Bristol park groups call on council to ‘urgently fund our parks’

An organisation in Bristol is calling on the public to urge the council to fund the city’s parks after it proposed major cuts to the sector.

Bristol Parks Forum, an umbrella organisation for a number of community park groups in Bristol, say the council’s proposed “drastic” budget cuts will have a major impact on Bristol’s parks and green spaces.

Len Wyatt, chair of Bristol Parks Forum said that the cuts will “hurt Bristol’s reputation as a green city”, by leaving parks poorly maintained.

The organisation is calling on the council to protect and properly fund the parks to ensure Bristol can fully enjoy them.

Rob Acton-Campbell has been a member of the Parks Forum Committee for over 20 years – photo: Bristol Parks Forum

“Free to visit facilities that offer a multitude of benefits must not be underestimated by our council,” said Wyatt, who highlighted the benefits of green spaces during the pandemic, when parks became a lifeline for many people.

The group also stressed the environmental impacts of the budget cuts: “The value for wildlife and the parks contribution to tackling the ecological emergency, protecting nature and helping it recover is also vitally important and these cuts will delay or stop Bristol’s plans to better manage its land for nature.”

One member of the Parks Forum Committee, Rob Acton-Campbell, said he had never seen cuts of this scale in his 20 years volunteering with Bristol’s parks.

“I’ve been involved in parks as a volunteer for nearly 20 years, in that time there have been a whole series of budget cuts; but I have never been as concerned about the future of Bristol’s parks and its Parks Service as I am now,” he said.

“The city council is proposing a cut of £1.5m, this will reduce funding available for looking after Bristol’s parks and green spaces by around 25 per cent.

“These cuts will not be for just one year but for the foreseeable future, coming on top of those experienced over recent years they will have a devastating impact.”

https://twitter.com/BrisParksForum/status/1599048971275616257

Bristol Parks Forum is also objecting to staff cuts, which chair Len Wyatt said are implicit in the budget cut figures.

The council has argued that parks can be managed by volunteers, but Linda Wilson, chair of the Friends of Badock’s Wood responded that this is “simply wrong”.

“Our group has been going for nearly 25 years. We turned an unloved area from a tip to a treasure,” said Linda.

“But however hard our volunteers have worked over the years we could not have done that without the bedrock of the Council Parks Department’s resources.

“Volunteers cannot replace Parks staff.  We cannot, should not and will not do their work.  We are very concerned that parks will very quickly deteriorate if these budget proposals go ahead and staff are cut, we will enter a spiral of decline.”

Parks Forum members have also expressed concerns about the council suggestion that there might be opportunities for “alternative management arrangements”.

They say this may benefit a small number of parks to the detriment of the rest of Bristol’s parks and green spaces.

“The Parks Forum has always been willing to work with the council to explore different ways of working and ways that funding can be raised without allowing parks to be over commercialised,” said Acton-Campbell.

“However, the current proposals go too far and too fast and don’t give time for alternatives to be developed or consulted on.

“Lack of detail in the consultation makes it difficult for the public to understand the significant impact these proposals will have, but if we wait until that becomes clear it will be too late.”

The Parks Forum is urging the council to drop the proposals and allow for the public to take part in the consultation before a decision is made.

The consultation closes to the public on December 23.

Main photo: Martin Booth

Read next:

• ‘Disabled people experience disproportionate barriers to Bristol’s parks’ 
• Two Bristol parks in top 10 green spaces for ‘welfare value’
• Central library could move as part of council cuts

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