Birmingham Parks Service

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Birmingham Parks Service Annual Report 2018/19

Birmingham Parks Service

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Darren Share

As Acting Assistant Director of Street Scene may I welcome you to the Birmingham Parks Service Annual Performance Report 2018/19. Can I firstly express my huge appreciation for the continuous support from the public, friends and local community groups for our city’s parks and green open spaces. The Birmingham Parks Survey 2018 revealed 96% of respondents felt it was important to provide public parks, 86% respondents felt it was important to provide children’s playgrounds and 84% of respondents were very satisfied or satisfied with their visit to Birmingham Parks. To achieve these satisfaction levels the Park Service benefited from the tremendous support of over 28,413 volunteers, offering 22,543 volunteer days assistance to the Service in 2018/19. Parks were proud to work with local communities to host 314 community and large cultural events in local parks including Vaisakhi, A Royal Sutton Coldfield Town Council Classical Music event and Eid Mela. In recognition of this collarborative partnership working, Parks were also nominated as finalist in two Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE ) Awards. Although the economic outlook continues to be extremely severe, the Parks Service will seek to forge closer links with health, business and local communities whilst focusing on delivering and promoting a safe, green and great city for all. In the summer 2018, Parks trialed some commercial opportunities in Sutton Park including land trains, pedaloes and mini golf, with customer feedback surveys overwhelmingly welcoming these new attractions. Future opportunities have recently been advertise in other Parks within the city.

Last year also saw the end of Parks ten year Ground Maintenance contract, with a decision to bring the contract back in-house. Although this will bring with it challenges it will also provide opportunities for redesigning services.

In 2016 Birmingham City Council (BCC) Parks captured a ‘Peoples Vision’ for the future of its parks through the Highbury Summit. In order to deliver this vision the Park Service will need to change the Victorian Governance model of how parks have been run historically; to better address the needs of the 21st century. To move to this new model Parks are looking at two aspects of modernising; so in 2018 the Parks Service commissioned a valuation study showing their true value to the city at large. Secondly the Parks Service has devised a New Birmingham Parks Model which now has Cabinet approval and funding for 2 years from 2019-2021.

Finally I would like to congratulate Baroness Floella Benjamin (patron of the Windrush Foundation and Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) ambassador) and the Parks and Nurseries Team for their Gold medal win at Chelsea 2018, sponsored by private donors. By working with Baroness Floella Benjamin (and the Windrush Foundation), Parks gave the country a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the spirit and contributions of the Windrush Generation while also providing opportunities for people to learn about this hugely important chapter in British history.

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Contents

The Parks Service Page 4

Parks Accolades 2018/19 Page 5

Service Improvement Targets 2018/19 Page 6-7

The Future For Parks Page 8

Customer Focused Service Page 9

Healthy Lifestyles And Behaviours In Parks Page 10

A Safe, Clean, Green & Great City To Live In Page 11—14

Supporting Local Involvement & Partners Page 15

Staff, Partners and Engagement Page 16

Contacts in Parks Page 17

Our Key Partners Page 18

Birmingham Parks Service

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The Parks Service The Parks Service is part of the Neighbourhoods Directorate of Birmingham City Council (BCC). The service is committed to the advancement of a green, sustainable city providing parks, open spaces and services that are accessible to all. Parks consists of the following services: maintenance of over 3,683 hectares of green spaces in-cluding parks, country parks, public open spaces , woodlands and allotments

a tree service which manages the City Councils’ tree stock ( excluding trees on highways ) green waste recycling facilities at Cofton Park and Bromford Drive and provision of a woodland management team to maintain 1,399 hectares of woodland throughout the city the allotments service which manages 7,373 plots across 113 sites

asset management service managing Park buildings and 50 pools and reservoirs in compliance with the Reservoir Acts playground services which maintains outdoor play equipment in 245 play areas, 6 skate areas, 19 outdoor gyms and 109 multi-use games areas Birmingham ranger service to protect and enhance designated nature conservation sites and country parks throughout the city, and monitor regional targets for local

biodiversity for the city The in-house Landscape Practice Group (LPG) which provides a full range of project development, community consultation, landscape architectural and urban design services floral decoration through three greenhouses at Cofton, Kings Heath and Coleshill, a team of District Parks Managers who liaise with local members, over 108 Friends groups and manage all park sites a climate and sustainability service which leads on the implementation and develop-ment of the Green Living Spaces Plan, Liveable Cities and Biophilic Cities.

