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• Park managers trained to stand up for their space

• Date:

  24th October 2005

• Contact:

  Sarah Egerton

• Organisation:

  The Civic Trust

This autumn CABE Space is rolling out five new dates for its successful training programme ‘Stand Up For Your Space’. The influence and communication training is integral to the Parkforce campaign, which is calling on local and national government to put more staff back into parks. The training will run in London, Knowsley, Middlesbrough, Bradford and Plymouth in November and December.

Julia Thrift, Director CABE Space said: “Staff who can stand up for their space will make the most of the millions of pounds of capital investment made in parks. Over the last ten years we have made huge improvements to our parks and green spaces which are used by 33 million people every year. Many have been transformed from ghettos into vibrant community spaces. The managers of these places need the skills to be able to argue for continued investment and long term funding.”

The training was first run six months ago after CABE Space research showed that the cities most successful at delivering high quality green spaces have staff who know how to communicate with their local media, funding bodies and colleagues to bring in more resources and political support.

The feedback from trainees on the first four courses run with training partner hblmedia showed an overall satisfaction for the course, its trainers and content to be 84%. The course helps park managers to communicate in a more influential way with key audiences including colleagues in local government and MPs, the public, the media and funding bodies. They will concentrate on turning managers into confident and effective advocates of the importance of parks to the community.

CABE Space research shows that parks departments are still struggling in the face of a serious skills shortage affecting staff from senior management to operational levels. The programme of training has been devised to be as accessible as possible to park and green space managers. There are 125 heavily subsidised places available at five courses across England. Anyone interested in attending should visit http://www.cabespace.org.uk or contact Hilary Jeffs at hblmedia on 020 7612 1843.