IN the north west, at a conservative estimate we have 581 parks and a further 1,028 green spaces throughout our villages, towns and cities. However, because of cut backs in local authority funding, our parks are suffering and some are under threat.

Unless we do something, many will start on the downhill slide into the desperate situation the parks faced during the 1970s.

Many people do not realise that local authorities have no statutory obligation to provide parks for their communities and that as a consequence, as councils' budgets are squeezed, the unprotected parks budget provides an easy target to make savings.

Parks are tremendously important to a community but unfortunately too many people take their local park for granted.

It has been there all their life – it will always be there. This is not the case. Parks are being weighed up by developers and some of our local councils are selling off parks.

Many of our parks were given to the community, town or city by a local philanthropist and have a heritage which should they be sold, would be a great loss not only to the local community, but to the north west.

The heritage of a park or green space is quite apart from the principal of whether our local councils have the moral right to sell a park or green space which has been given to the community.

We need our parks – our children need our parks – wildlife needs our parks.

Once a park is gone – it is gone forever.

In the north west many of our parks and green spaces have friends groups – we know of 631 but there are probably many more. Friends groups are volunteers who invest their valuable time to work in parks. The friends' groups do an amazing job, in many cases taking up the slack created by staffing cuts in council parks departments. They meet regularly to carry out tasks and organise events, as well as applying for grants to renovate and improve their park.

After meeting through the National Federation of Parks and Green Spaces, the Wirral, Liverpool and Stockport Local Friends Forums set up the regional North West Parks Friends Forum (NWPFF). We are volunteers running the organisation for volunteers.

The aim of the NWPFF is to allow friends' groups from across our region to network, share experience, expertise and ideas that have worked – and those that haven’t – as well as spreading good practice.

Another part of the NWPFF’s remit is to encourage the formation of more friends groups.

If we want to keep our parks we need to help them now – tomorrow may be too late.

Join an existing friends group or get together with a few other people and form a friends group if your park doesn’t have one.

Alternatively if there is a derelict, unloved patch near where you live, get a group of locals together, move in, remove any rubbish, clear back the scrub and transform the space into an oasis for your community.

You will be doing your bit for the environment and after a hard day’s work in the fresh air you can go home feeling bone tired, dirty and just a little bit smug.

Thinking about or formed a new group?

Belong to an existing group, but haven’t contacted us yet? Please get in touch christine.hession@btinternet.com Christine Hession Manchester