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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.

Bristol Parks Forum Terms of Reference

Find a Park Group in your area: Listing of Parks and Park Groups
Interested in starting a group? Download Bristol Parks Community Action Toolkit
Contact the Bristol Parks Forum:
Post your comments on anything to do with Bristol's Parks & Green Spaces at www.friends-forum.org.uk

Sign up to our mailing list >>

Latest News:
Stoke Park - Park Group Events - Town Greens - Castle Park - BDF - Save our Green Spaces
Chocolate Factory - Eastville - Knowle West - Grove Woods - South Purdown
Parks Review - Ashton Vale - Areas Green Space Plans - Malago - Railway Path

Stoke Park

Bristol City Council Cabinet decided in principle to take Stoke Park into Council ownership at the Cabinet meeting on 2 April. This was originally to have been considered on 26 February, however, due to the change in control of the Council at the budget meeting on the 24th, the meeting was cancelled. The report to Cabinet can be seen here. Prior to the cancellation of the February meeting Bristol Parks Forum had submitted a statement expressing its support, but raising some concerns on funding and the longterm protection of the site - this was submitted to the 2 April meeting.

Bristol Parks Forum Statement on Stoke Park 24 Feb 2009

'This is Bristol' reports: 20 Feb - 28 Mar - 01 Apr

Park Groups and Events

The Bristol Parks Forum Committee are opposed to the the current practice whereby Bristol City Council charge Park Groups for a licence for holding small scale events on their 'own' parks. These events are primarily aimed at promoting the parks and the groups. We feel that it us wrong to charge for these events which would help to achieve the aims set out in the Parks & Green Spaces Strategy to encourage use of parks.

We have put a proposal to Bristol Parks to simplify the system (and remove the charges). Our proposal can be seen here. On 18 Feb we asked our members via our mailing to tell us how many events they were likely to run under the current system and whether they would run more if it was simplified and the fee waived. Some of the resonses we received can be seen here.

Peter Wilkinson for Bristol Parks has reacted very positively and we are holding meetings with Bristol Parks to discuss this. We hope to have an agreed proposal before the next BPF meeting in July.

Bristol Parks Forum Town Green Workshop

The BPF Town Green workshop on 5th February was well attended and those present found it most useful. As all budding town green applicants were not able to make it that Thursday night another session will be arranged (date and venue to be confirmed).

The workshop will cover the process of applying and the points of law that will be considered. It will be based on the experiences of others that have, or are going through the application process. Please email if you would like to come along.

For those of you who can't attend there have been many offers of help from other applicants and we are building a register of those that are willing to help with applications and the process.

defra - Town & Village Greens information

Castle Park Town Green Application

The 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 preferred developer has objected to the application.

A public inquiry started at the Old Council House, Corn St on Mon 1 December - it ran until Fri 5th Dec and was then adjourned until Wed 7th January 2009.

The Inspector, Vivian Chapman QC, recomended that the application be rejected.

The Rights of Way and Greens Committee considered the Town Green Application for Castle Park on 27 April, members voted unanimously in favour of deferring the decision because they were not satisfied that they had been provided with sufficient information regarding the status of the land. It was agreed that the matter would therefore be given further consideration at the meeting at 2pm on Monday 27th July 2009. Minutes of the meeting can be seen here.

Gary Hopkins stated at the BPF meeting on 16 May 2009 that it was the current administration's aim to restrict development at Castle Park to the area of the existing buildings.

Bristol Parks Forum issued a press release at the time of the inquiry and submitted a statement to the meeting on 27 April.

Bristol Parks Forum Statement on Castle Park 24 Apr 09

Bristol Parks Forum Press Release 05 Dec 08

'This is Bristol' reports: 30 July 2008 - 27 Oct - 2 Dec - 3 Dec - 5 Dec - 7 Jan Letter: 5 Aug
BBC Bristol: 1 Dec (includes radio interview with Helen Holland)

More information at www.castlepark.org.uk

Bristol Development Framework

It is important that Park Groups engage in this process. The latest document that the BDF have produced is the Core Strategy Draft Development Principles Paper. The are some very important sections in this about how parks and green spaces will be protected from development. It also covers the relationship with the Area Green Space Plans. The next stage is 'Site Allocations'. There are monthly community involvement sessions in which Park Groups can take part.

