Thread by @GIPartnership

'The 2017 select committee inquiry into #parks got a staggering response from the public', says Clive Betts MP, opening #ParksAndGreenSpacesAPPG meeting reviewing what has happened since its report was published...

Betts points out that the funding of councils is a big element in the success of #parks - as the cost of social care (a statutory service) goes up, there is less ££ for green spaces (which are not statutory)...

Betts: 'We didn't think making #parks a statutory service would help - after all, #libraries are a statutory service, but that didn't protect them from closure...' #ParksAndGreenSpacesAPPG

Now @bandmasta speaking as a park manager: 'Have things got better since the APPG reported in 2017? No, they've got worse.'

'Covid has shown how important parks are,' says @bandmasta then lists all the parks staff, teams, skills that have gone. 'We've lost parks staff. We've now got people managing parks who know nothing about them.' #ParksAndGreenSpacesAPPG

'My park gets 2.3 million visitors, but I'm lucky if I can afford two guys to maintain it' - @bandmasta #ParksAndGreenSpacesAPPG

Ian Baggot @parks_forum now speaking. 'I feel that #parks professionals are often overlooked, it's usually #planners and #landscape architects who are turned to first.'

.@parks_forum lists problems: ageing workforce; lack of diversity; no way for young people to get into the jobs... [NB These problems were identified 20 years ago...] #ParksAndGreenSpacesAPPG

Clive Betts MP: Campaigning for #parks to be a statutory service is a waste of time and energy... #ParksAndGreenSpacesAPPG

Clive Betts MP: Need to fix council funding. More & more is being spent on social care, which is used by small % of population.. Need to raise awareness of this among public... #ParksAndGreenSpacesAPPG

Betts also says he is against ring-fencing council budgets 'My council is spending public health money on #parks - they couldn't do that if their budgets were ring-fenced.' #ParksAndGreenSpacesAPPG