Birmingham Parks led on Birmingham becoming the first UK city to become a member of the

Biophilic Cities Network

The playground service main-tains 245 play areas, 6 skate areas, 19 out-door gyms and 109 multi use games areas.

There are 7,373 allotment plots across 113 sites

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Parks Accolades 2018/19

The Parks Service prides itself on achieving excellence and being recognised through awards or being successful in projects. In 2018/19 the Parks Service received the following recognition:

Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Chelsea 2018

This was the seventh year running that the council scooped Gold. In 2018, the display celebrated the legacy of the Windrush Generation. It was the 70th anniversary of the arrival of the Windrush in Britain and to mark the anniversary, Baroness Benjamin created a display with the council to capture the pioneering spirit of these passengers.

Darren Share MBE, who led the work on the display for the council, said: “I am delighted that we have achieved our seventh Chelsea Gold for Birmingham, but ultimately this prestigious award would not have been possible without the vision of Baroness Floella Benjamin. “Working with Floella and the Windrush Foundation gave us a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the spirit and contributions of the Windrush Generation in a colourful and imaginative way, while also providing opportunities for people to learn about this hugely important chapter in British history.” Birmingham Parks Service thrives to provide a customer focused “Value for Money” service despite a backdrop of severe budget cuts. The Parks Service is adopting a more commercial approach whilst at the same time working closely with the community and all partners to increase usage of the parks facilities. Birmingham Parks also continues to be a centre of horticultural excellence, winning prestigious awards such as Chelsea Flower Show Gold As a result of these acheivements Parks were nominated as a Finalist in the Association of Public Service Excellence (APSE) Awards for Internal Service Team of the Year : Parks, Grounds & Horticultural Service and also for the APSE Innovation Award for Birmingham’s Collaborative Partnership working.

APSE Award—Finalists

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Service Improvement Targets 2018/19

Targets for 2018/19 Park Outputs 2018/19 Targets for 2019/20

Great city to live in

Gain sponsorship and enter RHS Chelsea 2018

Gold at RHS Chelsea in celebration of 70th year of Windrush Generation

Gain sponsorship and enter RHS Chelsea 2019

An average occupancy rate of 82% across 113 allotment sites. BCC assisted BDAC with the Allot-ment Show

An average 81% occupancy across 113 sites.

Maintain occupancy rate of 82% over 113 sites. Assist BDAC with Birmingham Allotment Show

Implementation of the Tree Policy across the City. Continue Tree planting in partnership with BTFL.

Tree Policy organised through Sustainability Team 9,130 trees planted in partnership with BTFL

Implementation of the Tree Policy and Strategy across the City. Continue Tree planting in partnership with BTFL.

Gain 1 new “Green Flag” Awards and maintain existing Natural England’s “Countryside for All”

No new Green Flag awards were submitted but the existing 15 sites were maintained

Maintain existing 15 green flag sites and existing Natural Eng-land’s “Countryside for All”

61% of all sites in positive management under National Indicator 160-00 for local biodiversity

61% of all sites in positive management under National Indicator 160-00 for local biodiversity

Maintain 61% of all sites in positive management under National Indicator 160-00 for local biodiversity

Over 95% compliance with the ground maintenance contract (task and financial)

Over 95% compliance with the ground maintenance contract (task and financial).

Run the Ground Maintenance Contract as an in house operation

100% tree inspection and maintenance programme of 28,795 trees. 100% response to emergency tree enquiries by qual-ified officers

100% tree inspection achieved 28,795 trees surveyed. 100% response to emergency tree enquiries.

100% tree inspection and maintenance programme. 100% response to emergency tree enquiries.

Complete year 1 of reservoir and open water maintenance

Year 1 of the reservoir and open water maintenance completed

Complete 2nd Year of reservoir and open water maintenance

100% of biomass waste reused or recycled

100% of biomass waste reused or sent to Eccleshall Bio-mass Power Plant .

100% of biomass waste reused or recycled

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Service Improvement Targets 2018/19

Targets for 2018/19 Park Outputs 2018/19 Targets for 2019/20

An Entrepreneurial City t

1 trainee through Natural Prospects , a partnership with Birmingham and Black Coun-try Wildlife Trust

1 trainee completed first year of NVQ level 2 in Envi-ronmental Conservation

Take on a second Trainee through Natural Pro-spects , a partnership with Bir-mingham and Black Country Wildlife Trust

Working with BOSF and 108 Friends Groups

Attended BOSF annual con-ference and support friends.