More information on our Bristol Development Framework page >>

Save Our Green Spaces

This campaign which was mentioned at our last meeting has been very successful in getting publicity. The Ashton Vale Heritage Group are part of the campaign, they are also members of the BPF and spoke to us at our meeting in January.

The campaign is to save open countryside around Bristol and in West of England and to oppose the proposed urban extensions and other large scale developments. If you would like to show your support then there are letters that you can download from their website to send to the Secretary of State (now John Denham rather than Hazel Blears) and your MP.

More information at   www.saveourgreenspaces.org

'This is Bristol' reports: 27 May 09 - 09 June - 17 June

Railway Path at the Chocolate Factory at Greenbank

This development (Planning application ref 08/03862/F) proposes to use land adjacent to the Railway Path that is owned by Bristol City Council and designated as Parks land under the P&GSS. The Land Ownership Plan shows the areas concerned. One area (in blue) is shown as 'being aquired by Square Peg'. The other area (in green) is alongside the path and in front of the proposed 'cycle houses' - Square Peg wish to lease this land to use to provide access to the houses via steps from the path. In October 2008 we met with Bristol Parks to discuss this issue and notes of that meeting are available here. We were assured that the sale had not yet been agreed and Bristol Parks promised that since the Area Green Space Plan has not yet been completed, there would be a consultation process before any green space is sold for this development.

This consultation has now been held - there is a dedicated section on the Bristol City Council website: www.bristol.gov.uk/bristolrailwaypathpublicconsultation where a report on the responses to the consultation can also be seen.

Following agreement at our meeting on 24 Jan the BPF has submitted a response to the consultation, it can be seen here

The consultation is separate to the planning process. The application was approved by the planning committee on 1 April.

Gary Hopkins gave an update on this site to the BPF meeting on 16 May 2009. Gary reported that the sale of this land was now considered to be a key decision to be made by executive members rather than officers. He said that he was unhappy with how this issue had been dealt with in the past but that the position was now that there was a scheme with planning permission that was generally thought to be beneficial to the area.

Gary stated that the smaller area 'Plot 1' had been leased to the Chocolate Factory in the past so could be considered as part of that site, also that without this land the development would not happen. It had therefore been decided to sell this land.

The larger 'Plot 2' runs along the cycle path and was mainly wanted for the multiple accesses to the 'Cycle Houses' - it was the lease of this land to which the BDF particularly objected. Gary said that there would now be a separate consultation on this land with two options - one with the multiple access ways and one with a reduced number of access points crossing the land. This consultation would be through the 'Ask Bristol' e-consultation system. A link shall appear here when it goes live.

'This is Bristol' reports: 11 Sept - 10 Sept - 19 Nov - 16 Feb - 19 Feb - 02 Apr - 08 Apr

Trees next to Eastville Park

BAD NEWS: From Eastville Park Action Group - On Sunday 9 Nov, without the knowlege of the council, two men with chainsaws brutally cleared an area of woodland. Approx 70 mature trees of oak, birch, hawthorn have been felled. This land is behind the old swimming pool garden and goes down towards the steps leading to lake. It borders a large and active badger sets and supports a lot of other wildlife, mainly birds. The Community Owl Project had a nesting box on one of the trees and last year owls nested in it and produced 3 owlets. The ownership of this land that juts into the park is in dispute but the Eastville Park Action Group has asked the council to to take action to protect the remaining trees.

GOOD NEWS: A rapid response from Bristol Parks' Tree Officers, email dated Wed 12 Nov - The land is private. There were no TPOs in place and it's not in a Conservation Area. We visited the site on Monday and again with the Forestry Commission on Tuesday. An emergency TPO is being served today to protect the remaining trees. The Forestry Commission have confirmed that the volume of timber felled would have require a felling licence: I understand that no licence has been sought by the owner or issued. Hence the Forestry Commission are preparing a case of possible prosecution. The Forestry Commission counted 73 felled trees.

In addition Bristol Parks' Nature Conservation Officer also visited the site twice and reported that there seemed to be no impact on the badgers. She added "I think they managed to carry out so much work without being challenged because everyone passing thought the works were legal and being done by the council: thank goodness we have such an active park group to respond where necessary!"

'This is Bristol' reports: 12 Nov - 20 Nov

Knowle West Regeneration

Bristol City Council is consulting on a Knowle West Regeneration Framework to guide the planned regeneration in Knowle West. This regeneration will impact on several parks and green spaces in the area and there are concerns as to how this process will interface with the P&GSS and the Area Green Space Plans for the area. There seems to be a risk that the pressure for redevelopment will over ride the principle set out in the P&GSS that any disposal of Parks land for development will be only of 'low value' space. Sites of particular concern are Filwood Park, Newquay Rd Playing Fields and the Northern Slopes proposed Local Nature Reserve which includes several Sites of Nature Conservation Interest (SNCI).

