Camden And Islington - “Barriers To Accessing Green Space And What We Are Doing To Change This”
Recognition of the value and the need for good quality green spaces and parks existed before the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown, but it has further highlighted the importance of green space in our cities, as many people discovered local green spaces for the first time or made more frequent use of them.
Within our boroughs, this is especially true, as 29% of Islington residents and 39% in Camden do not have direct access to private green space.
Furthermore, Friends of the Earth’s data analysis identified those neighbourhoods most deprived of green space, and which most need investment. Islington and Camden ranked 8th and 12th respectively.
A growing body of research has emerged demonstrating a lack of access to green space contributes to poor health outcomes. Friends of the Earth research in 2020 highlighted the stark position that a person of Black, Asian or other minority ethnic community is more than twice as likely as a white person to live in an area most deprived of green space.
As former Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick commented April 2020:
“While Coronavirus does not discriminate, we know that the lockdown is much harder for people who don’t have a lot of living space, a garden, or anywhere for their children to run around. People need parks.”
Public Health England’s Improving access to green space - a new review for 2020, outlines 3 main barriers to accessing green space as
Physical barriers: proximity, physical obstacles, transport, and lack of facilities.
Social and cultural barriers: social experiences, cultural experiences, and different values.
Perceptions, awareness, self-efficacy, and interest: perception of safety, lack of awareness, low confidence, time constraints, and lack of interest.
Groundwork UK’s 2021 publication, Equity in Access to Urban Nature, explored 6 further barriers as
Particular demographic groups and individuals can experience multiple – and intersecting – barriers to accessing nature.
Childhood habits have consequences for adult engagement with nature.
People must feel comfortable in their community: social isolation, loneliness and illness can be barriers to accessing nature as much as they are to accessing other services and provision.
Gender: girls and young women often report feeling unsafe when spending time in parks and green spaces, and the provision of facilities (e.g., multi-use games areas and skate parks) can be male dominated and thus less appealing to girls and young women.
Experiences of harassment or abuse can also prevent people from ethnic minority backgrounds from choosing to spend time in green space.
Park visitors value the presence of staff to welcome them to a space. Cuts to park budgets over the years have made it difficult for parks managers to resource this sort of on-the-ground service, with staff and skills lost.
“People who are not used to visiting natural environments may be more uncertain about what is ‘allowed’ in a particular setting and therefore less confident about visiting or more likely to come into conflict with others with different ideas about what the space is for.”
Groundwork UK, May 2021
Camden and Islington Councils’ aim is to ensure parks are inclusive, attractive, and accessible for all, reaching those with the greatest needs. We are working to maximise the role our parks can play in addressing health inequalities: in particular, the prevention of ill health, early intervention, and promotion of wellbeing. We are taking a holistic approach to address these by:
Maximising investment in parks e.g., by supporting service providers to deliver more activities in parks, and by targeting capital investment.
Transforming our workforce e.g., to work alongside delivery organisations to enable more activity in parks.
Working in partnership and fostering a permissive culture e.g., making it easier to book activities and hold events in parks.
Promoting the health benefits of our parks, enhancing, and increasing the information available about our parks and what’s happening in them.
Keep an eye out for future blogs for more on each area as we develop our thinking.
Blog by Tamsin Fisher & Daniela Taylor Sep 2021
