The Parks Trust is the independent charity that owns and cares for many of Milton Keynes parks and green spaces. This adds up to 5,000 acres of river valleys, woodlands, lakesides, parks and landscaped areas alongside the main roads – about 25 percent of the new city area.
Like many things in Milton Keynes, the Trust’s creation broke new ground. In most places parks are owned and managed by the local authority, but the city’s founders wanted to be sure that such a unique green landscape would be managed and protected forever, without having to compete for funds with other council priorities.
So The Parks Trust was created in 1992 to care for most of the city’s green space and was endowed with a substantial property and investment portfolio. The income from this portfolio pays for the vital work of nurturing and enhancing the landscape. We are entirely self-financing.