The sale of Filwood Park was agreed at the same Cabinet meeting as the P&GSS was adopted - but some 30 minutes later. This was discussed at the BPF meeting on 11th October 2008 and it was agreed that the BPF would submit a statement to the Full Council meeting on 14th October - the statement and a press release can be seen below. The BPF wrote to Rosalie Walker as the executive member with responsibility for parks on this issue but didn't receive a response.

BPF statement on Filwood Park to Full Council Meeting 14th October 2008 - BPF press release

At our October 2008 meeting Peter Wilkinson mentioned an email from Richard Mond that referred to Filwood Park - that email can be seen here: Richard Mond email 7 Feb 2008. The email was part of a discussion on the disposal of P&GSS sites that Bristol City Council considered had been agreed prior to the adoption of the P&GSS. Richard later added the development at J3 of the M32 to the list.

Newquay Road Playing Fields were previously used as school playing fields but there has been unrestricted public access for sometime. They are not currently included as a P&GSS site but the BPF considers that they should be and has formally asked that they be added to the P&GSS maps - Newquay Road Playing Fields petition

The Northern Slopes are also covered by the Knowle West Regeneration Framework and also by the Kingswear/Novers/Marksbury Road/Novers Masterplan. The BDF SHLAA assessment included part of the The Northern Slopes within area ST111. More information about the site can be found on the the Northern Slopes Initiative (NSI) website at www.northern-slopes-initiative.co.uk

The latest proposed options (produced for Bristol City Council by by a London-based architecture practice FAT) can be seen via the link below. These proposals include building on part of the Northern Slopes Proposed Local Nature Reserve which is also designated as an SNCI.

Proposed options for the Kingswear/Novers/Marksbury Road Masterplan

'This is Bristol' reports: 10 Oct - 11 Oct - 15 Oct - 20 Oct - 21 Oct - 2 Dec

Grove Woods

GOOD NEWS - the Development Control (South and East) Committee agreed on the 29 October to grant a blanket Tree Protection Order across the whole of Grove Wood, including the 27 trees that the landowner had previously been given permission to fell. The order was confirmed at a further meeting in April.

This followed the submission of a Petition with 4,668 names calling on the City Council to Compulsory Purchase Grove Woods by the Snuff Mills Action Group to the Full Council meeting on 14th October. A statement from Cllr. Mark Bradshaw the Cabinet Member for Sustainable Development about Grove Woods which was given to the meeting can be seen here.

NOT Good News - There are still problems. 'Temporary' fencing has been installed in the Wood to block one of the paths and there is ongoing work to trees. You can keep up to date with developments by visiting the blog at http://snuffmills.blogspot.com/.

'This is Bristol' reports: 14 Oct - 15 Oct - 28 Oct - 26 Jan - 31 Mar - 02 Apr - 18 Apr

South Purdown

There has been a long running dispute over proposals to fence off a large part of the open space at Purdown next to Muller Rd and build school playing pitches over it. Friends of South Purdown have been leading the campaign and it has been discussed at a number of BPF meetings with the BPF always showing its support. The latest stage was for a public inquiry to be held into the diversion of a public footpath across the site. The public inquiry was held on Dec 9th at Fairfield School but unfortunatey the inspector allowed the diversion to proceed. The Friends of South Purdown have also applied for two other routes across the site to be designated as footpaths, this might require another inquiry...

'This is Bristol' reports/letters: 21 Oct - 24 Oct - 9 Dec - 21 Jan

Bristol Parks Restructuring

Following a review of the structure on which the BPF was consulted Bristol Parks are currently appointing people to the posts in the new structure. It came into operation in April and can be seen via the link below.

Bristol Parks - Structure, Roles & Responsibilities 16 May 2009 (pdf)

BPF Parks Review Page>>

Saving Ashton Vale's Heritage

The Ashton Vale Heritage Group has been set up to campaign to save a privately owned Site of Nature Conservation Interest (SNCI). Some details of the site and an appeal for help can be seen in this statement from the group. At our meeting in January the BPF agreed to support the Group in its campaign to save the SNCI from development.

