Parks and Green Spaces APPG
Now more than ever, the value of our nation’s parks and green spaces is profoundly evident.
Green infrastructure plays an integral role in tackling issues from climate adaptation to biodiversity and public health, prioritising parks is vital for our future. Through bringing together key stakeholders from local authorities to Parliamentarians, the group addresses the most urgent issues affecting our green spaces, including but not limited to funding, inequality of access to nature, climate change, biodiversity and the impact they have on the nation’s health and wellbeing.
Keep Britain Tidy provides the secretariat for the Parks & Green Spaces APPG, which was established in late 2020 and is chaired by Afzal Khan MP
If you have any questions about the APPG and how to get involved, please contact henry.bettley@keepbritaintidy.org.
Current Members
Chair: Afzal Khan MP
Vice Chair: Seema Malhotra MP
Vice Chair: Theresa Villiers MP
Vice Chair: The Rt Hon. the Lord Blencathra
Andrew Bridgen MP
Andrew Gwynne MP
Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville
Bob Blackman MP
Bob Seely MBE MP
Caroline Lucas MP
Catherine McKinnell
Christian Wakeford MP
Clive Betts MP
Conor McGinn MP
Darren Henry MP
Fleur Anderson MP
Helen Hayes MP
Henry Smith MP
Ian Byrne MP
Jonathan Gullis MP
Layla Moran MP
Lilian Greenwood MP
Liz Twist MP
Mark Logan MP
Mark Pawsey MP
Matt Western MP
Nickie Aiken MP
Paul Girvan MP
Rachel Maskell MP
Sarah Olney MP
Sir John Hayes MP
Upcoming Meetings:
TBC
Previous Meetings
EGM & 5 Year Review of the Inquiry into the Future of Parks: Our second meeting was held on 8 July 2021, bringing together parliamentarians and parks sector representatives to review progress made in the 5 years since the launch of the Select Committee Inquiry into the Future of Public Parks. Speakers included Clive Betts MP, who chaired the inquiry, alongside representatives from local government, friends groups and regional parks forums. You can watch the full meeting recording here and a highlights reel here.
Allison Ogden-Newton, Chief Executive of Keep Britain Tidy, said: “The meeting brought together parks sector representatives and MPs in a passionate discussion about the uncertain future of our parks and greenspaces. We had a fantastic outcome, with Clive Betts MP agreeing to hold a formal review of his committee’s hard hitting inquiry into the future of parks and through that review we hope will draw much-needed attention to the profile of greenspaces on the Westminster agenda.
“We know that to protect parks from further degradation policy change is needed at the highest level which is a key objective of the support Keep Britain Tidy provides for the Parks & Green Spaces APPG with our work as the platform’s secretariat.”
Levelling Up Access to Good Quality Parks and Greenspaces: The first Parks and Greenspaces APPG meeting was held on 1 March 2021. The APPG heard from Professor John Newton, Director of Health Improvement at Public Health England, Hamira Sultan, Consultant in Public Health and Future Parks Accelerator Director at Birmingham City Council, and Allison Ogden-Newton, Chief Executive of Keep Britain Tidy, about the critical role that parks play in supporting health outcomes within communities and how we can solve the current inequality of provision and access to good quality green spaces around the country. We were delighted to welcome over 300 industry stakeholders to the meeting. Watch a highlights reel from the meeting here.