Neighbourhoods Green is an English partnership initiative which works with social landlords and

housing associations In Ireland and the United Kingdom, housing associations are private, non-profit making organisations that provide low-cost "social housing" for people in need of a home. Any budget surplus is used to maintain existing housing and to help fin ...

to highlight the importance of open and green space for residents and raise the overall quality of design and management with these groups.

History and governance

The partnership was established in 2003 when

Peabody Trust The Peabody Trust was founded in 1862 as the Peabody Donation Fund and now brands itself simply as Peabody.

and Notting Hill Housing Group held a conference which identified the need to raise the profile of the green and open spaces owned and managed by social landlords. The scheme attracted praise from the then Minister for parks and green spaces

Yvette Cooper Yvette Cooper (born 20 March 1969) is a British politician serving as Shadow Secretary of State for the Home Department, Shadow Home Secretary since 2021, and previously from 2011 to 2015. She served in Gordon Brown's Brown ministry, Cabinet as ...

Since 2003 the partnership has expanded to include

National Housing Federation The National Housing Federation (NHF) is a trade association for member social housing providers in England. Function The National Housing Federation (NHF) is a trade or industry body representing providers of social housing in England. The Fede ...

, Groundwork,

The Wildlife Trusts The Wildlife Trusts, the trading name of the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts, is an organisation made up of 46 local Wildlife Trusts in the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man and Alderney. The Wildlife Trusts, between them, look after more than 2, ...

Landscape Institute The Landscape Institute (LI) is a UK based professional body for the landscape profession. Its membership includes landscape architects, urban designers, landscape planners, landscape scientists and landscape managers. The LI also has a catego ...

Green Flag Award The Green Flag Award is an international accreditation given to publicly accessible parks and open spaces, managed under licence from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, a UK Government department, by Keep Britain Tidy, ...

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nort ...

Natural England Natural England is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. It is responsible for ensuring that England's natural environment, including its land, flora and fauna, ...

and CABE. It is overseen by a steering group which includes representatives from

Circle Housing Group Clarion Housing Group is the largest housing association in the United Kingdom with 125,000 properties across more than 170 local authorities. Clarion Provides a home to over 350,000 people. Clarion is based in Southwark and was formed in ...

, Great Places Housing Group, Helena Homes,

London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham () is a London borough in West London and which also forms part of Inner London. The borough was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former Metropolitan Boroughs of Hammersmith and Fulham. The borou ...

, Medina Housing, New Charter Housing Trust, Notting Hill Housing, Peabody Trust,

Places for People Places for People (PfP) is a property management, development, regeneration company and leisure company based in the UK. History Places for People was founded by North British Housing Association in 1965. Bristol Churches Housing Association j ...

, Regenda Group and Wakefield & District Housing.

Work

Neighbourhoods Green has three main areas of emphasis. It produces

best practice A best practice is a method or technique that has been generally accepted as superior to other known alternatives because it often produces results that are superior to those achieved by other means or because it has become a standard way of doing ...

guidance, highlighting the contribution parks, gardens and play areas make to the quality of life for residents – including the

mitigation of climate change Climate change mitigation is action to limit climate change by reducing emissions of greenhouse gases or removing those gases from the atmosphere. The recent rise in global average temperature is mostly caused by emissions from fossil fuels bur ...

, promotion of

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...

and aesthetic qualities. It also generates a number of case studies from housing associations and community groups and offers training for landlords, residents and partners on areas such as playspace, green infrastructure and growing food. In 2011, working in conjunction with

University of Sheffield , mottoeng = To discover the causes of things , established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions: – Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield , type = Pu ...

and the National Housing Federation, Neighbourhoods Green produced ''Greener Neighbourhoods'' a best practice guide to managing green space for social housing. Its ten principles for housing green space were: * Commit to quality * Involve residents * Know the bigger picture * Make the best use of funding * Design for local people * Develop training and skills * Maintain high standards * Make places feel safe * Promote healthy living * Prepare for climate change During 2013/14 Neighbourhoods Green will be working with

Keep Britain Tidy Keep Britain Tidy is a UK-based independent environmental charity. The organisation campaigns to reduce litter, improve local places and prevent waste. It has offices in Wigan and London. History Keep Britain Tidy was originally set up by a conf ...

to support the expansion of the Green Flag Award into the social housing sector.Green Flag Award
''Neighbourhoods Green''.

References

{{reflist

External links

Neighbourhoods Green Website
* * * * Urban planning 2003 establishments in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 2003