About us
About us
The Parks Trust is the independent charity that owns and cares for many of Milton Keynes parks and green spaces. This adds up to 5,000 acres of river valleys, woodlands, lakesides, parks and landscaped areas alongside the main roads – about 25 percent of the new city area.
Like many things in Milton Keynes, the Trust’s creation broke new ground. 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 be managed and protected forever, without having to compete for funds with other council priorities.
So The Parks Trust was created in 1992 to care for most of the city’s green space and was endowed with a substantial property and investment portfolio. The income from this portfolio pays for the vital work of nurturing and enhancing the landscape. We are entirely self-financing.
Vision and Values
"Our vision is that Milton Keynes will be renowned for its inspirational parks and thriving landscapes that are greatly valued and enjoyed; and of a Parks Trust that is both financially and environmentally sustainable."
Everything we do is guided by five key values:
1. Excellence
We demonstrate a commitment to high standards in all that we do, provide leadership in our field and strive for success by being professional, innovative and creative.
2. Integrity
We believe in being open, forthright and honest in our dealings with people and organisations and in adopting behaviour consistent with our values.
3. Collaboration
We work with others for the greater good of the community, cultivate long term relationships and partnerships, and respond to the needs of local people and organisations.
4. Valuing People
We aim to treat everyone with respect. We are committed to the development of all our people, paid and volunteers, including the fulfilment of potential and the recognition and celebration of achievement.
5. Responsibility
Our stewardship involves: safeguarding the environment for future generations; being accountable for all that we do including the consequences of any decisions we take; and making the best use of all our resources.
What We Do
- We maintain 5,000 acres of parks and green spaces, including around 80 miles of landscaped areas alongside the grid roads.
- We continually improve our parks by providing new facilities, increasing biodiversity and enhancing habitats. We also work with developers, the Homes and Communities Agency and Milton Keynes Council to bring more green space into our stewardship.
- We organise over 200 events in the parks each year, provide environmental education programmes for hundreds of schools and support a team of around 160 volunteers.
- We carefully manage our diverse investment and property portfolio and look to develop other income streams in ways that are compatible with our values in order to fund our work of looking after the parks in perpetuity.
For a detailed explanation of the Trust’s creation and operation click here.
Who We Are
The Parks Trust is governed by a Board of Trustees who are also Directors of the company. The Board sets the strategic direction of the Trust and ensures that the Charity is properly managed and complies with all relevant legislation. Trustees have a duty under charity law to ensure that the Trust’s assets and resources are only used to further the Trust’s charitable objects which are:
- To provide, maintain and equip green spaces in and around Milton Keynes
- To advance public education and
- To provide facilities for leisure and recreation.
For a list of our current Trustees click here
From time to time we recruit new trustees to the Board. If you would like to find out more please see Becoming a Parks Trust Trustee.
The Trust employs around 40 staff led by the Chief Executive, David Foster. 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. We also have a Finance and Administration Team; a Property Team to look after our commercial property and a Communications & Marketing Team.
