3.7 million visits in 2025

The University of Northampton has been monitoring visits to 17 outdoor spaces across the town using anonymised smartphone GPS data (where users had consented to share this). The data helps show where people already enjoy spending time outdoors, and where improvements could make spaces easier to access. During 2025, the University recorded 3.7 million single visits* across all 17 sites.

Five most-visited greenspaces in 2025

These locations were also the most visited in 2024, showing they continue to play an important role for local people.

Delapre Park was the third most-visited greenspace of 2025

Five trending greenspaces in 2025

Total annual footfall was slightly lower overall than in 2024, but at several individual sites was actually higher. This suggests demand for accessible, well-connected outdoor spaces is growing, and that more people may be feeling confident using them. The sites with the biggest increases during 2025 were:

The Washlands saw an increase of recorded visits compared to 2024

Why this data matters

Access to the outdoors plays an important and well documented role in supporting physical activity, mental health, and social connection, but funding for parks continues to reduce – even though national estimates suggest that investment in greenspaces can return up to seven times its original value in health and wellbeing benefits.

The University of Northampton is working with councils and partners across Northamptonshire to help turn this evidence into action. This includes contributing research to West Northamptonshire Council’s Parks Strategy and ensuring local voices are reflected in planning decisions.

2025 also marked one year since the new pathways opened at Delapre Park. Our evaluation found they delivered significant benefits for visitors, and research like this played a key role in securing the funding that made the improvements possible. Similar data collection is helping the recently opened Griffin Trail – helping demonstrate its value to residents and making the case for future investment.

Declan Ryan University of Northampton installing devices to measure footfall on the Griffin Trail

Looking ahead

As footfall data evolves year on year, it offers a clearer picture of how people use local greenspaces and where investment or improvement can have the greatest impact. It can also be used alongside other forms of ‘qualitative’ research – like interviews, surveys, and focus groups – to learn how these spaces are used in practice. This can give us a better understanding of things like accessibility and health impacts.

We’ve already spent time with residents learning about the impact of outdoor spaces on their everyday lives. And taken together with things like footfall measurement, this evidence will continue to support councils, partners, and community organisations in making informed decisions about the future of outdoor spaces across Northampton.

*Footfall figures cover the period 1 January to 31 December 2025 and are based on GPS pings from smartphones. Data is not unique per person and may include multiple visits by the same individual.