"Green space skills" completed

Article Type: News From: International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Volume 11, Issue 3

The “Green space skills”, commissioned by CABE and English Heritage, has revealed the full extent of skills shortages in the green space sector, in careers ranging from park managers to tree surgeons. Employers in the public, private and third sectors were surveyed, and the results show that public parks and other green spaces are seen as a Cinderella service for many local authorities and are often the first to be cut. A quarter of employers in the public sector expect a decrease in recruitment and a fifth say that green space departments are experiencing a greater reduction in budgets than other local authority departments. Funding cuts hit green spaces hard, as they rely on consistent and skilled maintenance. Annual training budgets for people working in parks and green spaces in the public sector are 20 per cent lower than their colleagues (an average of £245 vs £305). This survey shows an urgent need to address the skills shortfall to tackle climate change. Planning, design and management are what are all essential in order to adapt green spaces to a changing climate, and these were exactly the skills which employers felt their staff most lacked. Details can be seen at: www.cabe.org.uk/news/