Work with Friends groups and BOSF. Support BOSF annual conference

To work with volunteers in Partnership with key organisation.

Parks were supported by 28,413 volunteers who generate 22,543 volunteer days

To promote volunteering in Parks with key partners

Piloting of commercial opportunities at Sutton, advertising wider commercial opportunities in Parks and introducing car park charges

Commercial opportunities successfully trailed at Sutton, car park charges introduced at Cannon Hill

Trialling commercial opportuni-ties across the city and intro-duction of further car parking charges

An Aspirational City to grow up in

Maintain levels of 161 Ranger led school visits with 4488 pupils visiting

277 Ranger led school visits with 7853 pupils visiting

Continue with school led visits

Increase community and ranger events (from 635 in 2017/8) Attract more events and commercial activities into Park

445 community and ranger events . Piloted commercial opportunities within Sutton Park

Maintain community and ranger events Attract more events and commercial activi-ties into Park

Birmingham Wildlife Conservation Park to encourage more visitors than 142, 561 (2016/17)

Visitors numbers = 145,033 Introduction of a Komodo Dragon

Encourage more visitors and establish a friends group

Deliver “Active Parks” at 50 sites Ran 80 “Active Parks” programmes

Continue “Active Parks” programmes in parks

Carry out £1.4 million of improve-ments in Parks through the Land-scape practice Group.

£1.4 million of improve-ments were carried out across all the Birmingham Districts

Implement additional improvements through Planning

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The Future for Parks

In a time of severe budget cuts within the Council, Parks are developing a programme of commercial opportunities in Parks and introduced new commercial activities into Sutton park in the summer of 2018 which included boating, mini golf, land trains and open air cinema events. These activities were sympathetic to the aesthetic, historical and

scientific nature of the land whilst also providing park users with more sources of entertainment. All of the commercial trials have been geared towards family and young audiences in keeping with the council plans of a great city to live in. There has also been an introduction of car parking charges at Cannon Hill Park . In addition a number of city departments are working closely together with a view to identifying under utilised land that can be used to meet the city’s increasing housing demands. Proceeds from any park land utilised in this manner will be re-invested in local parks. These examples are being trialled elsewhere in the country by Parks Services facing budget pressures. To address such pressures Birmingham Parks is looking at a new governance model for public parks. Over the next 2 years 2019-21 Birmingham will try to construct a New Parks Model. It will be based on a peoples vision, collected at the Highbury Summit in 2016. It will bring new evidence to the attention of key decision makers and will involve all council departments. This

transformational approach– known as ‘Naturally Birmingham’ is attracting national attention as a new way forward for parks. Watch out for future announcements later in 2019.

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Customer Focused Service

As part of our commitment to improving Park’s services, a customer satisfaction survey is carried out every two years. From the Customer Satisfaction Survey in 2018, 84.35% respondents were satisfied or very satisfied with their park visit. In addition if Customers’ would like to make a comment, complaint or compliment regarding Parks they can do so through https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/info/50172/comments_compliments_and_complaints and we aim to respond within 15 working days.

In 2018/19 the Parks Service responded to 95% of

complaints within 15 working days In addition to the survey many of our major Parks use social platforms to engage with colleagues and customers including the Parks website, Facebook, Instagram ,Twitter accounts and Trip Advisor feedback. Sutton Country Park, Lickey Hills Country Park, Cannon Hill and Kings Heath Parks have been awarded a Certificate of Excellence with Trip Advisor. Fifteen of our Parks sites have been awarded Green Flag status and five to the Natural Englands’ “Country Parks for All” award.

Parks Performance Management

The Parks Service has six main service outcomes that our targets are linked to:

Parks Performance Outcomes

1) To support healthy lifestyles and behaviours in Parks. 2) To provide a Safe, Clean, Green & Great City to live in 3) To improve biodiversity and nature conservation in Birmingham. 4) To support local influence, partners and engagement in Parks. 5) To provide a customer focused service and raise the profile of Parks. 6) To provide value for money.

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Healthy Lifestyles and Behaviours in Parks

Rangers Active Parks Programme

In 2018/19 Parks ran an Active Parks

programme in 80 park sites, in partnership with Cocoa Cola, Sport and Events, the BCC Wellbeing Service, Birmingham Open Spaces Forum (BOSF) and Friends Groups. A year long programme of Be Active - Out and About activities is available online or from one of the Ranger Hubs. The Ranger Service ran 226 sessions .

