Observer article for October 2022 – Julia Hilton
By the time you read this article, Hastings Borough Council will have voted on whether to bring back in house the maintenance of our town’s astonishing 690 hectares of green space. For the last decade the care of our parks, gardens and wild land has been contracted out to the company IDVerde, but this contract expires in November 2023.
This is our chance to take back control. Others are doing the same: over half of Kent councils have already brought grounds maintenance back in house, and Eastbourne and Lewes may do so in the near future. Direct control can generate significant savings: more importantly, it delivers flexibility.
We are incredibly lucky to have so much land. COVID has highlighted how important it is for our well-being. Our green spaces, and how we look after them, are a key part of turning around the huge health inequalities in Hastings. I have seen first-hand the transformative effect on people’s mental wellbeing when they have a chance to be actively involved in growing and caring for our green spaces. This can often be the first step in developing self-confidence, taking a more active part in community life or seeking training or new job opportunities. The vision of Hastings as a garden town should be a major driver of our future plans.
Our green spaces have a huge part to play in tackling the nature crisis. The 2021 Environment Act includes plans for nature recovery networks and different approaches to land management, carbon sequestration and increasing biodiversity.
Bringing grounds maintenance in house is part of how we can deliver on that vision. The new flexibility will allow us to manage our parks and open spaces in a more nature-positive way, changing mowing regimes, replacing bedding and some high-maintenance shrub beds with more biodiverse and easy-to-manage plantings. We can also identify spaces for growing food. There are over 600 people on the waiting list for allotments. In Brighton there is a planning requirement for new developments to create space for community growing, we should do the same.
I recently had the privilege of meeting the principal of Plumpton College at their project, One Garden Brighton, where a derelict walled plot has been transformed into a beautiful garden, open to all, that provides training in horticulture for all ages. Within three years the revenue from the cafe and the market shop will cover the cost of running the gardens. Any surplus will subsidise the courses on offer.
Plumpton are already working in Hastings, providing training at Education Futures Trust. Their current course, called Growing Your Future, works with homeless people to get them back into employment. It is already opening up people’s horizons: people are talking about retraining as foresters, for example. There are huge opportunities in the land management field. By bringing grounds maintenance back in house, I hope we can build further on the great training opportunities Plumpton has to offer by for example providing apprenticeship training opportunities within our parks.