Meeting documents

For members to consider the current arrangements for the management of the County’s Country Parks and understand the business unit’s plans to review the current arrangements and opportunities for considering different delivery models.

Members will consider whether they wish to carry out any further work on this topic.

Mrs Lesley Clarke OBE, Cabinet Member for Planning and Environment

Mr Andrew Fowler, Head of Country Parks

Mr Tim Williams, Service Lead Officer

The Chairman welcomed Mrs Lesley Clarke OBE, Cabinet Member for Planning and Environment, Mr Andrew Fowler, Head of Country Parks and Mr Tim Williams, Country Parks Lead Officer to the meeting.  The Cabinet Member commented that the Country Parks were jewels in the crown of Buckinghamshire County Council and Andrew Fowler and Tim Williams had come up with creative ways of increasing the income generated by the Parks over the years. 

The Chairman asked Mr Fowler to provide a brief introduction for members before inviting members’ questions.  The following main points were noted:

·         As Head of Country Parks, Andrew Fowler was responsible for the strategic direction and finances of the Parks and Tim Williams was responsible for the day to day management.

·         BCC has four parks, all in the South of the County, totalling 800 acres. Black Park and Langley Park had complicated ownerships arrangements with Slough Borough Council, South Bucks District Council and London County Council also owning a proportion of the property.

·         The Parks were officially designated as Country Parks circa 1968 and were some of the first to be designated in the UK.

·         Since 1999 the Country Parks were meant to be self-financing.  This proved difficult at first but since 2005 this had been achieved and since 2010 an annual income target has been set for the Parks, over and above their operating costs.

·         Black Park was the largest park, 535 acres attracting 570,000 visitors per year with 95% positive comments posted on Trip Advisor’s website.  Go Ape have both an Adult and Junior course on offer at Black Park and Segway hire and bike hire are also available.  In addition there is a very successful café overlooking the lake and Evergreen Forest Tots also offer pre-school activities in the Park.

·         Langley Park is 151 acres, made up of more formal gardens including a large rhododendron collection which is of international importance. Langley Park recently benefitted from a £3.1million restoration project financed mainly by the Heritage Lottery Fund. There are also 178 veteran trees in the park so the site could potentially be designated as a Site of Scientific Importance (SSI). Langley Park features a small café and children’s play area and attracts 170,000 visitors per year.

·         Denham County Park is more informal, covering 69 acres between the River Colne and the Grand Union Canal.  The Colne Valley Visitors Centre is there and the Park attracts 127,000 visitors per year. Thorney Park at 47 acres features a lake for angling.  This Park was previously a landfill site.

·         BCC have developed a number of projects to generate income from the Parks, but the main income is from the café, which has a turnover of approximately £500,000 and generates an income for BCC in the region of £100,000, filming licences, BCC events and income from Go Ape.

·         In 2011, Martin Tett who was the Cabinet Member at the time, made provision for a development fund of £300,000 per year, over a three year period to assist with income generating initiatives.  Andrew Fowler has carefully managed this fund and work is currently underway on proposals for a visitors centre at Black Park.  Outline designs which are currently being costed were circulated to the Committee for information.  This was likely to cost £1.5million and £722,000 remained from the development fund.

·         The car park at Black Park would be redesigned over the off season.  This was needed to expand parking availability in peak season and would generate increased income. Other projects being considered included extending the car park and providing indoor seating at Langley Park.

·         Officers would like a view from members as to what is the best delivery model for the Country Parks in the future. Should BCC retain management of the Parks or sell them off, relinquishing control completely or perhaps consider setting up a Charitable Trust or a Local Authority Trading Company (LATC).

·         Members discussed the complicated ownership arrangements which dated back to the 1940s. It was noted that South Bucks District Council received a nominal base rent from BCC each year but no other parties either received any income or contributed any funding to the upkeep of the Parks. BCC own the freehold of Denham Court Estate, which is on a 99 year lease to Buckinghamshire Golf Club and BCC pay a peppercorn rent to the Golf Club for the Denham Country Park.

·         75% of visitors to the Park come from West London, Slough, Hillingdon etc

·         Members congratulated Andrew and Tim for the increasing visitor numbers to the Parks. A member commented however that he would like to see a vision for the Parks for the next 20 years and an indicator from the officers as to how the different options for delivery models could work and how they would impact on the County Council. It would also be very useful to see a proper balance sheet for the accounts, laying out clearly income, expenditure and the level of subsidy from BCC. It was agreed that Andrew Fowler would supply the Committee with a balance sheet.

ACTION: Head of Country Parks

·         Members noted that the Country Parks are self-funding and also contribute an income target each year which comes back into BCC – last year this was just under £71,000.

·         The Cabinet Member advised the Committee that a reverse heat pump had been investigated for Black Park lake using energy saving funding but ultimately the pipework was going to be too costly so funding of £170,000 allocated for the project was passed back to the Place service.

·         The Cabinet Member also reported that the possibility of creating additional Parks in Little Marlow or as part of the Bernwood Opportunity Zone were being considered, building on the success of the Country Parks self-financing policy.

Members discussed the future options for the Country Parks.  Four years ago members were generally keen to protect and retain the Country Parks.  A member suggested that an Inquiry group could be set up to assist and advise the service.  The Chairman suggested that there might be synergies between the Country Parks and Green Park, which was now part of the wider Adventure Learning Foundation (ALF) ALF also included Longridge and Shortenhills.  Andrew Fowler advised that they had worked with Longridge in the past, but the focus of the ALF was on Education and their sites were not public access parks, whereas the Country Parks remit was conservation, forestry and recreation. Andrew Fowler also had concerns that if the Country Parks had been incorporated into the ALF, they would have effectively subsidised the other activities, as the income generated by the Country Parks was significantly higher.

The Chairman drew the discussion to a close by outlining two options – the first was to set up a small Inquiry group to investigate further or alternatively request that the officers provide further information as suggested regarding the accounts and the complexities of ownership and then bring back a fuller report outlining the options for the future management of the Country Parks to a future Committee meeting for consideration. 

The principle of setting up an Inquiry Group on Country Parks was agreed by the Committee. The Cabinet Member welcomed this and offered her support to the Inquiry Group. The Chairman agreed that Mr Bill Bendyshe-Brown would lead an Inquiry group and Mr Phil Gomm would be a member of this.

ACTION: Committee Adviser to liaise with Chairman on the next steps.

The Chairman thanked Lesley Clarke OBE, Andrew Fowler and Tim Williams for attending the meeting.