The Parks Improvement Programme – Watford

In 2011, Watford Borough Council had a S106 pot of £5 million to allocate to parks and open spaces. The council took a strategic approach, and carried out a quality, accessibility and quantitative audit of all it’s open spaces and looked at the value of each to the community. This led to a 3-tier approach to allocating funding to the spaces that mattered. The innovative Green Spaces Strategy has seen over £25 million allocated to improving its network of parks and green spaces, with further capital investment, an award-winning Lottery Funded £7 million restoration of Cassiobury Park, and an increase in Green Flags from 3 in 2011 to 12 in 2020, with a target of 16 by 2022.