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Bristol Parks Forum
Bristol Parks Forum was established by Bristol Parks as an umbrella organisation for community park groups and organisations in the city with an interest in their local parks and green spaces.
The forum is supported by Bristol City Council but acts independently and is currently the only 'community voice' that is dedicated to all of Bristol's green spaces.
The forum's three main roles are:
- to offer an opportunity to share ideas and experience;
- to act as a consultation body for the Bristol Parks service and other agencies;
- to influence decision-making, including the allocation of resources.
Latest News
Bristol Festival of Nature - June 7th and 8th 2008
Bristol Parks Forum have booked a stall at the Bristol Festival of Nature to publicise all of the parks and green spaces groups in Bristol. Please email Bristol Parks Forum at if your group would like to get involved or if you can help man the stand.
Bristol Street Trees
This subject was again raised at the BPF meeting on 19 April 2008. More details including a link to the briefing note mentioned by Hugh can be found on our Bristol Street Trees Forum Page.
Bristol Street Trees Forum Page >>
Save the Bristol to Bath Railway Path
At its meeting on 19 April 2008 the Bristol Parks Forum confirmed its support for the campaign to save the Railway Path and to protect this linear park and wildlife corridor.
More information at www.railwaypath.org
Sign the Save the Railway Path e-petition
Castle Park Town Green Application
The Castle Park User Group has lodged an application to register Castle Park as a Town Green. If successful this would ensure that the park is not built on, but as expected the Council's prefered developer has objected to the application. Consideration of this application by the Commons Registration Authority requires a full judicial procedure, quite separate from any planning process, and this could take several months to resolve.
More information at www.castlepark.org.uk
Felling of 5 Poplars in Park opposite St Werburghs Nursery
Following loud local complaints about the way this was done, Bristol Parks Arboricultural Section responded rapidly and positively to the outcry. Richard Ennion briefed Josie Sadler (Trees for Cities officer) to deal with replanting, and she immediately held an on-site meeting with locals. Following that she consulted via email about her proposed choice of replanting trees, and Russell Horsey has now undertaken to have these in the ground in April. He also emailed a comprehensive and professional explanation as to why it happened the way it did, and is setting in place procedures to ensure local groups are informed before work is done in the furure.
All in all a thoroughly satisfactory outcome, and Mina Rd Park Group and others would like to thank the officers for the way this was handled.
Report - National Open Spaces Forum
"It's extraordinarily refreshing to go somewhere and Bristol is a national leader in something !"
National Open Spaces Forum Page>>
Contacts
Bristol Parks Forum has two elected officers:
BPF Chair is Fraser from the Castle Park Users Group;
BPF Vice Chair is Hugh from Mina Road Park Group
Both were elected in September 2007 and can serve for a maximum of two years.
You can email both Fraser and Hugh via .
These emails will also be seen by Alison who amongst other things organises the mailing list and Rob who runs the website.
Bristol Parks manage all parks and green spaces in the City of Bristol. If you would like more information about the parks or wish to report any problems or issues relating to your park please contact Bristol Parks directly.
Email: or phone 0117 922 3719 - this is available Mon to Fri 8.30am - 5pm (4.30pm Fri).
You can also visit the Bristol Parks website at www.bristol.gov.uk/parks
One of our member groups, Friends of Troopers Hill, host a public forum on their website. Postings are welcome on any issues relating to Parks & Green Spaces throughout Bristol. The forum can be found here: www.friends-forum.org.uk.
Meetings and Communication
The forum meets four times a year and publishes a regular newsletter - 'Park People'. We also keep Park Groups informed between meetings via email. Please email us if you would like to be added to our mailing list.
The next Parks Forum meeting will be in June, details will appear here once the date and venue has been agreed.
Last meeting: Saturday 19th April - at Windmill Hill City Farm. Download Agenda
The minutes from this meeting will be posted here soon.
The toolkit aimed at new groups that was mentioned at the meeting can be downloaded here:
Bristol Parks Community Action Toolkit
Membership
Membership is open to all community park groups and similar organisations with an interest in protecting and enhancing green space in Bristol. New groups are always welcome to join us, membership is free.
Bristol Parks Forum has published a directory containing details of some of its members which can be downloaded here: Bristol Parks Forum Directory 2007.
We are also trying to put together a complete list of Bristol's parks and park groups.
The current list can be found here: Listing of Parks and Park Groups >>
Information for Park Groups
The following information and links are provided as a resource for Park Groups but may also be useful to anyone who uses Bristol's parks.
Who to contact:
For general issues relating to your park or green space contact Bristol Parks by email to or phone 0117 922 3719 Mon to Fri 8.30am - 5pm (4.30pm Fri). Alternatively you can contact Bristol Parks by text on 0771 039 6713.
For removal of drug and sex related litter call the rapid clean up hotline on 0117 922 2241 - this is available Monday to Friday between 8.30am and 8.00pm. You will need to tell them the location and the type of litter.
If you witness anti social behaviour in a park or green space in Bristol, please report it to either the 'It's Your Call' action line on 0845 605 2222 or the non-emergency police line on 0845 456 7000. Whilst a police response will not always be possible, these calls will help build up a picture of hotspots and issues in your area and are extremely valuable in helping reduce antisocial behaviour.
For general enquiries relating to the organisation of Park Groups and the support available from Bristol Parks contact Richard Fletcher, Community Development Officer.
In our experience Bristol Parks generally respond to queries promptly and try to help where they can, however, if you are not satisfied with the response you receive from Bristol Parks please contact us via and we will try to help resolve your problem.
