Management Plans

This page provides information for Park Groups who want to get involved with Bristol Parks in putting together Management Plans for their green spaces.

Management Plans set out how the space is managed now and plans for the future.

Having a plan in place will help in putting together applications for funding and will also ensure that any projects make allowance for other planned improvements.

It is important that as many park users and other interested people as possible are involved in producing the plans.

Plans need to be agreed with both Bristol Parks.

Plans should be reviewed regularly and changes made if circumstances change.

Developing a Plan

If you intend to produce a plan for your site you should first discuss it with your contact at Bristol Parks or contact Bristol Parks Forum for further advice on who to speak to.

Writing the plan (whether or not you use the template below) is the last stage of the process. First you need to pull together existing information including the results of any consultations that have been carried out in the past. You then need to decide on the priorities for managing and improving the site both now and in the future – this will need consultation with all park users and potential park users.

Bristol Parks should be able to help with the following:

  • Assist in formulating the consultation
  • Give you a copy of the current maintenance specification
  • Liase with the Neighbourhood Partnership & Parks Operations team
  • Find the right person within Bristol City Council for specific issues – eg heritage issues
  • Keep everyone who needs to be informed about what is happening

Bristol Parks ran a Workshop on producing Management Plans in June 2013. The papers from the Workshop may help clarify what needs to be done and who needs to do it – Papers from Management Plan Workshop.

Management Plan or Development / Improvement Plan

Your plan might be about how the site is to be managed or it might be more focused on how the site is to be developed and improved. It might need to be both; if that is the case it is best to combine both into one document.

Notes from the Workshop on the features needed in each type of plan can be seen here.

Links to Information

Parks & Green Spaces Strategy

Bristol’s Parks & Green Spaces Strategy was adopted at the Council Cabinet Meeting on 21 February 2008 – it is aimed at raising the quality of parks and green spaces throughout the city over the next 20 years. It sets out how the different categories of spaces are defined and the Council’s overall aims for improving green space.

The strategy and some of the background documents can be downloaded from the Bristol Parks website.
Bristol Parks P&GSS page – www.bristol.gov.uk/parkstrategy

Area Green Space Plans Ideas and Options

These were published in 2009 for each of the old Neighbourhod Partnership Areas, they include plans for each green space that could form the basis for planned improvements. They are available for download on our P&GSS page. You should also ask Bristol Parks for copies of the response to the consultation in your area.

Wildlife Information

Bristol Parks will be able to obtain information on any wildlife designations or surveys that have been done on your site. ‘Sites of Nature Conservation Interest’ in Bristol can be seen on the Council’s mapping system

Tree Planting Plans

There may already be plans to plant more trees on your site. Please see the Tree Bristol page on the Council’s website.

Historical Information

The Council’s excellent ‘Know Your Place’ mapping tool is a good place to start. This shows historical maps which can illustrate features in the area that have now been lost.
www.bristol.gov.uk/knowyourplace

Example Plans

Below are links to existing Management Plans – please let us know of any we have missed.

Plan Template

In deciding the format of your plan you will need to decide what it is to be used for. It is possible to write a Management Plan on one side of A4, but a well written and detailed plan of perhaps a 100 pages or more will be needed if it is to support a major Lottery bid or similar.

Below are links to the template you could use (in MS Word) when it comes to writing a more formal plan. Not all sections have to be completed, unless your plan is going to be used as part of a Green Flag application or a submission for a major grant (such as the Heritage Lottery Fund).

Part 4.1 is probably the most important section and you may wish to complete this table first before writing the other sections.