By Rosie Niven | 20 August 2014
Local authorities should offer council tax rebates to people who spend significant time volunteering in parks and other green spaces, a report by the centre-Right think-tank Policy Exchange has recommended.
Today’s Green Society report said new ways of providing park maintenance must be found in response to cuts averaging 10.5% over three years to local authority spending on open spaces.
The report warned that without alternatives, the UK could see a return to the deterioration of the 1970s and 1980s, when a lack of funding caused many green spaces to fall into disrepair and become havens of crime.
It suggested that the private sector and civil society could share responsibility to support the maintenance and improvement of green spaces.
A council tax rebate could be offered to volunteers who work as part of community groups to improve their local green spaces. This would also encourage segments of the population not currently represented in these groups to become more involved.
The proposal comes after the Local Government Association proposed that people who volunteer across community services including leisure centres and libraries should receive £100 off their council tax bill.
Policy Exchange’s environment & energy research fellow Katherine Drayson, author of the report, highlighted the benefits to residents of having high quality and well-designed urban green spaces nearby, such as reducing crime, flooding and cooling cities.
‘The time has come for radical new thinking to safeguard our parks and make them more accessible to everyone in society,’ she said.
‘With people’s disposable income still under pressure a “green guardian” scheme that rewards local volunteers to help maintain their local parks with council tax rebates is just one way of protecting and enhancing our public green spaces.’
Policy Exchange’s research also suggested money for park maintenance could be raised by imposing a levy on households living around a park through the creation of Park Improvement Districts, based on Business Improvement Districts, where this was supported by the local population.
