Agenda item

For the Committee to consider an overview of the service, work undertaken over the last twelve months, performance of the Park Development Service and future priorities.

Ms Lisa Arnold, Strategic Head of Community and Wellbeing Services, presented the Parks and Green Environment Annual Report outlining the work undertaken by the Park Development Service during 2021-2022. She informed the Committee of the services’ areas of responsibility and the policies it operated with. The service consisted of thirteen members of staff most of whose roles had been externally funded. This included a new Community Engagement Officer who would be driving forward work to involve communities in the service’s projects.

Projects undertaken by the service during 2021-2022 included improvements to the playground and walkways at Stanley Park, a new football area at Common Edge and new playground equipment at Bispham Cliffs, Boundary, Gynn Sunken Gardens and Carr Road play areas.

The Park Rangers were also reported as having had a productive year, delivering nature based activities to children and families. The service had been registered with OFSTED, allowing an expanded range of full day activities during the school holidays.

The lifting of Covid-19 restrictions had also enabled the return of events and promotions to Blackpool’s green spaces. The Adventure Cinema had staged a number of screenings during August 2021 and was scheduled to return during April and May 2022. Ms Arnold also stated that further enquiries from other events had also been received and were increasing in number.

The impact of avian flu on swans of Stanley Park was also mentioned, with Ms Arnold informing the Committee that twenty-birds had died from the disease. This had been a challenge for the service to manage and the lake had been closed on a number of occasions in response.

During 2021 the Parks Operational Team had transferred to ENVECO and regular relationship meetings had been taking place between them and the service to agree work plans and improvements to Blackpool’s green spaces.

Ms Arnold also reported that a tree survey of all the trees on Council owned land had been undertaken in 2021. This had enabled the Council to identify maintenance work needed and the condition of tree assets going forward.

Members were informed that a key piece of future work for the service was the updating of the service’s webpages. This work would include ensuring that the webpages contained detailed and up to date information on Blackpool’s parks and green spaces. The webpages would also look to raise the profile of the service and the good work it was undertaking. It was anticipated that the relaunch of the website would take place in September 2022.

The Committee discussed the cost of the skate parks to the service and queried if the high rope attraction in Stanley Park would impact on the areas accessible to members of the public. Ms Arnold responded that the costs of the skate park development had been externally funded and that the high rope attraction did not impact on access to Stanley Park which remained open and free to access to members of the public. Mr Cavill added that the attraction was an important factor in bringing people into the park.

Members of the Committee asked if a management plan for the Council’s green spaces and park was available and if it had been included in the Blackpool Destination Guide. Ms Arnold replied that the management plan was not currently part of the guide but work would be undertaken by the service’s new Marketing Officer to update a refresh the document. Once this had been completed consideration could then be given to its inclusion in the guide.

The cost of new trees on Edwards Street was discussed, with the Committee being informed that the figures could be provided in writing following the meeting by the Highways Service. The Committee also noted that the cost of trees on Cookson Street, at approximately £10k each, had been high and questioned if such costs for new trees was sustainable. Councillor Lynn Williams, Leader of the Council, explained in response that a cost benefit analysis of planting trees had been undertaken in Ontario, Canada, and had shown that the social benefits of trees in urban areas outweighed the financial costs of planting them. She added there were also visual benefits to Blackpool along with long term environmental improvements from planting trees.

The Committee agreed that the report be noted; and that the Highways Team provide details of the cost of new tree planting on Edwards Street following the meeting.