Our local parks and green spaces are more important now than ever
Greenspace and exercising outside has always been important to both the physical and mental wellbeing of people, but after the year we’ve all had with the pandemic, it’s more important now than ever.
Mental Health Awareness Week begins on Monday and this year’s theme is nature. During the long months of lockdown and isolation we’ve all experienced in the past twelve months, millions of us turned to our local parks and greenspaces as an escape.
As well as physical health, greenspace is also heavily associated with the upkeep of people’s positive mental health.
Research indicated that 64% of people say they have coped well with the stress of the pandemic. Of those who have experienced stress due to Covid, 87% have been using at least one coping strategy that involves being outdoors. The most popular strategies being going for walks and spending time in greenspaces, submerging themselves in nature.
Shelly Quinton-Hulme sits on the board of The National Federation of Parks and Greenspaces and is a member of the Friends of Victoria Park group in Stretford. She expressed how ‘parks have been saviours’ during the past year.
She said: “There is not a single park in the country that hasn’t seen growth during lockdown.”
Parks have been part of our society since Victorian and Edwardian times when they were built as a place for people to go in their leisure time. It has always been recognised how important access to greenspaces and nature is, and that hasn’t changed.
They have given people a sense of freedom and have acted as ‘an extension of people’s houses’ during the lockdowns.
Peel Park in Salford has been described by its users as a ‘hidden gem’ and has been part of the local community since 1847.
David Mars, from the Friends of Peel Park group, said: “I can never recall that it’s ever been as busy as it’s been over the past year.”
The park has been full of people using it for all different kinds of reasons. Dog walkers and runners have always enjoyed what the park and banks of the River Irwell have to offer, and now people are using it as a social space as well because of the limitations that are still currently in place.
The Landscape Institute published a position statement entitled ‘Public Health and Landscape; creating healthy places’.
The statement outlines the impact that parks and greenspaces have on both mental and physical health, saying: “healthy places are restorative, uplifting, and healing for both physical and mental health conditions.”
Local parks and greenspaces have been ‘essential’ for people’s mental health, as they provide a sense of freedom. But also, by keeping people connected to each other and nature in a time when we have been so confined to the indoors.
As a member of the board for The National Federation of Parks and Greenspaces, Ms Quinton-Hulme said: “When you widen your space you don’t feel trapped anymore.”
