28 April 2015
The Landscape Group will support The Parks Alliance by
providing business support, through a newly announced
arrangement.
The Parks Alliance (TPA) is the voice
of UK parks, representing the people and organisations that create,
maintain, invest in and use public green spaces. Its objective is
to promote and protect the public parks we are proud to have at the
heart of UK life and culture. The UK-wide Alliance includes 40
organisations and senior park industry figures from local
government parks services, private contractors, industry bodies,
NGOs and volunteer and park friends groups.
The Landscape Group, established in 1919, is
one of the largest and longest established green service
specialists in the UK. The company offers services in park
management, grounds maintenance, tree surgery, street cleaning and
landscape construction.
Rob Pearce, TPA Business Manager in the Strategic Parks team,
will provide business and membership services and offerings for the
Alliance and develop the fundraising element of the Alliance, among
other matters. Rob has recently joined TLG, coming from a
background of social enterprise management. He has lectured on
Social Enterprise and Regeneration at UCL, Kings College London and
in Milan, Italy.
Sarah Hughes-Clarke, Business Development Director at TLG and
TPA interim board member, says the relationship aligns interests as
TLG's core business is reliant on investment in park services.
"It's difficult to attract good people into jobs as park or
greenspace managers. Raising the profile of parks and those that
work within them should encourage great candidates to come and work
in parks. Also, if green spaces are valued by decision makers in
government, the greater and more sustainable is the green space
market. Properly resourced parks and open spaces are not just 'nice
to have', they have been proven to improve the local economy in
terms of attracting visitors and businesses, raising land values
and contributing to the environmental sustainability and the health
and wellbeing of our communities".
"TPA is a young organisation growing quickly, and TLG's
business services will enable TPA to move to the next level. TLG
will provide TPA with business management services through the
secondment of a Business Manager and access to advice from other
TLG business specialists."
"TLG applauds the vision and commitment of TPA's founders,
and is very optimistic about the future of the organisation.
Together with the communications support provided from the
Landscape Institute, we believe The Parks Alliance now has a solid
baseline of support from which to move forwards and achieve its
objectives."
Mark Camley, Chair of The Parks Alliance and Executive Director
for Park and Venues at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, says the
partnership with TLG will help the Alliance deliver its agenda of
promoting and protecting public parks.
"Entering in to a partnership with The Landscape Group will
provide TPA with dedicated support to help us organise and campaign
more effectively. It also signals that TPA is not just about the
traditional local authority element of the Parks sector, but that
it embraces "contractors" as well. The problems we face apply
to private and public sector."
"TLG will help in developing our business model, bringing a
level of commercial acumen to our thinking. I hope that it
will also encourage other businesses to think about how they can
support TPA."
"With dedicated support from The Landscape Institute and The
Landscape Group in place we should be able to get some real
traction with the organisation, and delivering on our
agenda."