The Friends of Rowntree Park held a public consultation on their plans to reinvigorate the upper floors of the Rowntree Park Keeper’s Lodge last week.

The lower floor of the lodge building is already home to the successful York Explore Reading Café. The Friends’ plans will create a series of accessible spaces that can be hired by local groups and will form a base for the Friends of Rowntree Park.

Rowntree Park was given to the city by Joseph Rowntree in 1921 as a memorial to the members of the Cocoa Works’ staff who died in World War 1 to be a ‘quiet restful memorial park’, rather than another stone obelisk.

Joseph Rowntree’s son, Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree, created another public park on the other bank of the River Ouse in the fields behind his family home ‘The Homestead’.

The fields were to be available to children attending York Elementary Schools for outdoor activity.

On the other side of the city, West Bank Park in Holgate - with its own Friends group - is based on the site of the world famous 19th century Backhouse plant nurseries, which at one point were known as the Kew of the North and were even bigger than Kew gardens themselves.

West Bank Park - reflecting the botanical history of the site and remnants of a former arboretum - has a number of mature trees that majestically loom over the park and the nearby buildings that may equal their neighbours in the more famous Museum Gardens.

These are only three of the city’s formal urban parks scattered across York’s outer suburbs.

Along with the historic ‘green wedges’ of the city – the Strays and Ings - they are an important asset for those of us who live in York. Whether they are used for dog-walking, family play, spaces for young people to gather, socialize and even loiter, or simply - as Joseph Rowntree hoped - as a place for ‘quiet restful moments’, they are part of our lives.

Like many of our green spaces they are reliant on both the City of York Council, volunteers and other organizations - in the case of Homestead Park the Joseph Rowntree Foundation - to maintain, open and develop these fantastic public assets.

The draft Council Plan 2023-2027 - 'One City, for all', which is still to be approved by full Council - sets out four core commitments: equality, affordability, climate and health.

Its ambition is 'to create the conditions for a healthier, fairer and more affordable, more sustainable and more accessible city where everyone feels valued'.

I cannot think of an asset type in the city that can help deliver the ambitions of the council plan better than the public parks and green wedges of the city. The cultural, social and environmental connection that our parks offer are bottomless.

I attended Yorks’ first Health Mela in the green park behind York’s Art Gallery – a wonderful day of music and dance and checking in about your own health.

The event, which we hope can be repeated annually, made me think of the summer fairs that take place across the city in our parks which attract thousands of people.

They are often the occasions when you say hello to people you have not seen sometimes since the last summer fair – providing true community connections.

York’s parks are a wonderful asset for the residents of the city and must not be overlooked. Yet if you undertake a search in the council plan for the word ‘park’, with one exception each instance is related to car parking. There is no reference, that I could find, to perhaps the one type of place that could deliver nearly all the aspirations of the council’s plan.

I am sure the council embraces the value of the city’s public parks but we all need to ensure that they are maintained and developed as freely and equitably accessible, beautifully maintained and resourceful assets within a short walk of people’s doorsteps.

The Friends of Rowntree Park consultation reminded me of the value of collaboration and volunteering in these green lungs, hearts and minds of the city.

We should all take time, if at all possible, to use our parks, encourage others to do so and support the work of the volunteer groups who ensure that they continue to thrive.

Andrew Morrison is chief executive of York Civic Trust