Mark Camley, chair of The Parks Alliance, the national voice of UK parks, said: ‘The Parks Alliance welcomes the report, which makes an important contribution to maintaining and creating future parks. There is no single solution to financing parks. The sector had been struggling with a new funding model for the last 10 to 15 years and with no ‘silver bullet’ – governance, leadership and collaboration are key. All of us who love parks should support the sector to try new business models and be brave enough to accept that some might not work. To fail fast, fail forward.

‘One of the report’s recommendations is for park teams to involve more people and the Parks Alliance is seeking to reach out and create space for further and greater community involvement. We have already established a project that will provide a model for establishing a wider connected community network of those who support the aims of the Alliance. We hope to reveal findings of the project soon and use these to take the work of the Alliance forward.’