Ranger Led Events 18/19 In addition the Ranger Service across the City have ran their own events programme including building a bird box and frog watch activities. The programme saw 6,994 people

attend 131 Ranger Service events. Visit www.birmingham.gov.uk/events for Ranger

events or book an event at www.birmingham.gov.uk/rangerevents Life Long Learning at Park Hubs Birmingham’s Ranger Service has for many years provided environmental life long learning opportunities for all. Learning outdoors starts with nursery groups to National Curriculum subjects covered through schools sessions ran as “Outdoor Classrooms”. As well as supporting growing projects and Duke of Edinburgh Awards. The Educational sessions can take place at ranger sites, in local parks or in school grounds. In 2018/19 the Ranger Service led 277 ranger led school events to 7,853 pupils

Allotment Collaboration with Birmingham and District Allotments Confederation (BDAC), Birmingham boasts 113 active allotment sites with over 5,900 tenants. 106 Allotment Associations across the City have signed up to a devolved operating model for managing the site, with their own bespoke devolved

budget to cover water and low level repairs and maintenance. This unique style of management was introduced in 2014, and has seen the Allotments Service go from an 83% Council subsidy, with four full time members of staff, to full cost recovery from 2016/17 with one Allotments Officer to oversee the service. Our key partners are the Birmingham and District Allotments Confederation (BDAC), who arbitrate if there are problems on site, seek out funding opportunities and offer advice to tenants. 2018 saw the launch of the Birmingham Allotment Show at the MAC within Cannon Hill Park, which allowed tenants from across the City to show their produce and to publicise the benefits of allotment gardening.

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A Safe, Clean, Green & Great City to live in

Birmingham's new tree policy - protecting the city's urban forest A review of the Council’s Tree Strategy and Policy was approved at Full Council in February 2018 with key outputs including the production of a new strategy for the Birmingham Forest including: the management and increase of the city’s canopy, the formation of a Tree Board to monitor progress and a Tree Bank funded through S106 (i.e. legal planning obligations between BCC and developers) and offsets against lost capital asset value where trees have been removed. Over the last year work there has been delivery of in house

training sessions and information to developers through the planning system . A roll out of the CAVAT process (that establishes a financial value for trees) to the a number of sections of the city council and is now used to inform retention of trees and replacement plantings. This work has been setting the groundwork for the production of the city wide tree strategy, a draft of which should be out for consultation later in 2019 . The Council owns over a million trees, located in housing areas, cemeteries and crematoria, schools, playing fields, social services homes and parks and open spaces. In 2018/19 the tree team inspected 28,795 trees as part of a rolling programme of inspections and had a 100% response rate to reported emergency trees. Where tree maintenance work is identified it is carried out by BCC’s contracted tree service provider –IdeVerde. Service standards and frequently asked questions for tree maintenance are posted on www.birmingham.gov.uk/trees.

Birmingham Trees for Life project (BTFL) plants their 80,000th tree in City BTFL is a partnership between the Birmingham Civic Society and Birmingham City Council, who planted their 80,000th tree in the city this year. In 2018/19 BTFL planted 110 standards, 9,000 whips and 10 fruit trees at 20 events across the city, involving 344 adult volunteers, 16 elected members, 67 members of local parks "Friends Groups" and 400 children. In addition, two local community groups planted around 200 saplings and 10 fruit trees on behalf of BTFL. For more information on Birmingham Trees for Life please visit http://www.btfl.org.uk

Birmingham Tree People Birmingham Tree People are the city’s tree warden group. The group

was formed to provide the tree officers in both parks and planning with additional eyes and ears on the ground helping look out for potential hazards as well as acting as a local source of tree related information. The first tree wardens, were recruited in 2016, have undergone initial training but a need to increase their numbers of volunteers has been identified –

with a view to getting at least one tree warden per ward. In November of 2018 over 40 people signed up and attended an introduction session held at Handsworth Park. Further introductory sessions will take place later in 2019 and if you would like to get involve please visit at www.birminghamtreepeople.org.uk

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A Safe, Clean, Green & Great City to live in Treecycling for Charity In January 2019, Parks continued to work in partnership with A.W. Jenkinsons and St Mary’s Hospice on an innovative ‘Treecycling’ scheme to get Christmas trees collected by volunteers and recycled by local business supporters for a minimum donation. Birmingham Parks worked in partnership by offering sites as collection and storage points. For more information on this project see www.birminghamhospice.org.uk

