Evaluation of Future Proof Parks

Delivered by Groundwork UK, in partnership with Fields in Trust and the National Youth Agency, this three-year National Lottery Heritage Fund programme was part of the £10m 'Kick the Dust' initiative aiming to support youth-led change in the UK heritage sector. The project focused on local historic parks and green spaces in five ‘hub’ locations across England. At each hub, the programme supported young people to engage with Friends of Parks Groups.

ERS was commissioned in September 2018 to independently evaluate the programme, to provide evidence of the impact, and explore success factors and best practice.

Broadly, our research aimed to:

  • Identify the critical success factors and limitations of the delivery model

  • Understand implementation within each local context

  • Measure impacts on people, communities, heritage

  • Capture and share models of best practice to support future delivery and replication

We worked collaboratively with the programme team and partners (including National Youth Agency and Fields in Trust) to create an evaluation framework and theory of change according to National Lottery Heritage Fund guidelines. This involved an extensive review of project documentation and data, followed by interactive ‘logic model’ and action planning workshops with the programme team and partners. The workshops used tools and exercises designed by ERS to interrogate the theory of change and test some key ‘assumptions’ in terms of how programme inputs were expected to achieve outcomes, and to explore the mechanisms of change.

A key focus of our research was also to develop an understanding of young people’s motivations for taking part, and what works well and less well in involving people from different various backgrounds, age groups, and with differing characteristics. To achieve this, we designed a participatory methodology centred on young people-led ‘Walking Tours’ of green spaces. Our methods put young people ‘in the lead’ and included walking tours of park sites and visual methods, whereby young people would use photography and artwork to express their views on the programme. Our methods were also centred on an iterative, peer-led approach to evaluation, which was facilitated by regular action planning workshops with the team, participants and other stakeholders. 

The final report was submitted in January 2022. The understanding and knowledge we gained through delivering this evaluation and working closely with the team over a number of years means that we have a deep knowledge of challenges and opportunities in the youth, heritage and parks sectors.