More information at   www.ashtonvaleheritage.co.uk   and   www.saveourgreenspaces.org

'This is Bristol' reports: 06 Sept - 28 Oct - 06 Nov - 07 Nov - 10 Nov - 15 Dec - 16 Feb

Ashton Vale Heritage Group Statement to Cabinet 30 Oct 08

Details of proposed development

Areas Green Space Plans

More information about AGSP and the planned consultation on BCC website (Revised Dec 08)

Latest Information and contact details for Area Green Space Plans (Revised June 09)

It is vital that as many Park Groups as possible get involved in this process - remember it is this that will decide which areas of Bristol's green space (if any) will be sold. There will be a public consultation in January 2010. More details - Parks & Green Spaces Strategy >>

Bus Rapid Transit Latest - Malago threatened

A "Save the Malago greenway from development as rapid transit route" e-petition has been created on the Bristol City Council (BCC) web-site.

In addition to this, over the next few weeks, the Save the Malago Group will be leafleting some of the areas which may be impacted by any rapid transit route and collecting signatures on a formal petition. The intention with these dual petitions is to present them to BCC as evidence of public support for the aim of preventing any part of the Malago Greenway from being expropriated for use by any rapid transit projects.

The Bristol Parks Forum discussed this issue at our meeting on 12th July and voted overwhelmingly to support the campaign against the Bus Route. If you can help please contact the Kingfisher Group via .

More information at www.malago.org   -   Sign the Save the Malago petition

BPF questions to Cabinet 30 Oct 08 about Cycling City with answers

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

Contacts

Bristol Parks Forum

Bristol Parks Forum Committee:
Chair - Fraser from the Castle Park Users Group
Vice Chair - Hugh from Mina Road Park Group
Both can serve until 2010.
Other committee members:
Alison, Redland & Cotham AS; Rob, Friends of Troopers Hill; Roland, Mina Rd Park Group.
You can email both Fraser and Hugh via . These emails will also be seen by Rob & Alison.

Bristol Parks

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

For administration purposes Bristol Parks divide the City into four 'Service Delivery Areas' - North, Central, East & South. There is also a separate unit to manage the large estates or destination parks. Our Listing of Parks and Park Groups shows which area each park is in. The following link shows Bristol Parks' structure and shows who is responsible for each area: Bristol Parks - Structure, Roles & Responsibilities 16 May 2009 (pdf)

Bristol Parks Promise 2009 - Bristol Parks' staff will all be signing up to this promise to park users about the way that they will conduct themselves in the new organisation.

Meetings

The forum meets at least four times a year. In addition as from October 2008 there will be at least four meetings per year between the BPF committee and senior managers at Bristol Parks.

Last Parks Forum meeting:
Saturday 16th May - at Windmill Hill City Farm - Minutes here

Other meeting dates for 2009: 25th July - 31st October (all meetings are Saturday starting at 9.30am)

Previous meetings:
BPF Saturday 24th January - at Windmill Hill City Farm - Minutes here
BPF Saturday 11th October - at Windmill Hill City Farm - Minutes here
Meeting with Bristol Parks 7th October 2008: Notes of meeting
BPF Saturday 12th July 2008 - at Windmill Hill City Farm - Minutes here
BPF Saturday 19th April 2008 - at Windmill Hill City Farm - Minutes here
BPF Saturday 19th January 2008 - at Windmill Hill City Farm - Minutes here

The toolkit aimed at new groups that was mentioned at the July meeting can be downloaded here:
Bristol Parks Community Action Toolkit

Email List

Between meetings we keep Park Groups informed of issues of interest via email.
Please email if you would like to be added to our mailing list or use the link below.

Sign up to our mailing list >>

We are happy to have more than one email address for your group - we will not publish these addresses or pass them to anyone else.
There is also a separate list of Park Groups kept by Bristol Parks which includes postal addresses and is used to send out meeting agendas and minutes.

The content of previous email messages can be seen via the links below, each pdf file contains all the messages sent that month - note it may take sometime for emails to be posted here, join our mailing list if you want to keep upto date!

May/June 2008 - July 2008 - August 2008 - September 2008 - October 2008 - November 2008 - December 2008
January 2009 - February 2009 - March 2009 - April 2009 - May 2009

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. Bristol Parks' structure is being reorganised; there are more details here: BPF Parks Review Page>>

For removal of drug and sex related litter call the rapid clean up hotline on 0117 922 2100 - 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.

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).

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