Grounds Maintenance. Ground maintenance (GM) is carried out by the Parks Service for various BCC service areas including Bereavement, Housing, Schools, Highways and Parks. Meeting service standards and the maintenance of green open spaces was achieved in 2018/19 by a 10 year grounds maintenance contract. The contract work was delivered by three service providers: Glendale Services, Idverde and Birmingham Parks and Nurseries and included tasks such as the cutting of grass on various city sites including schools, highways, housing and park land, pruning of shrubbed areas and the management of grass verges, central reservations and traffic islands. In addition the service providers provided playground and water safety inspections. Parks also grow the plants at local nurseries for park sites but the plants are also used in floral displays around the city centre which are funded by business bids and at Chelsea displays which are funded via sponsorship. The 10 year Ground Maintenance contract was in its final year in 2018/19 and therefore a Council decision has been made to bring the GM work back in-house along with relevant staff from 2019/20. A GM mobilization board was established to achieve the management of this project. In 2018/19 the service providers completed over 99% of work issued through the contract to a satisfactory standard and within the timescales set. The number of enquiries dealt with regard to standards of grounds maintenance in 2018/19 was 3,017 compared to 2,799 in the previous year. In cases where grounds maintenance work is found to be incomplete or below standard then performance improvement notices (PINs) and penalty points can be issued. In 2018/19 a total of 103 PINs and 150 penalty points were issued across the three service providers compared to 131 PINs and 610 penalty points in 2017/18. Current service standards regarding ground maintenance are located at www.birmingham.gov.uk/groundsmaintenance

Composting and Biomass Green waste from horticultural management operations, is composted at two Birmingham City Council licensed open windrow composting depots and placed back on Parks land as “soil improver.” In 2018 over 1,088 tonnes of compost was produced and reported to the Environment Agency. The Parks Service processes tree waste into a graded chip which is sent to a 2.6 megawatt biomass fired Power Plant to produce “green electricity.” In 2018/19 over 2,627.68 tonnes of woodchip were sent to the biomass power plant.

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A Safe, Clean, Green & Great City to live in

Parks with Award Status Birmingham has 15 sites with a Green Flag status and these include: Kings Norton Park and Playing fields, Kings Heath Park, Lickey Hills Country Park, Centre Park (Castle Vale), Newhall Valley Country Park, Moonlit and Sunset Park, Aston Park, Cotteridge Park, Cannon Hill Park, Handsworth Park, Ward End Park, Selly Oak Park, Perry Hall, Victoria Common and Eastside.

In addition 5 country park sites have a Natural England's’ “Country Park for All ” status ( including Lickey Hills Country Park, New Hall Valley Country Park, Woodgate Valley Country Park and Shire Country Park) and 7 sites have “Fields in Trust” status ( including

Oakland's Recreation Ground, Yardley, Holders Lane Playing Field, Moseley, Cofton Park, Longbridge, Perry Hall Playing Field, Perry Barr, Calthorpe Park, Sparkbrook, Rectory Park, Sutton Coldfield and Walkers Heath Park, Brandwood.)

Partnership Working on Funded Habitat Management Schemes To encourage a variety of plants, animals and habitats in Birmingham, the Parks Service seeks to protect and enhance local habitats and ecosystems through the following funded habitat management schemes:

Higher Level Stewardship (HLS)— Birmingham Grassland and Heathland HLS Projects The sites currently managed under the grassland HLS are: Woodgate Valley Country Park , Hilltop ,

Sheldon Country Park , Newhall Valley Country Park and The Dingles (Shire Country Park). Hay

making has taken place at Woodgate Valley Country Park as part of the HLS agreement. In 2013 a

10 year Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) agreement was made between Birmingham City Council and

Natural England to manage meadow areas for biodiversity.

There are also two Higher Level Stewardship agreements in place within Birmingham to return areas of derelict heath and scrub back into valuable heathland at Sutton Park National Nature Reserve and Lickey Hills Country Park . £126,000 per year is received in grant funding from Natural England to support 850 hectares of heathland restoration.

