How can Local Authorities use health economics evidence and adaptive leadership to inform investment in parks?

Background Parks are critical for health and wellbeing (HWB). They help people to increase their physical activity, promote better wellbeing and support community cohesion. Local Authorities (LA) are mainly responsible for managing and resourcing them. However, austerity has meant parks' budgets have significantly decreased since 2011 compromising their quality.

Robust health economic analysis and adaptive leadership methods are required to help LAs guide resource allocation decisions for these important assets.

Birmingham City Council (BCC) is the focus of this research, together with Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council, Plymouth City Council and Coventry City Council. BCC is the largest Local Council in the United Kingdom, with 427 parks. Research question How can LAs use health economics evidence and adaptive leadership to inform investment in parks?

Objectives 1: To explore the historical distribution of (dis)investment in parks by geographic region and deprivation across Birmingham and understand how this (dis)investment has impacted on quality of parks over time. 2: To understand how a range of actors within LAs conceptualise the value generated from parks, and to what extent these different notions of 'value' are used to inform (dis)investment decisions. 3: To build on findings from WP1 and WP2 to develop a conceptual model for articulating the value of parks.

Methods The research planned uses methods from both health economics and adaptive leadership. Health Economics is concerned with understanding how to prioritise limited resources for improving HWB. Adaptive leadership aims to help organisations implement difficult decisions in a complex environment.

The research is divided into three work packages (WPs): WP1: A retrospective quantitative analysis of how BCC budget cuts have impacted on the management of 427 parks in Birmingham over the last 10-years focusing on the costs, together with indicators of quality including police callouts, fly-tipping, and biodiversity.

Analysis will include: Descriptive statistics to summarise data according to the size/density of the local population, size of park and deprivation level. Regression analysis to understand the relationship between park investment and fly-tipping as a marker of quality. Comparison with other council run facilities, e.g., leisure centres, which compete for the same LA budget.

WP2: A systematic review of the academic and grey literature, together with qualitative research to understand how a range of LA stakeholders conceptualise the value from parks.

WP3: Using information from WP1 and WP2, a conceptual model for articulating the value that parks bring to local areas will be developed with the purpose of informing future decisions.

Three workshops will be conducted to a) clearly understand and articulate the problem b) test the feasibility/acceptability of the model and c) to finalise the model structure.

Anticipated impact and dissemination Research findings will be shared with green space charities, LAs through the Local Government Association and Association for Public Service Excellence, as well as peer reviewed journals and academic presentations.

The anticipated impact of this research will be high as it has a practical focus on helping LAs articulate the value that parks bring to communities to help with investment decisions.