Agenda item

A report of the Director of Open Spaces (copy attached).

The Open Spaces Departmental Business Manager introduced the Annual Review of Volunteer Working in the Open Spaces for 2012/13. She drew attention to the scale of volunteering and the emphasis in the past year of improving quality of experience for individual volunteers.

A member noted that the figures listed on page 12 with respect to volunteering at Hampstead Heath were inaccurate and that there was a 2% increase in volunteering in 2012/13 rather than a 1% fall.

An Observer to the Committee commented that the report seemed to understate the scope for volunteering. The Chairman of the Epping Forest and Commons Committee endorsed this and noted that in some areas of the Open Spaces Directorate, the volunteers were managing themselves.

In response to a question from a Member, the Chairman of the Hampstead Heath, Highgate Wood and Queen’s Park Committee said that he was unsure why there were no volunteer leaders on the Heath, but commented that this may be possible if RSPB provided some more training, and that there was perhaps more scope for this on the City Commons.

The Chairman noted that it was important that volunteering was not perceived as securing free labour. Instead it must be emphasised that this was an activity that sought to improve the wellbeing of those who chose to volunteer and that it provided volunteers with the opportunity to support their community.

The Director of Open Spaces said that the ideas expressed so far would be developed and that this would take time and that the Directorate was learning from its experience with volunteers thus far across all of its sites.

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