Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of parks and green spaces on communities.

Parks and urban green spaces are important for community cohesion, biodiversity, climate change mitigation, and civic pride.

Responsibility for funding, managing and maintaining them lies mainly with local authorities. The government is committed to supporting Local Authorities in developing best practice to look after parks and green spaces.

The cornerstone of our support for communities is the government’s Pride in Place Programme, providing up to £5 billion funding and support over 10 years to 244 places. This flagship offer will help build strong, resilient and integrated communities in areas that experience the most entrenched social and economic challenges. This includes opportunities for communities to invest in their local parks and green spaces.

We are also committed to maintaining the quality of parks and green spaces through the MHCLG-owned Green Flag Award, which sets the national quality standard. The scheme has helped to transform thousands of parks and green spaces across the country.

The government's statutory guidance on local government reorganisation requires that unitary structures must prioritise the delivery of high quality and sustainable public services to citizens and that unitary structures should enable stronger community engagement and deliver genuine opportunity for neighbourhood empowerment, including parks and green spaces.

The government’s National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) is also clear that planning policies should set out an overall strategy for the pattern, scale and design quality of places and make sufficient provision for the conservation and enhancement of the natural, built and historic environment, including green infrastructure.