Groundwork's origins can be traced back to the late 1970s.
The Countryside Commission was looking at ways to improve the
physical environment of the urban fringe - that 'no man's land' on
the edge of towns and cities which tended to be overlooked and
often became run-down and derelict.
In 1978 the Commission put forward proposals to the Government for a major experiment to look at new ways of improving and managing these 'in between' areas under the banner UFEX80.
Following the 1979 general election UFEX80 was renamed 'Operation Groundwork' and the incoming environment minister Michael Heseltine presided over the launch of the first Groundwork Trust in St Helens and Knowsley in December 1981.
[Click here for a video charting the first 25
years of Groundwork]
The Trust's role was to bring together a partnership of public, private and voluntary sector interests in a co-ordinated effort to upgrade the environment, to realise the full potential of under-used land, to convert waste ground to productive use and to improve access to the countryside.
It soon became obvious that the approach really worked. By July 1983 five more Groundwork Trusts had been established in the North West. That same year it was announced that Groundwork would go national and Groundwork Hertfordshire was closely followed by Trusts in East Durham, Leeds and Merthyr Tydfil.
With the scale and scope of Groundwork projects increasing all the time, the Countryside Commission established the Groundwork Foundation (now Groundwork UK) to co-ordinate expansion and to support the network by building national partnerships and raising new resources.
In 1990 at the request of the Government Groundwork expanded its work to include inner cities and town centres and began concentrating on supporting people and businesses in deprived neighbourhoods.
Since those experimental beginnings much has changed but the guiding principles of community involvement and partnership remain as strong as ever.
Groundwork is guided by a powerful vision, a clear strategy and a set of shared values. None of these, however, stand in the way of action - for just as in 1981 it is action that counts. Groundwork has been applying this philosophy for more than two decades. There is every indication that this approach will still be relevant many years from now.
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