You can also contact your local councillors and discuss local problems with them, many councillors attend meetings of local park groups.
Community Action Toolkit
Bristol Parks have produced this very informative document which is available for download from their website via the link below. The toolkit is mainly aimed at new groups but contains information that all groups will find helpful.
Download Bristol Parks Community Action Toolkit
Parks Monitoring Forms
Bristol Parks have produced these forms to encourage park groups to monitor the quality of maintenance of their parks. The forms can be printed and the completed forms sent to the freepost post address shown at the end of the form.
Parks Monitoring form.
Management and Maintenance Standards
The standards that Bristol Parks aims to achieve for management and maintenance are described on the Bristol Parks website and can be seen here: Bristol Parks Management and Maintenance Standards.
Other items of general interest relating to parks & green spaces
(please let us know if there is anything you think should be posted here).
All in all a thoroughly satisfactory outcome, and Mina Rd Park Group and others would like to thank the officers for the way this was handled.
BPF Chair is Fraser from the Castle Park Users Group; BPF Vice Chair is Hugh from Mina Road Park Group
Both were elected in September 2007 and can serve for a maximum of two years.
You can email both Fraser and Hugh via .
These emails will also be seen by Alison who amongst other things organises the mailing list and Rob who runs the website.
Bristol Parks manage all parks and green spaces in the City of Bristol. If you would like more information about the parks or wish to report any problems or issues relating to your park please contact Bristol Parks directly.
Email: or phone 0117 922 3719 - this is available Mon to Fri 8.30am - 5pm (4.30pm Fri).
You can also visit the Bristol Parks website at www.bristol.gov.uk/parks
One of our member groups, Friends of Troopers Hill, host a public forum on their website. Postings are welcome on any issues relating to Parks & Green Spaces throughout Bristol. The forum can be found here: www.friends-forum.org.uk.
The next Parks Forum meeting will be in June, details will appear here once the date and venue has been agreed.
Last meeting: Saturday 19th April - at Windmill Hill City Farm. Download Agenda
The minutes from this meeting will be posted here soon.
The toolkit aimed at new groups that was mentioned at the meeting can be downloaded here:
Bristol Parks Community Action Toolkit
Membership
Membership is open to all community park groups and similar organisations with an interest in protecting and enhancing green space in Bristol. New groups are always welcome to join us, membership is free.
Bristol Parks Forum has published a directory containing details of some of its members which can be downloaded here: Bristol Parks Forum Directory 2007.
We are also trying to put together a complete list of Bristol's parks and park groups.
The current list can be found here: Listing of Parks and Park Groups >>
Information for Park Groups
The following information and links are provided as a resource for Park Groups but may also be useful to anyone who uses Bristol's parks.
Who to contact:
For general issues relating to your park or green space contact Bristol Parks by email to or phone 0117 922 3719 Mon to Fri 8.30am - 5pm (4.30pm Fri). Alternatively you can contact Bristol Parks by text on 0771 039 6713.
For removal of drug and sex related litter call the rapid clean up hotline on 0117 922 2241 - this is available Monday to Friday between 8.30am and 8.00pm. You will need to tell them the location and the type of litter.
If you witness anti social behaviour in a park or green space in Bristol, please report it to either the 'It's Your Call' action line on 0845 605 2222 or the non-emergency police line on 0845 456 7000. Whilst a police response will not always be possible, these calls will help build up a picture of hotspots and issues in your area and are extremely valuable in helping reduce antisocial behaviour.
For general enquiries relating to the organisation of Park Groups and the support available from Bristol Parks contact Richard Fletcher, Community Development Officer.
In our experience Bristol Parks generally respond to queries promptly and try to help where they can, however, if you are not satisfied with the response you receive from Bristol Parks please contact us via and we will try to help resolve your problem.
You can also contact your local councillors and discuss local problems with them, many councillors attend meetings of local park groups.
Community Action Toolkit
Bristol Parks have produced this very informative document which is available for download from their website via the link below. The toolkit is mainly aimed at new groups but contains information that all groups will find helpful.
Download Bristol Parks Community Action Toolkit
Parks Monitoring Forms
Bristol Parks have produced these forms to encourage park groups to monitor the quality of maintenance of their parks. The forms can be printed and the completed forms sent to the freepost post address shown at the end of the form.
Parks Monitoring form.
Management and Maintenance Standards
The standards that Bristol Parks aims to achieve for management and maintenance are described on the Bristol Parks website and can be seen here: Bristol Parks Management and Maintenance Standards.
Other items of general interest relating to parks & green spaces
(please let us know if there is anything you think should be posted here).
There is a very comprehensve list of relevant websites on the Bristol Parks website. |
Bristol Parks |
What land does Bristol City Council own? The 'pinpoint' mapping system on the Council's website will show you; the link to the right takes you to Castle Park as an example. |
Bristol City Council |
GreenSpace a registered charity which works to improve parks and green spaces. There is lots of information on their site, the 'Community' pages are of particular interest to park groups. |
GreenSpace |
There are also three research papers about the management of urban green spaces. |
GreenSpace |
Planning Finder - find planning applications near your park. Make an instant search or register for email alerts. |
www.planningfinder.co.uk |
Town and Village Greens - information on the Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs website about the registration of land that has been used by local people for recreation ‘as of right’ (i.e. without permission, force or secrecy) for at least 20 years. |
defra - Town & Village Greens information |
symbol and then on the map to get details of each parcel of land.