Love Parks, a project to conserve parks and green space across England, has received a £416,450 grant from Big Lottery Funding (BIG) to develop a network of trained volunteers.

Run by parks charity GreenSpace the launch of the project coincides with their Love Parks Week, which encourages people to organise and attend events during the first week of the summer holidays (27 July - 4 August).

To date an estimated half million volunteers in 4,000 community groups have worked to improve the country's green space, but access to training and knowledge has been limited.

Chief executive of GreenSpace Paul Bramhill said: "This essential training resource will not only improve groups' knowledge but also give communities belief that they can do something to protect their local green space."

England chair of the Big Lottery Fund Nat Sloane said: "We hope this project will ensure that parks are still there for the next generation to benefit from and enjoy by bringing whole communities closer together and giving them the tools they need to project their local green space."

According to NHS figures, an estimated £2.1bn could be saved in public health costs if every household had access to quality green space and environmental volunteering, including tree planting, can be as effective as aerobics in improving fitness.