Doncaster Future Parks

Written by Sarah Leeson, Principal Landscape Architect, Groundwork Yorkshire

“Change Happens at the Speed of Trust” – Stephen M.R. Covey

As a proud partner helping to deliver the Get Doncaster Moving (GDM) programme; this quote, used at the beginning of the GDM Annual Summit by Chris Boardman CBE, National Active Travel Commissioner and Chair of Sport England, really resonated and helped to set the tone for the day.

The theme for this year’s GDM summit was ‘Thinking & Acting Differently’, acknowledging that new approaches to working would need to be considered to enable more people to be engaged in the programme and reap its benefits. It also gave time to pause and reflect on the work of the GDM network to date, the projects that had been delivered and the relationships and partnerships that had been formed. The recent Get Doncaster Moving impact report also highlighted some of the ways in which inactivity had been addressed and how the programme to date had been successful in creating opportunities for long lasting and sustainable change for Doncaster and its residents through collaborative working, with real measurable results. 

Now was the time to think and act differently so that more people could be reached and engaged with to enable them to enjoy a more physically active life.

The quote really underlines how trust and the speed at which it is established with clients, residents and stakeholders is an essential ingredient in the success of a project. To deliver goals; trust, honesty and respect is key to making people feel valued, heard and appreciated. By allowing people to feel integrated within the whole process helps empower them, increasing ownership of the final result, whether that be a physical project or a personal achievement.

This approach to work underpins how Groundwork Yorkshire delivers projects and the importance placed upon an open and transparent process.

Groundwork Yorkshires’ roots, from working in areas of social and economic deprivation, ensures that people play a key role in developing their local spaces. After all, they know the site better than any visitor and understand the key issues and barriers affecting them.

Last May, Groundwork Yorkshire was appointed as Landscape consultant on the delivery of the 10 remaining Future Park sites across Doncaster. Working with Ben Russell, Future Parks Manager and his team, developing and designing the visions for change, to help enable residents to get into the outdoors without physical restriction.

This partnership, although quite young in terms of life of the GDM programme, has so far been productive and empowering for many involved in the development of local plans and a fulfilling partnership for our Landscape Architects and the wider GDM team.

Groundwork Yorkshire are passionate about creating a future where every neighbourhood is vibrant and green, every community is strong and able to shape its own destiny. No-one is held back by their background or circumstances.  These values overlap with those of Get Doncaster Moving and therefore helps our relationship continue to flourish.

“If people are living in an environment that is degraded and disintegrating through a lack of investment, it’s very easy for that to spill over into their whole life view and to erode their aspirations and hopes. Conversely, what we found in Groundwork in the early days, in a very difficult period, was that actually if you do start getting things right in that way, you can make tremendous progress very rapidly and really begin to turn things around.“ – John Handley, Groundwork’s first Executive Director