The Parks Trust

The Parks Trust is an independent, self-financing charity and we care for over 6,000 acres of green space in Milton Keynes. This includes the river valleys, ancient woodlands, lakesides, parks and landscaped areas alongside the main roads that represent 25% of the city and we continue to take ownership of additional areas of green space as Milton Keynes expands.

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.

Our Mission

"To create beautiful and inspirational parks, lakes and landscapes that will be loved by the people of Milton Keynes, forever."

Our Values

At The Parks Trust we are:

Committed

• We safeguard the land and the environment for future generations
• We take personal pride in whatever we do

Responsible

• We take ownership for our decisions
• We are always open and honest

Collaborative

• We form relationships that allow us to share expertise, listen and learn
• We work together as one cohesive team

What We Do

• We maintain 6,000 acres of parks, lakes, woodlands, nature reserves 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, Milton Keynes Development Partnership 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 nearly 6,000 children, and support a team of over 200 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.

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. When we are recruiting a new trustee we will post information on our website.  

The Trust employs around 72 staff led by the Chief Executive, David Foster and the management team which comprises:

• Rob Riekie – Landscape & Operations Director - responsible for the physical management of the green space including letting contracts and supervising our contractors and our Direct Works team.
• Phil Bowsher – Head of Environment & Volunteering – responsible for running our volunteer programme, looking after biodiversity across our parkland and liaising with developers and Milton Keynes Council over the adoption of new parks.
• Hannah Bodley – Head of Marketing, Events & Community Engagement - responsible for PR and Marketing, Events, community activities and Outdoor Learning for children and adults.
• Jeremy Godfrey – Finance Director – responsible for financial management and our financial investments and Support Services such as HR, legal, health and safety and facilities management.
• Ben Allott – Head of Property – responsible for managing our commercial property portfolio and property investments and disposals.
• Rob Wood – General Manager, Willen Lake – responsible for the Willen Lake Team who run and manage Willen Lake, one of Milton Keynes’ most popular parks.