I would like to know what other Civic Societies think of the following.

2 Committee Members of the Civic Society have instructed the rest of the Civic Society that they are relaxing the amount of work they are doing with us as they want to be working more on setting up a Friends of Park. They feel we do not take into consideration “parks and green spaces” enough on our agenda (which admittedly can be true at times) but instead of losing 2 committed members we are considering setting up a “Friends of Park Committee” but to tell you the truth we do not know where to start. I have approached other organisations for help and have registered on other Forums but no one has really told us what we need to do other than “organise a protest at the site involved”.

We are not involved in any protests to save green space as no protests exists like this but what we want to do is try and get the other Friends of Parks talking to us and each other so we can all know what is going on.

Any help would be very much appreciated

I would recommend to start with conducting an Audit of current groups that exist. Find out what groups are actually operating and then simply communicate with them and tell them you are interesting in setting up a network. You will probably find one or two groups may not be all to keen to get involved but my general feeling is the majority of people want to learn from others so what is to stop the civic society facilitating this.

I agree. We indeed have registered with the Civic Trust as a member even though we are in essence “Friends of a Victoria Park” as we wanted to “take the lead” with the Green Flag Award submission. The parks department are rubbish and did not even know what Green Flag Award was about!!!

We have a number of our members who are involved in both our group and the local Civic Society and we like to think we compliment each other quite well. We share common issues and we are both able to keep in constant contact through the members active in both groups.

We have considered “a Friends network” but the challenges each green space has is very different to each other so although we do communicate on an informal basis. We do not have a constant formal dialogue. This works fine however and I am sure all the other groups would agree.

I would encourage you to talk to the 2 members in question and ask them if they are happy to facilitate to communication between you and other Friends Groups or perhaps even set up a “Parks Sub Committee”. You need to decide if you want to be a formal structure in place or to keep it informal. It really does make a difference.

I would also recommend speaking to the Parks department as you never know funding might be available.

One committee member is active in the the local Community & Environmental Association which works to preserve amongst othe things an Ancient Woodland. While our Chairman is the Trustee of the local Playing Fields and the Membership Secretary attends Friends of Parks meeting. The Civic Trust has supported this work as it ensures we know what is going on across the “green agenda”.

When we looked at setting up a Friends group I came across this link with Coventry Council which is a good framework to use for groups.

http://www.coventry.gov.uk/ccm/content/city-development-directorate/culture-&-leisure/parks-services/friends-of-parks/how-to-set-up-friends-of-parks-groups.en;jsessionid=a_Aa2Efpwkmh

Do The Civic Trust offer any support in setting up a Friends of Park Group?

This is a very interesting string and I shall examine what help we might give to advise on setting up Friends of Parks Groups. This is an important issue for us given our management of the Green Flag award.

I was wondering if any other groups have come across this link?

http://www.cleanersafergreener.gov.uk/en/1/parksguide.html

It is called How To Create Quality Parks and Open Spaces and contains some very relevant information. Do the Civic Trust have any special experts on “park issues” that can be contacted if we have a specific query relating to PPG17.

I know a CT Policy team exists but from experience I believe this to be more aimed at planning issues rather than directly Parks and Green Spaces. I do note however Philip Kolvin is the author of Saving Open Space which is definetly a step in the right direction. Perhaps an online discussion with Philip Kolvin could occur at some point in the future?

Will the Civic Trust consider an online discussion with Philip Kolvin on this issue or indeed I would like to put a question direct to the chairman of civic societies. How would I go about doing this?

Dear PAdrion,
The Civic Trust will investigate the possibility about doing an online discussion with Philip Kolvin. As you can imagine we will have to consider the nature about how this will work. In the meantime, if you have a question you want to put to Philip Kolvin please submit it on the discussion forum and I will seek a driect response from Philip on your behalf. I hope this answer is satisfactory for you.
Ian Harvey
The Civic Trust