Markeaton Park Is Derby\'s Most Heavily Used

Markeaton Park is Derby's most heavily used park and is indeed one of the most frequently visited of all East Midlands sites, two facts that would suggest that its upkeep is highly important (Turbutt 1999: 18-20). However, a combination of this high degree of use and a lack of consistent funding for upkeep and infrastructure improvement has left the park in a far-less-than-ideal state. While the park remains attractive to a range of visitors (including families with children), it has entered what the Derby City Council believes may be a cycle of decline in which poor upkeep and the failure to modernize lead to a decline in use and popularity, which in turn will lead to fewer visitors and less money (Derby City Council 2011).

Keenly aware of the fact that the park's future hangs in the balance depending on what decisions are made now, the Council has begun to take measures to update the park's facilities so that they meet the needs of the communities that it serves. These needs have changed significantly over the years and the Council has made clear that it is imperative to reflect these new needs (Derby City Council 2011). One of the key concerns of the Council and of the Heritage Lottery Fund, which is being asked to fund the revival of the park, is how to avoid any changes that are too keyed to current trends, as these will soon be replaced by other trends (Zahariadis 2003: 119). In an attempt to balance current and future needs, the Council is thus seeking input from the public as to what their desires are for the park while also attending to the advice of consultants who are able to bring to the project a longer perspective (Derby City Council 2011).

The above concern speaks to a larger operational concern as the park attempts to create its own renaissance. The money from the Heritage Lottery Fund must be used in very specific ways so that the funding helps to preserve the historical nature of a site and to educate the public about the historical and cultural value of sites (Heritage Lottery Fund 2012). In order to receive the funding it needs, park officials need to be able to balance preservation concerns with the desire of many visitors simply to have fun and have no interest in history. Related to this careful balance is another one that park officials must assay, which is to balance public spending and private investment in the most profitable way. The task for the park can be likened to trying to balance simultaneously on two tightropes (Agranoff & McGuire 2003: 34-6).

The renaissance of the park is to be undertaken in two phases, the first of which has already been accomplished (Derby City Council 2011; Heritage Lottery Fund 2012). The design work for the park's new planning and design has been paid for with a £142,500 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Big Lottery Fund. This fund was granted through the Parks for People Programme, which uses "grants for projects that regenerate public parks of national, regional or local heritage value" (Parks for People 2012).

The Council are next going to submit a second application for up to £2.4 million to provide for the majority of the costs of the restoration of the park and has asked for input both from those people who are visitors to the park (asking them what it is that attracts people to the park) and those who are former visitors or who have never visited the park to determine what would bring them to the park. The next section of this paper examines some of the suggestions that the Derby City Council has proposed for the park to receive Heritage Lottery Funding with the following section assessing the current plan in terms of its underlying operational strategy.

Results and findings

Markeaton is fortunate in that it already has a wide range of types of visitors, although this range could certainly be expanded (Derby City Council 2011). Most of the visitors to the park currently are families with young children, some younger adults, and seniors. The demographic that is currently missing and that would be significant to add are adults from about age 25 to 55 (Derby City Council 2011). Even people who have grown up going to the Mundy Play Centre tend to stop going to the park when they become adults, although they may well return when they reach retirement age.

The fact that the park has gathered the above sort of statistics is highly significant because it speaks to a certain underlying operational philosophy, which is that when public money is being spent it has to benefit the widest number of people possible. While this is certainly a common attitude it is not the only one (Agranoff 2008: 86). A shift in this attitude is in fact one of the things that must take effect to preserve the park.

Both public commentary and Council suggestions so far lack a key element in terms of a cohesive operational strategy; indeed the current problems have been brought about in no small part because quite simply that there is no overall strategy for the park. Different areas of the park are aimed at attracting different types of visitors, which is certainly an important part of a master plan for a park this size. However, and this is something that the Council must be attentive to, there must also be a unifying goal if the park is to invite the largest number of users.

