There are around 1,300 housing associations in England and together they are responsible for 2.9 million homes. That’s a lot of bricks, mortar and concrete. But many of those homes are surrounded by green spaces, whether it’s an individual garden or bigger public spaces such as communal gardens, play areas, grass verges and recreational spaces. So nationally an awful lot of land falls under the responsibility of housing associations.
While individual gardens are normally the responsibility of individual households, landlords normally take care of the shared and public outdoor spaces. So what if we all got smarter about how we use that land for the benefit of the planet as well as local communities? Well that’s exactly the question that led to the creation of a collaborative project called the Green Spaces Advisory Board that Futures was a founder member of. And this year the Board published a brand-new toolkit designed to encourage and support landlords across the country to do more to make their green spaces work better for people and the environment.
The Green space stewardship model was put together with input from other members of the Board including six other housing associations and Ground Control, a maintenance business and biodiversity expert specialising in enhancing and improving the physical environment. A wide range of other organisations also contributed ideas and resources.
The model includes a step-by-step guide to help landlords plan for unlocking the potential of the green spaces they own and manage. It includes putting together a plan, gathering evidence, community engagement, funding and partnerships as well as how to evaluate progress. It also signposts a wide of other information sources to help organisations on their journey.
As well as being one of the founding partners in the project, Futures has also used the knowledge it’s gained from helping put the model together to draft its own new strategy to get more out of its green spaces. Together with our new sustainability strategy and our new corporate plan, doing more for the planet is firmly cemented into our own future.
