Financial
pressures at the UK’s
27,000 public run parks has led to a skills
and staffing crisis, according to an official report released today.
The
workers who plan, manage and maintain parks and green spaces are over-age and
"a dying breed – literally", according to the report.
The
survey, led by English Heritage and the Commission for Architecture and the
Built Environment’s public spaces unit, found the parks’ workforce is ageing,
with 6 per cent aged over 40 and 92 per cent over 30. More than half the
existing workforce rated their career prospects as ‘poor’, ‘very poor’ or
‘non-existent’.
Low
pay, poor career prospects and a poor public profile were cited as an obstacle
to recruiting skilled staff.
The
survey was based on research into parks workers in six ‘beacon councils’ –
Northamptonshire County Council, Holton Borough Council, and the London
boroughs of Enfield,
Barnet, Bexley, and Hammersmith.
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