to Westminster and found that this type of work can create more active citizens – ‘creating those active members of society who are prepared to engage with local partnerships and agencies is vital to the success of regeneration schemes and local management of public services’.
Of the 15,000 signatories to the CABE publication, Parks and Squares Who Cares, 91 per cent thought parks and open spaces significantly improved their quality of life and were vitally at the heart of their community.2 This review also highlighted the positive effects well designed and managed open space can have to the area in terms of attracting people, adding value to housing, providing employment and boosting local economy. In the summary of this document, people ranked poor management and maintenance of public spaces as a major local problem contributing significantly to general insecurity. A North West respondent noted that poor provision and maintenance of public space was the main reason for a community to feel that the authorities do not care about them. Discuss this article
Would you like to read more? To receive your copy of the Landscape Institute's award winning journal subscribe today.
