Why our parks matter

Jun 26, 2025

The post below was first published on our sister blog – At the grassroots – towards the end of last year. Well, it’s summer and people are out and about enjoying their local parks. In a society where we only seem to be valued for what we can add to the bottom line, it’s vital we celebrate public spaces where people can meet up and simply be, without any expectations or pressure to make a profit for a corporation or a bank. Parks are democratic spaces that belong to all of us – let’s keep it that way...

Back in 2022 when the two of us behind this project were looking to relocate from Thurrock in the south of Essex over to Keynsham in Somerset and were trying to get a feel for the area, one of the things we did was to take a look at the local parks. We took a good look at the Memorial Park which is located on the banks of the River Chew as it flows through the town. As you can see from the image above, compared to the urban and suburban parks we had where used to live in Thurrock, it's beautiful. There are parts of the park alongside the river where you can really get close to nature.

However, there are other aspects to Keynsham Memorial Park. A cafe, a very busy play area catering for a range of age groups and a performance area with an outdoor stage. The park also hosts a music festival in the summer. A cafe where you can meet up for a chat with friends and family and not pay the eye watering prices charged by some of the establishments on the High Street! A play area where kids learn to cooperate and look out for each other while they're playing. A site for performances and festivals that bring people from the town and surrounding areas together for a few hours to forget about the cares of the world. All of these are social activities. When fighting any threat to a park be it from austerity or greedy developers, it has to be stressed how vital they are as a space for a range of social activities. Obviously aesthetics and being close to nature matter but it's as a space that can facilitate and host a range of social activities that in these troubled and atomised times is really important.

Last but by no means least, there’s the Keynsham Community Veg Plot in the Park that we volunteer at. An initiative that we’ve written about in this piece: Giving the community ownership of a project 26.10.24:

The Keynsham Community Veg Plot in the Park is there for the benefit of the community. Amidst what can sometimes feel like the hard graft of keeping the plot going, we need to remember that. When we're thinking about what to plant, tending what we've planted, deciding when crops are ready for harvesting, and how are we going to keep on top of the weeding and the other maintenance we have to do, it can be all too easy to lose sight of the bigger picture. The plot is there in part to show that it is possible to grow and provide our own food independently of a corporate dominated food production system geared to profit rather than our health and well being. It's also there to hopefully inspire people to set up community vegetable and fruit plots in their own neighbourhoods. What we have to bear in mind in that above these and the other aims of the plot, it's there for the community.

Another park we have had extensive involvement with is Hardie Park in Stanford-le-Hope which is in the eastern part of Thurrock. Back in our Independent Working Class Action days in the 2000s, the then dire state of the park which was pretty much a no go area was frequently raised on the doorsteps when we were canvassing. In the early 2010s, a number of residents fed up with Thurrock Council neglecting the park started to take matters into their own hands. It started out with a few community litter picks and just grew from there. Hardie Park is now run by a committee of local residents. There's a building with a cafe and a number of meeting rooms for use by the local community. There's a community fridge in the cafe. There's a pentaque pitch next to the cafe. The flower beds are maintained by a dedicated and lively group of volunteer gardeners. All in all, Hardie Park is a very good example of how a park functions as a social space and acts as a catalyst that brings the community together.

Let's not forget the humble pocket park. We used to live opposite one when we were back in Thurrock. We frequently use the one close to our family in Keynsham while looking after our grandchildren. They may just be a stretch of grass with a few trees and some play equipment that for many people, may not merit a second glance but trust us, they're as vital as any of the bigger parks. Imagine what it would be like living on a vast housing estate with no access to a park where the kids can run around and let off steam. It would be a nightmare. Fortunately, most urban and suburban areas have an okay(ish) network of these pocket parks but there's always room for improvement. Defending these pocket parks against the intrusions of developers aided and abetted by councils looking to trouser some cash is every bit as important as defending any threats to the bigger parks.

In an increasingly dysfunctional society that's becoming more divided and atomised, our local parks are vital democratic spaces that give us the opportunity to connect and build a sense of community. Any threat to a park has to be treated as an attack on the community and defeated accordingly. One way of doing this is increasing resident involvement with their local park through the mechanism of a 'friends of' group or if circumstances permit, taking over the running from the local authority. The more there is of this, the more power there is coming down to the grassroots where it matters.

Below are some listings from The Directory of groups passionate about supporting their local parks and keeping them as spaces open to all of us: