Neighbourhood Partnership Parks Consultation

Through the Neighbourhood Partnerships, a consultation is taking place that is intended to help residents and local groups, to influence Bristol City Council’s new Grounds Maintenance specification when the work is brought in-house in February 2015.

This is a separate process to the discussions that have been held between Park Groups and Bristol Parks at recent BPF meetings.

The new consultation has no closing date – the intention is for a continual dialogue with the Neighbourhood Partnerships so that influencing and contract changes can take place throughout the year.

Neighbourhood Officers will be consulting with local park groups, users and other interested bodies to understand their priorities so that the new specification can reflect this as best as possible.

Things that can be influenced include: areas to be weed sprayed, grass cutting regimes, litter collections / litter picking, a site presence (park keeper) or not, which shrubs to maintain, what ornamental planting should take place, frequency of hard surface sweeping, toilet opening / closing.

Once information has been gathered through this initial consultation, the Environment Subgroups / Neighbourhood Partnerships will be asked to establish themes for the whole NP area, e.g. littering, ornamental planting etc. This will become the base in which the Parks Service will build the new specification around for launching in February 2015. Thereafter, the Parks service will want to allow local communities to influence and introduce local park aspirations, e.g number of bins, different types of grass cutting regimes, introduction of bulb planting etc.

You can take part in the consultation via the link below either as an individual or by completing the form on behalf of your group. You will need to make separate submissions for each green space you are interested in. Park Groups should also be contacted by their Neighbourhood Officer to discuss this consultation.

www.surveymonkey.com/s/groundsmain

Honouring Bristol’s Greenest Volunteers

GreenVolsLogoThe Bristol we know and enjoy everyday is one of the greenest places to live in Europe, leafy open spaces visible all around us, some subtly hidden away, and much of it the result of the tireless, unpaid efforts of thousands of our fellow citizens.

From morning birdsong to gardens busy with insects, places to explore wildlife or simply somewhere green to walk through on the way to work, we wouldn’t be able to benefit from the city in which we live were it not for these volunteers, whose labours mostly go unrecognised.

To honour these properly unsung heroes, Bristol Green Capital 2015 is hosting this year’s Green Volunteer Awards and asking the people of Bristol to nominate their green champions.

Eight categories are divided into awards for Bristol-based individuals and projects, all recognising their efforts to keep Bristol green, rich in biodiversity and more sustainable. Nominations opened on September 23rd, exactly 100 days from when Bristol assumes the official mantle of European Green Capital 2015.

The awards ceremony itself will be held 50 days out, on November 12th, at the Paintworks on the Bath Road. Tickets for the ceremony are free but need to be booked in advance.

Nominations aren’t restricted to those who wield a shovel or fork in all sorts of inclement weather, previous winners have included people who administrate green projects, their voluntary work crucial in keeping their organisations viable.

The closing date for Green Volunteer Awards nominations is Sunday, October 26th, judging will start the next day.

On the night, award winners will receive a certificate commemorating their award, as well as plaque specially commissioned from a piece of tree felled in the Bristol area for tree conservation and sustainability purposes.

• Nominate an individual or a project for the Green Volunteers Awards 2014

• Book Now – Green Volunteers Awards 2014 12th November / Paintworks, Bristol / 6.30pm – 11.00pm

Green Capital 2015 – Grants

logo-bristol2015-2row-@2xWith just 100 days to go until the start of Bristol’s Green Capital year the Bristol 2015 Company has revamped its website and introduced a new branding at www.bristol2015.co.uk

For Parks Forum members, the most important section of the new website at the moment is probably on the availability of grants. There are three different grant streams available depending on the size of the projects. The smallest grants for local initiatives and events are being distributed through the Neighbourhood Partnerships which each have an initial £10,000 to allocate to projects in their area. Each Partnership has its own closing dates.

For larger projects grants of up to £10,000 there is The Bristol 2015 Small Grants Fund which is being administered by Quartet. There will be four opportunities to apply for a grant for this fund. The application deadlines are 17th October 2014 and then in 2015 January 5th, April 6th and July 1st.

The third grant stream is for larger strategic grants of £25k – £50k.

There is lots of other information on the website and more will be added as 2015 approaches, including details of the many events that are planned. One of our committee members gets a mention on the website here: www.bristol2015.co.uk/green-and-good.

BGC_LogoBristol Parks Forum along with many other organisations in the City are members of the Bristol Green Capital Partnership which has its own website at www.bristolgreencapital.org. The Partnership has 12 thematic action groups working to make Bristol a greener city and this work will continue after 2015. There are many links between the two organisations and much of what Bristol 2015 does will be driven by the Partnership.

Parks Forum committee member, Fraser Bridgeford, is co-chair of the Nature, Wildlife and Green Spaces Action Group along with Robin Maynard (Avon Wildlife Trust).

It’s Your Neighbourhood Awards

iynlogoThis year’s RHS It’s Your Neighbourhood Awards were announced at the Britain in Bloom – South West awards ceremony in Trowbridge on 18th September.

Many BPF member groups enter this “unique scheme for volunteer led community gardening projects/groups which are focused on cleaning up and greening up their local area”. The awards assess the work of the community groups and although they are run by the Royal Horticultural Society the judges are not only looking at horticultural activities, the involvement of the community plays a major part.

The certificates for those groups that were not able to attend the ceremony in Trowbridge will be presented at City Hall on 3rd October.

A full list of the Bristol awards can be seen here

RHSpark2014crop1This year Britain in Bloom – South West also introduced a new scheme judging parks and open spaces. This has some aspects in common with the Green Flag awards but is much more slanted towards community involvement as well as the standard of management of the park; the application process is also much less bureaucratic.

Friends of Troopers Hill entered Troopers Hill in the ‘Country Park’ category and were delighted to receive a Gold award.