Peter Batey, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
Waterside regeneration, regional parks and spatial planning (assigned to theme
In the last five years the idea of creating regional parks as part of a regional spatial strategy seems to have captured the imagination of many planners. In Northwest England, for example, there are currently no fewer than ten proposals for regional parks. These proposals display a great deal of variation in terms of the intended function of a park, size, location , funding and management structure, and relationship to other elements of urban and regional policy, particularly economic development. Only two of these proposals have reached the stage of implementation and it is possible, of course, that some never will. This paper begins by examining the regional park concept. What role do regional parks have in the context of regional spatial planning? Accepting that each park will have its own distinctive features, what are the essential elements of a regional park? To what extent are regional parks merely a passing fashion? The paper considers evidence from Britain, Germany and elsewhere in answering these questions. The paper goes on to consider the factors that influence the successful implementation of regional parks, by reference to a case study. The example chosen is the Mersey Waterfront Regional Park which has now been underway for two years. The park covers some 120 kilometres of coast and estuary in the Merseyside area and is seen as a way of integrating a series of waterside regeneration initiatives, not all of which have been initiated by the park itself. The paper identifies and discusses a number of issues concerned with the formulation of the park proposal, the assembly of funding packages, governance and management structures, the involvement of the general public in influencing the choice of projects, the development of a coherent spatial strategy for the park itself, and the relationship of the park to other urban policy initiatives. The paper ends by drawing conclusions from this experience and offering some suggestions for the future development of the regional park idea.
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