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Council to host suburban parks conference

Delegates from across Europe will arrive in Aberdeen this week to discuss the creation and management of parks in natural suburban areas.

Aberdeen City Council is hosting the Periurban Parks project meeting, which will be attended by representatives of 11 EU countries, on Thursday and Friday [15 and 16 September].

Periurban Parks is an INTERREG IVC Regional Initiative project running until the end of 2012. It brings together 14 European partners interested in exchanging experience on policies to manage natural suburban areas, through the creation and management of parks, with a focus on mitigating pressures on biodiversity.

It focuses on the creation and management of parks in natural suburban areas, in line with European environment policy, and how redevelopment in these areas can impact positively on the environment and on halting biodiversity loss.

The city council’s Convener of Enterprise, Planning and Infrastructure, Councillor Kate Dean, will set the ball rolling on Thursday morning when she welcomes the delegates to the Granite City at Marischal College.

During the afternoon, the delegates will visit Seaton Park, Donmouth Nature Reserve, Lochinch Interpretation Centre and the South Aberdeen Coastal Park. They will attend a series of seminars on Friday and discuss the progress and plans for each partners’ projects.

The project partners, which include Aberdeen City Council, all have experience in and managing suburban areas, but are at different stages in developing periurban parks. While some have long promoted such parks, and face management and sustainability concerns, others are planning for their implementation and building on different suburban management experiences.

The project group members, who represent regional authorities, local authorities, periurban parks and associations of parks, learn from each others' experiences.

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