The West Midlands National Park unveils projects to change the region
(c) Kathryn Moore (2004-20)
Immediate Past President of IFLA Kathryn Moore is Director, West Midlands National Park Lab. Supported by a small team of consultants and researchers the lab has developed a proposal for a new National Park for the midlands.
Now the West Midlands National Park Foundation is to meet for the first time, confirming the project as a key driver in the region’s post-Covid green economic recovery.
Following endorsement and support from the UK Government’s 2019 Review of Landscape and its formal adoption by the Board of the West Midlands Combined Authority in 2020, the West Midlands National Park (WMNP) Lab is unveiling the initial projects that together will result in a region-wide spatial vision as an important part of its post-Covid recovery in the context of WM2041, the West Midlands zero-carbon strategy, the WMCA Design Charter, initiatives such as Birmingham City Council’s Route to Zero, as well as internationally agreed targets.
The endorsement of the West Midlands National Park by the WMCA Environment and Energy Board meeting on the 15th October, sets the scene for the first WMNP Foundation meeting on the 14th January 2021. The meeting will be chaired by Dame Fiona Reynolds, former Director General of the National Trust. Also attending are; West Midlands Mayor Andy Street, Professor Julian Beer of Birmingham City University and Councillor Ian Courts, Chair of the West Midlands Combined Authority Environment and Energy Portfolio and Leader of Solihull Council.
The first Foundation meeting will initiate the WMNP project pipeline, working closely with the WMCA and a range of regional, national and international stakeholders. As a think-tank the WMNP Lab researches the art of the possible, promotes, inspires, guides and celebrates projects and initiatives that are aligned with its core ethos. The region’s local authorities and their partners will lead, develop and deliver these projects, underpinning and accelerating a green economic recovery. The WMNP Lab invites local authorities and other stakeholders across the region to support and engage with us to grow the opportunities for the region’s people and places. This will include working with partners to rethink our towns and city centres; reimagining the canal and river network and understanding how we can work with diverse communities to create a sense of pride and increased confidence, enabling us to compete more effectively in the global battle for talent.
With the youngest, fastest-growing, most diverse population in the UK, the imminent arrival of HS2, the hosting of City of Culture 2021 and the Commonwealth Games, the West Midlands National Park is a unique opportunity to re-discover a vast, hidden landscape that has been largely overlooked and undervalued for decades. The WMNP is a game changer that will become the benchmark to which others measure against and will demonstrate a truly holistic approach to improving the quality of life and environment in the most sustainable way for now and into the future.
In response to COVID-19 people are connecting more extensively with their neighbourhoods. The revaluation of place, experience and identity, the growing importance of the environment, quality of life and the need to move towards a zero-carbon and thriving green economy will now be accelerated through the creation of a different kind of national park for the 21st century. It includes the entirety of the West Midlands plateau, its waterways and green spaces, towns and cities.
Dame Fiona Reynolds, Master of Emmanuel College Cambridge and former Director General of the National Trust said “‘The ideals that underpin National Parks - beauty, access, sustainability and connectivity - are just the ones we need post COVID-19. I’m delighted that bodies across the West Midlands are embracing these ideas for the West Midlands National Park as they shape a green recovery”.
Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands said “This pandemic has taught us all how essential our parks and green spaces really are. Those that don’t have access to them are missing out, with serious consequences for both their physical and mental health. As the West Midlands bounces back from this crisis, we will need new and innovative ways of thinking to ensure we build back greener, healthier and more inclusively. This is what the West Midlands National Park aims to achieve – a new kind of urban park that protects and enhances our green spaces, reconnects the people with their landscape and helps us meet our zero-carbon target in the process. Since receiving an official endorsement from the Government’s Landscapes Review in 2019, the WMCA has been working closely with BCU make it happen. I’m thrilled to see our partnership with the University taken one step further with this work”.
Councillor Ian Courts, Chair of the West Midlands Combined Authority Environment and Energy Portfolio and Leader of Solihull Council, said “The West Midlands National Park is not a traditional national park in the planning context, but it is placing the environment, green spaces and quality of life at the heart of the agenda. It’s a visionary piece of work. Covid has taught us how important green spaces are for our health and wellbeing and this National Park will allow us to promote and enhance green spaces in rural and urban areas, highlight their importance and the need for new developments to be sympathetic to our vision.“
Professor Julian Beer, Deputy Vice Chancellor of Birmingham City University said “The West Midlands National Park is a flagship project for BCU and for the region. The University is delighted to be working closely with key partners to deliver this critical component of the West Midland’s Green Recovery, and region’s longer-term sustainable economic and environmental resilience.”
Councillor Waseem Zaffar MBE, Member of the West Midlands Combined Authority Environment Board and Birmingham City Council Cabinet Member for Transport and Environment said “I’m really pleased to be working with our partners on this project. Having a West Midlands National Park will play a key role in the future of our city, helping reshape the development of Birmingham so it becomes an international example of sustainable growth, healthy living and a zero carbon city for the 21st century”.
Professor Kathryn Moore, Director of the West Midlands National Park Lab said “This WMNP Foundation meeting is a celebration of the evident appetite in the West Midlands to lead the UK in a new, imaginative, integrated and genuinely collaborative approach to regional urban transformation and put quality of life and quality of the environment at the top of the political agenda. It marks the impact of the BCU CATiD and WMNP Lab advocacy undertaken over the last decade to inspire and inform regional and national aspirations and behaviours. It is another step towards reimagining this vast forgotten landscape, its towns and cities and it has never been needed more urgently than to inform the post-Covid green recovery.”
Find out more about the project here.