The Parks Trust is an independent charity that cares for many of Milton Keynes parks and green spaces, 5,000 acres of river valleys, woodlands, lakesides, parks and 80 miles of landscaped areas alongside the main roads – about 25 percent of the new city area. Our linear park system creates an almost continuous network of urban parks, rural green spaces, river valleys, ancient woodlands and nature reserves around the city.
We organise over 200 events in the parks each year, provide environmental education programmes for hundreds of schools and nearly 6,000 children, and support a team of around 160 volunteers.
In most places parks are owned and managed by the local authority, but the city’s founders wanted to be sure that such a unique green landscape would not have to compete for funds with other council priorities. We were created in 1992 to care for most of the city’s green space and were endowed with substantial assets. The income from this portfolio pays for the vital work maintaining the landscape. We are entirely self-financing.
The Parks Trust is governed by a Board of Trustees who are also Directors of the company. The Trust employs around 60 staff, the largest team is our Operations Team, responsible for the physical management of the green space including letting contracts and supervising our contractors and our direct works team. Our Community Team runs our education programmes, events, volunteer programmes and community involvement, all supported by our Communications & Marketing Team.