The park has to be organized and marketed as a single, integrated destination, while at the same time different aspects of the park that appeal to one age group or another must be emphasized as well (Worsley 2004). One of the clear current deficits in the park's plan in terms of its lack of a coherent operational strategy is that it fails to use its historical setting as an integrating strategy. Coordinating the current activities that the park offers under the umbrella of the history of the site will make the experience of all visitors more enjoyable as well as bringing in visitors from demographic groups that are currently underrepresented if it follows in the path of similar projects. (Gow 2006 makes a similar argument).

As noted, the requirement of the Heritage Lottery Fund that grants be given to focus on enhancing the heritage value of the park must coincide with the core concepts of any future master plan. Indeed, in the absence of any coherent operational strategy or philosophy, the guidelines of the granting requirements of the Heritage Lottery Fund can stand in for one.

In no small part because the park's land was deeded to the Council in several steps, the park has never had a coherent relationship with the original estate. (Again, Gow 2006 makes a parallel argument.) Creating a sense of connection between park and estate is likely to bring in new visitors in one of the demographics that is currently underrepresented: Young adults who may currently dismiss the park as a destination mostly for families with children. Weaving the history of the estate throughout the park will provide a greater appeal to young adults and is also likely to appeal to foreign visitors, which would add to the mix of almost solely domestic visitors that the park now welcomes (NHS Evidence 2003).

Once this shift in basic operational strategy (one might even call it the operational philosophy) has been put into place, a number of opportunities to implement this vision for the park become clear. It is also the case that as this first set of changes are implemented and some of the original "bones" of the estate are made more visible, other changes may become clearer.

Evaluation and Discussion

Among the changes that are most likely to reconnect the park to the estate in such a way that it is welcoming to 21st-century visitors is to reestablish a sense of center to the park. The original hall was, of course, the focus of the overall design of the estate, and its destruction has left a visual as well as psychological gap in the park (Derby City Council 2011; Girouard 1994). It is impossible to restore the hall; however, it is possible to recreate the sense of the road leading up to the Orangery as also leading to the core of the estate. This can be accomplished through several methods, all of which are relatively inexpensive (Adams 1991).

The first of these is to plant herbaceous borders along what was the main entrance road with appropriate trees planted behind the borders, a combination that will over time create an increasingly impressive entranceway. Along this avenue will be installed a series of informational plaques that use photographs and historical drawings to explain how the estate and park changed over time. Interactive exhibits in which children (as well as adults) are invited to draw pictures of what they believe life to have been like during different eras should be placed along the path. While there are a number of activities for children now available in the park, of course, these are not keyed to its historic features, a point that should be remedied (Adams 1991).

The above suggestion is one example of the overall shift in operational vision for the park. Whenever possible, the historic footprint of the hall (as well as older building on the site) should be highlighted if park officials are to benefit from strategies that other historical parks have followed (Adams 1991). Such highlights can include relatively simple and inexpensive restoration of flowering borders to species appropriate to the era in which the beds were first laid out to moving the tennis courts from their current position where they interfere with viewing some of the estate's remaining historic features. In places where there are significant but small-scale historical artifacts, archaeological excavations may be set up along with informational placards discussing archaeological techniques (De Bray 1984)

Such a shift to the historical underpinnings of the park would three distinct advantages. First, it would be likely to help visitors to gain a deeper understanding of the history of the area, a history that is now easy to dismiss as it is covered in a number of strata of other eras. Second, it is likely to bring in young adult visitors as well as more families. As horticultural areas are restored, pathways in these areas (some of which have been in use since the Middle Ages) can be made more accessible to individuals with limited mobility. Third, a shift in focus that looks more to the historic roots of the site is likely to bring in additional volunteers as well as funding (Boyne 2003).

