The Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole area has been chosen as one of the 8 local authorities that will benefit from the National Trust and National Lottery Heritage Fund’s Future Parks innovation programme.

Future Parks is a £11m initiative to secure the future of parks and green spaces across towns and cities, with 81 councils and communities applying to take part, and only 8 successful. The programme is run by the National Trust and the National Lottery Heritage Fund, with support from the government, in the face of mounting pressures on public parks across the UK. Over the next two years, the eight places will work together to develop tools, approaches, skills and finance to create their new way of managing green space as well as sharing their experience with other councils.

The successful bid focussed on putting green spaces at the heart of the new council with greater emphasis on using parks to improve health, connecting up the landscape and enhancing nature, as well as developing enterprise in order to invest in parks and greenspaces across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole. We’re really excited about the ambition and creativity from Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and looking forward to supporting the Council, communities and partners in bringing their vision to reality.