Notes and news June 2025
Parks
Festivals in parks
“Oasis Heaton Park community funding slammed as ‘pocket money’”
The debate about the use of parks for commercial activities rumbles on. Oasis “gigs” will take place on July 11, 12, 16, 19 and 20 in Heaton Park, and Manchester City Council has secured a meagre £25,000 to compensate for the disruption that will be caused in Bury . Ticket revenue is estimated to bring the band around £50 million. Furthermore, Oasis is to open a series of merch stores before reunion gigs, selling £40 bucket hats, baby grows, cutlery sets, shot glasses, jigsaw puzzles and tote bags.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/jun/20/oasis-merch-stores-spinningfields-manchester-london-cardiff-edinburgh-birmingham-dublin
https://www.talkingrubbishpodcast.com/48-green-fields-can-festivals-be-sustainable/
Meanwhile in Cardiff……
‘The site is huge’: division in Cardiff over music festival as green space closed off
Council says series of concerts in Bute Park featuring Stevie Wonder and Alanis Morissette will raise much-needed cash
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jun/26/cardiff-blackweir-festival-bute-park-dispute
In Brockwell Park, Lambeth Council is removing the playground sandpit in Brockwell Park, allegedly after failing to consult with families and park users. The sand is being replaced by tiger mulch. a rubber based surface which parents say leaves a sticky black residue which gets all over clothes. A petition has been launched
…. https://www.brixtonbuzz.com/2025/07/petition-launched-to-save-the-brockwell-park-playground-sandpit/
Glastonbury festival has been much in the news recently. It is not,of course, held in a public park, but on private land. The latest festival has attracted a deluge of criticism, not for the music, or the facilities, but the fact that performing rappers Bob Vylan and Kneecap lead crowds in chants calling for a ‘Free Palestine’, and “death to the IDF”. The BBC said it regretted livestreaming the performance and it should have pulled it off the air. These incidents are now subject to a criminal investigation
There is no minister for parks and no national strategy for green space. The UK played an important role in the invention of public parks, and it is now developing new, neoliberal, park management strategies. The fact that private events in public parks are usually associated with fun and festivity make it harder to evaluate this change in much-loved green spaces.
PTES survey, Living with Mammals
Towns and cities are busy, noisy places, but it’s here that most of us live and encounter nature day-to-day. We know the importance of connecting to nature for our own health and wellbeing, and by monitoring wild mammals, it gives us an indication of the ‘green health’ of our communities. So whether you have hedgehogs under your hedges, squirrels in your school grounds or even a pine marten on your patio, join in with Living with Mammals.
https://ptes.org/get-involved/surveys/garden/living-with-mammals/
National Park Cities
Breda becomes the first National Park City in the Netherlands
https://community.nationalparkcity.org/posts/84785893
Pollution – some good news. Governments have successfully established the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Panel on Chemicals, Waste and Pollution (ISP-CWP).
https://enb.iisd.org/oewg3-2-science-policy-panel-contribute-sound-management-chemicals-waste-prevent-pollution-summary
Foxes
Foxes seem to be appreciating the rooftop garden at the lavish new Google HQ in London. They could be living off scraps left behind by workers, or the ubiquitous London rats. A Guardian article about this originally referred to them as “pests”, and had to be amended.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jun/09/google-foxes-roof-london-kings-cross-office
Trees……
Trees and Woodland Strategy Toolkit, from the Tree Council
https://treecouncil.org.uk/science-and-research/trees-and-woodland-strategy-toolkit/
Nature Research
The healing power of nature …..Nature-Based Interventions for Psychological Wellbeing in Long-Term Conditions: A Systematic Review https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19063214
Nature-based interventions for physical health conditions: A systematic review and meta-analysis https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2024.119421
Cities
Redefining Open Space Provision for Growing Cities: Precinct Planning and Leveraging Development Incentives – a webinar…….. two perspectives on contemporary open space planning and invites a rethinking of how cities provide for open space as they grow.
https://worldurbanparks.com/melbournes-suburban-rail-loop-precinct-planning-the-open-space-needs/ 28/8/2025
Conservation news
Ireland works overtime to improve its conservation image
https://publicparks.org/ireland-works-overtime-to-improve-its-conservation-image/
Olive trees in Palestine
Whatever one’s view of the seemingly endless wars in the Middle East, the destruction of food-bearing trees cannot be a good thing.
It is alleged that since 1967, more than 800,000 Palestinian olive trees have been illegally uprooted by the Israeli authority. The environmental consequences of this are hard to envisage.
https://yris.yira.org/column/israels-campaign-against-on-palestinian-olive-trees/