Recommendations

Shifting the focus of the park's master plan to one that is centered on the Markeaton estate history will provide the opportunity to bring in more visitors, more funding, and more volunteers along with increased possibilities for private funding given that historical preservation is a topic of interest to many people. Many people might well be prompted by this change in operational strategy to become a regular volunteer at or visitor to the park. This would be a key element of an integrated operational outlook: Bringing in more people to interact with te historical aspects of the park will produce a series of positive feedback loops. Among these are the following: Volunteers could participate in any of a number of possible activities, from giving tours to both children and adults, staging meals from different eras of the estate's history (such meals could prove to be a source of funding) to living history displays of other crafts, such as medieval spinning or children's games from the 19th century. Visitors could participate in these activities and train to become volunteers themselves.

While the park currently has a center for crafts that is generally well attended, there is a somewhat disordered sense to this section of the park. The first-time visitor is likely to ask herself or himself: Why exactly are these shops here? And, while it is the case that many visitors enjoy shopping at these stores, the shops are not themselves a destination in and of themselves. Shops that contained merchandise that was particular to Markeaton and to Derbyshire as a whole would be more likely to attract visitors to the park even if they are not interested in any other park features. Such a shift to a more historically oriented type of commercial activity in the park is also likely to appeal to young adults as well as drawing more visitors from outside Derbyshire.

A shift to a greater focus on the historical setting of the estate is also likely to bring in volunteers who are interested in heritage botany. Other changes in the grounds management are also likely to bring in new groups of volunteers. For example, installation or reinstallation of water features is likely to attract male professionals, a group that does not have a high attendance rate at the park. A large amount of work needs to be done initially on the water features of the park, including the ponds. Due to poor upkeep by the Council over a number of years, the lake has become increasingly silted, a fact that affects its attractiveness to visitors as well as having an impact on the biodiversity of the park.

This last point is another bridge to bringing in more volunteers and thus also visitors to the park. In its current state, and under the current plan for park usage, there is essentially no emphasis on the park as a site for nature. This is not terribly surprising, for this is the case with many urban parks. However, Markeaton Park, because of its large size, is capable of sustaining both a high number of visitors and a range of wildlife. Plans will have to be put into effect for protecting wildlife, because there will most likely be an increase in visitors when there is an increase in wildlife.

A balance can be achieved between increasing biodiversity and allowing access to those animals by visitors, but this balance must be carefully monitored. Such protection could be extended to the park's fauna and flora through policies such as marking off of nesting areas and setting aside certain planting areas while the sites are being restored. Policies such as this are likely to bring in additional volunteers who are already engaged in volunteer work for wildlife groups as well as bringing in additional visitors who are focused on environmental work.

Another facet of an operational strategy that provides a cohesive vision for the future as well as ensuring that the current resources put into the park will not be dissipated. Some of the ways in which knowledge about the park will be improved have been touched on in previous sections. The primary way in which knowledge and skills will be improved is through a series of workshops that will be sponsored by the Council as well as by non-profit groups that are approved by the Council. Other governmental agencies will also be brought in as appropriate to provide trainings.

The primary body of knowledge that staff and volunteers need to become apprized of so that they can pass it on to visitors is the history of the site. This is well documented in large measure. Volunteers can be divided into groups according to their areas of highest interest and be trained by staff or advisors on, for example, everything from the Domesday Book (in which the estate appears) to the economic and cultural reasons why the hall was left to fall into such disrepair after World War II that it had to be destroyed as unsafe. Part of the initial training of volunteers will include the compilation of training manuals, DVDs, etc. so that the information needed to train successive generations of volunteers will be retained.

Volunteers who bring their own expertise to the park -- such as, for example, individuals with knowledge about heirloom roses who will be asked to help replant rose beds with more historically suitable varieties -- will also be asked to provide documentation of their skills. For example, a DVD could be made of gardeners discussing how rose cultivars have changed over the centuries and what are the qualities that roses are now valued for as opposed to older values. Visitors can view these videos or purchase them.