National indicator on Biodiversity Management—Single Data List Indicator 160 - 00 Biodiversity management on sites in Birmingham is carried out by the Ranger Service and monitored under the National Indicator 160-00. Birmingham Parks control the positive management of 95 publically owned “Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation” (SINCs) and “Sites of Local Importance for Nature Conservation “ (SLINCs), including the managing of woodlands to traditional grazing and hay cutting of meadows. In July 2018, 61% of all 186 SLINC and SINC sites in the city (private and publically owned) and 100% of Parks 95 controlled sites were in positive management under 160-00.

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A Safe, Clean, Green & Great City to live in

Birmingham Wildlife and Conservation Park (BWCP) Pershore Road, Birmingham. B5 7RL

The Birmingham Wildlife Conservation Park (BWCP) has a collection of

vulnerable, endangered and critically endangered species. ‘Pete’ the Komodo dragon is the latest acquisition to the park and he arrived from Colchester Zoo as part of a European breeding programme and has become a firm favourite with the visitors. BWCP maintain a varied collection of primate species, some notable ones include Golden lion tamarins, Pied Tamarins and Cotton topped tamarins. Besides these smaller species BWCP also have Colombian black spider monkeys, Yellow breasted capuchins and Dourocouli monkeys and are committed to displaying all the species in large naturalistic enclosures. 2019 saw a number of notable births at the park including pygmy slow loris, golden headed lion tamarinas, pied tamarins and red pandas. All of these species are programme managed by co-ordinators at a European level to ensure a healthy genetic captive population in the event of an environmental catastrophe. There were also a number of new exhibits/enclosures developed in 18/19 including a bespoke Sitatunga antelope enclosure, a new in-door yellow breasted capuchin facility, an off-show reptile breeding room and a new meerkats and porcupine enclosure. BWCP attracted 145,033 visitors in 2018/19. Customer feedback is extremely important to the continued improvement of the wildlife park, feedback is collected and analysed to prioritised future developments according to visitor remarks.

To follow the latest progress at BWCP please visit: http://www.facebook.com/bhamwildlifeconservationpark or http://twitter.com/bhamwildpark

Hole Farm Trekking Centre is located at Woodgate Valley

Country Park. The centre offers pony trekking around the Country Park to a wide range of customers from all over the City, at an affordable price and engaging many children with special needs and learning difficulties The trekking centre attracted 9,705 visitors in 2018/19.

Old Rectory Farm at Sheldon Country Park Sheldon Country Park covers an area of just over 300 acres, comprising open grassland, wetlands, old hedgerows and mature woodland. The Old Rectory Farm, is a 17th Century dairy demonstration farm, and includes Jersey cattle, pigs, goats, ponies, ducks, chickens and geese. Sheldon Country Park has many volunteers and school or college work experience placements. The friends of Sheldon Country Farm have raised funds for a new stable block to be built and provided funding for new animals to be purchased. Through the Heritage Lottery they have also secured funding for the creation of a wildlife garden and pond dipping area whilst restoring an old barn into a new classroom.

In 2018/19 BWCP attracted

145,033

Visitors

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Supporting Local Involvement and Partners

The Park Service works with a wide range of partners including Birmingham Open Spaces Forum (BOSF) , Friends of Parks groups, Birmingham & District Allotment Confederation (BDAC), National Trust, Wildlife Trust, Woodland Trust, Birmingham Trees for Life, Community Police Support Officers and Be Active to ensure their services and activities are accessible and relevant to all. The Park Service representatives attend local community /friends meetings, BOSF meetings and the BOSF annual conferences. Joining a

friends group can be done through http://www.bosf.org.uk/index.php

Volunteering The Parks Service recognise that

volunteers make a significant and valuable contribution to the service and would like to thank them because the Ranger Service in 2018/19 worked with 5,865 individuals who gave a total of 7,364 volunteer days on habitat management work and volunteering at local hubs. Overall The Parks Service benefitted from 22,543 volunteer days in 2018/19.

Community Events in Parks and on Entrusted Land Local community groups and other organisations can apply to use parks for a number of activities and events ranging from sponsored walks to larger commercial event use. Some of the Park sites are entrusted to the Council to manage on the Trust’s behalf and these include :Victoria Common, Sarehole Mill Recreation Ground, Chamberlain Gardens, Cannon Hill, Sutton, Lickey Hills, Burbury, Queens, Grove, Calthorpe, Small Heath, Sparkhill, Adderley, Farm, Highbury, Selly Oak , Cofton, Sheldon Country and George Cadbury Manor Farm Parks. In 2018/19 there were 628 applications to use parks for a local community event, of

which 319 were approved. 146 events were approved on entrusted land, with the most popular events on

entrusted land being sponsor walks and walking events, running, fun days, sports days/events and training sessions, cycling, funfairs, concerts, orienteering, religious meetings, cultural festivals, picnics and car boots.

