Does simply providing more funding automatically improve the quality of service provision? Local authorities constantly battle with tight budgets, and we often hear the plea that more money would solve almost all problems. Against the backdrop of continuing calls for more revenue for parks, ~CABE Space~ set out to find out just how true this is. Is a lack of cash the main challenge facing parks? Would a 10% increase in funding lead to a 10% increase green space in quality? Do some councils deliver better parks for their money than others? We wanted to understand how local authorities spent their resources on parks and green spaces, and the subsequent impact of this expenditure on the quality of those spaces.

The results were surprising, and led us to ask more fundamental questions about how we resources are managed. Figures from the ~National Audit Office~ rsquo;s recent report Enhancing urban green space, suggest the historical decline in the quality of urban green spaces in England has, in many areas, been reversed. At least 84% of green space managers believed the quality of their green spaces was improving or stable, compared with 44% in 2000. In addition, 83% of them felt that the work of the ODPM and ~CABE Space~ had contributed to the greater priority given to urban green spaces over the last few years, and subsequently the amount of capital investment which had gone into them.