News / Ashton Court Estate
Two Bristol parks in top-10 green spaces for ‘welfare value’
Two parks in Bristol are among the top-ten most valuable recreation sites in England and Wales, according to a new study.
Research funded by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs has created an outdoor recreation valuation tool.
Known as Orval, the tool assesses the value provided by each park, wood, riverside walk, country path and beach, while also identifying which residents enjoy the benefits of each open space.
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One of the authors of the research, Brett Day, a professor of environmental economics at the University of Exeter, said: “The great contribution of this study is that it puts a figure to the value of our green spaces: £25.6bn a year.
“The size of that benefit stands in stark contrast to the deep cuts in green space budgets across UK councils, cuts that threaten to condemn our green spaces to neglect and disrepair.”
The report found that dog owners were four times more likely to use recreation spaces – photo: Martin Booth
Ashton Court and Blaise Castle have both made the top-ten, with the research showing that people from ethnic minority backgrounds and in less affluent socioeconomic groups were less likely to engage in outdoor recreation, even when given the same recreation opportunities.
A white person is 1.8 times more likely to take a trip to a recreation site than a black person, and the richest socioeconomic group is 1.6 times more likely to take a trip than the poorest.
These are the top-ten most valuable recreation sites in England and Wales:
- Hyde Park, London – £24,101,440
- Sutton Park, Birmingham – £15,627,180
- Blaise Castle, Bristol – £12,921,910
- Hampstead Heath, London – £12,149,370
- Windsor Great Park, Windsor – £9,026,620
- Croxteth Hall, Liverpool – £8,496,720
- Ashton Court, Bristol – £7,773,005
- Southampton Common, Southampton – £7,408,252
- Bute Park and environs, Cardiff – £7,258,230
- Greenwich Park, London – £7,090,455
Main photo: Minnie Leaver
Read more: Parking charges to be introduced at three popular Bristol parks
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