Pioneering partnership between the Ranger Service, BCC Youth Service and the National Trust The Ranger Service have been working with the National Trust, BCC Youth Service and BCC Housing on a project entitled the Green Academies Project (GAP). The project works with 16-21 year old young people from the targeted areas of Pool Farm, Hawksley and Druids Heath., carrying out tree planting and site clean-up at Monyhull Village Green and the Dell, Druids

Heath, as well as hedgelaying at Cannon Hill Park. This has led to Apprenticeship opportunities for some with the Birmingham and Black Country Wildlife Trust.

In 2018/19 alone...

5,865 Individuals took part in...

7,364 volunteer days working with the Ranger Service

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Staff, Partners and Engagement

Natural Prospects Trainees

A Heritage Lottery funded “Natural Prospects” partnership, led by the Wildlife Trust for Birmingham and the Black Country, involving Birmingham City Council, Walsall MBC and Wolverhampton City Council, is allowing six trainees to be trained to a NVQ Level 2 in

Environmental Conservation across the partners. Parks have taken on one trainee in 2018 and looking to recruit a second in the Autumn of 2019.

Equality and Diversity

Parks should be accessible to all and the Parks Service works with various different groups and projects to achieve this. Here are some examples and others can be found at https://www.thrive.org.uk/birmingham.aspx

Birmingham Parks working with Thrive Birmingham Parks are working with Thrive -a national charity whose aim is to enable positive change in the lives of disabled and disadvantaged people through the use of gardening and horticulture. The Park Service provide some horticultural training to Thrive whilst Thrive helps to maintain the gardens at Kings Heath Park. To find out more about this project see https://www.thrive.org.uk/birmingham.aspx

Partnership working with Drug and Treatment User Services (DATUS) Since October 2014 the Lickey Hills Rangers began a partnership with DATUS, helping to support people recovering from addiction. Service users regularly undertake projects to improve habitats and parks infrastructure and have developed new skills and knowledge whilst volunteers help with heathland management, ditch maintenance and invasive plant control.

To found out more about this project see http://datus.org.uk/ or mailto:admin@datus.org.uk Social Charter The Birmingham Business Charter for Social Responsibility is a set of guiding principles to which Birmingham City Council (BCC) will adhere and invites its contracted suppliers, the wider business community, other public sector bodies (including schools) and third sector organisations (including grant recipients) to adopt The Parks Service and Birmingham Parks and Nurseries aim to adhere to the Social Charter. Charter signatories will need to consider and describe how they can improve the economic, social and environmental well-being of Birmingham and its citizens. To find out more please visit our Social Charter Pages on the main Birmingham City Council website https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/BBC4SR

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Contacts in Parks

We hope that you have enjoyed our Annual Parks Performance Report 2018/19. For information on any of the premier and local park sites and the Park

Services please visit www.birmingham.gov.uk/parks.

Or write to: Parks and Nature Conservation, Birmingham City Council,

Kings Heath Park House, Vicarage Road, Kings Heath, Birmingham, B14 7TQ

Main Contacts within Parks: Acting Assistant Director Street Scene - Darren Share

Parks Service Manager - Joe Hayden Contract Management and Compliance Manager - Phil Beville Head of Landscape and Contract Development - Robert Churn

Tree Manager - Simon Smith District Park Managers: Sue Amey, Mike Hinton, Lee Southall and John Porter

Service Providers : Ground Maintenance

Birmingham Parks and Nurseries Service Providers : Trees

Ideverde Ltd

Other useful contacts:

Birmingham Open Spaces Forum Web site: www.bosf.org.uk/birmingham-open-spaces-forum/

Email info@bosf.org.uk

Birmingham & Black Country Wildlife Trust Tel 0121 454 1199

Email info@bbcwildlife.org.uk Web site: www.bbcwildlife.org.uk

Birmingham Trees for Life

The Birmingham Civic Society 9 Margaret Street

Birmingham B3 3BS Email: info@btfl.org.uk

Web site: https://btfl.org.uk/contact/

Birmingham and District Allotments Confederation http://www.bdacallotments.co.uk/Home/

Email: info@bdacallotments.co.uk Or http://www.bdacallotments.co.uk/Contact-Us/

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Our Key Partners