All this has sadly passed. The decline of parks can be traced back to the removal of railings for the War effort and consequent loss of sense of place, but the real damage became cumulative from the mid‐1970s. Local government reorganisation, political struggle between local and central government, privatisation of local services, year‐on‐year cuts in capital and revenue budgets and a shift of emphasis to foreign holidays and car‐borne countryside recreation all contributed to the downfall of urban parks into the dismal, neglected and vandalised landscapes which have become so familiar today. Responding to the concerns of voluntary and professional bodies, the Heritage Lottery Fund launched the Urban Parks Programme in 1996 to begin to address the issues. The Urban Parks Programme experience has highlighted how seriously underfunded parks have been and has committed far more money than intended to tackle the massive backlog of repairs to essential park infrastructure. It has also tried to address the causes of decline in partnership with local authorities and other bodies in the field ‐ loss of management structure and skills, lack of political support and understanding, and dearth of relevant data concerning parks.

This article traces the fortunes of public parks from their inception to their decline and documents the stirring of a potential renaissance as the government shows its concern with quality of life issues, with social exclusion, with multiple deprivation and with regeneration of the economic vitality and social coherence of urban areas. A government Select Committee has recently examined the state of the nation's parks and declared itself shocked and appalled at the extent of the problems that parks have faced in the last 30 years. There is now a chance that the long downward trend in the status and condition of urban parks can be reversed if a vigorous lead is given by government.