Putting a price on public parks is more than just assigning them a per square metres value. They contribute to our lives in a number of ways. But how do we measure these contributions?

The value of parks and green spaces

The Communities and Local Government Select Committee has launched a report into the future of our public parks – looking at the additional benefits they offer and attempting to assign them a financial value.

These green and pleasant lands have long relied upon public parks, with London one of the greenest capital cities in the world.

Figures show that there are 27,000 parks and green spaces across the UK, with the Heritage Lottery Fund reporting that three quarters of local authority park managers have seen increases in visitor numbers over the past three years.

In 2014, the Policy Exchange thought the value of being close to a park was so significant that a levy should to be paid by people who live near them and benefit from their maintenance or regeneration. San Francisco already has ‘Green Benefit Districts’ where a levy is paid to provide additional maintenance and improvements to parks, sidewalks and open spaces.

The select committee report is now calling on the government to support new ways of paying for and managing green spaces, in recognition of the wide-ranging benefits they deliver.

These benefits include…

Boosting our health

From childhood to retirement, we use public parks as a way to de-stress and get a breath of fresh air. And this can have a major effect on all of us, and the country as a whole.

Fields in Trust found that 69% of people believe the loss of parks could be detrimental to children’s development, and half said they would be less active without their local parks and green spaces.

Almost half (48%) said using their local park makes them feel healthier. ResPublica also found that 61% with good access to green spaces are happy with their health compared to only 44% of those with poor access.

A similar impact was felt on mental health, with just 14% of respondents to ResPublica who had access to green spaces dissatisfied with their mental health, compared to 22% who had poor access. A survey by the charity Mind backs this up, with 10% of respondents naming a park as the place they would visit if they feel they need to improve their wellbeing.

The University of Edinburgh’s OPENspace Research Centre found urban green space can help improve social functioning, our immune systems and our mental health and cognitive function, while also reducing exposure to air pollution, cardiovascular morbidity and prevalence of type 2 diabetes.

The Policy Exchange report wanted to build on this with green prescriptions - where GPs prescribe patients a course of activity ranging from exercise to gardening. Patients would pay the basic prescription charge, while the NHS would meet the rest of the cost and the private course provider would pay a fee to a local park for its use.

Bringing communities together

Parks are used by many people as meeting spaces, whether on an informal basis, or for more formal get-togethers.

A study by the Improving Wellbeing through Urban Nature project found the social aspects of public open spaces are “crucial to local identity and people’s attachment to place.”

Dr Ian Mell of Liverpool University added that many different ethnic groups make different uses of parks, such as south Asian and African communities who use them for events to promote social inclusion.

The Birmingham and Black Country Local Nature Partnership also found that parks play a vital role in maintaining funding and jobs in an area, as they encourage inward investment.

Making our lives greener

Parks and public spaces can provide access to nature – even in large cities. The Conservation Volunteers say they support vital biodiversity, such as threatened pollinators.

The Friends of Victoria Park in Leicester say urban living has cost different forms of wildlife their homes. Their park now has bird boxes, bat boxes, homes for owls, bug hotels, and an area designated as an ecological zone to encourage natural growth and wildlife.

And it’s not just the animals that are benefitting. Public Health England says parks improve air quality, water quality, noise absorption, and flood risk mitigation.

One issue many cities face is the Urban Heat Island effect, where temperatures become higher as a result of overheating from buildings and roads. This has significant impacts on health as extreme temperatures contribute directly to deaths from cardiovascular and respiratory disease, particularly among older people.

Natural spaces can alleviate these factors, and provide localised cooling and shading for park users. Michelle Furtado, an environment and sustainability consultant, says parks can cool the urban environment by up to 8°C, while the London Tree Officers Association says trees can dilute concentrations of atmospheric pollutants and mitigate overheated hotspots.

Parks can improve the environment at the other end of the weather scale as well – when it’s wet. The Improving Wellbeing Through Urban Nature project says that after heavy rainfall just 10% of rainwater exits a park as surface run-off, compared to 55% from a highly urbanised city-centre location. Such parks are also considered to be more affordable to construct and maintain than conventional flood defences.

The actual value of parks

It’s hard to put an average cost per square foot or metre value on land as it varies so much from location to location. And if you think determining this value is hard, try working out how much added value public parks offer.

But that is what the select committee has tried to do.

One way to judge is through the reduction in health problems. The University of Exeter says green spaces in England contribute around £2.2bn to public health. The UK Natural Environment Assessment thinks it’s more, saying neglecting our ecosystems could result in an economic cost of £20bn per year, while fostering it could add an extra £30bn a year to the UK’s economy.

Edinburgh City Council has been leading the way when it comes to putting a value on green spaces. Its social return on investment model concludes that for every £1 of investment, around £12 of benefits are delivered. Peter Neal, the author of the State of the UK Public Parks reports, claims this figure rises to £17 in the city’s premier central parks.

A study by the National Trust and Vivid Economics found that on paper, parks in Sheffield are classed as a £16 million liability for the council. But the study found they add £36 to the city for every £1 spent.

It shows that spending on public parks is not without its benefits and their value to the economy could be even greater than UK Trade and Investment’s, which has a ROI of £19 for every £1 spent.

For more information on the Parsons Green Fair click here.