‘The human health and wellbeing benefits of open, green spaces are huge’

We’ve all be cooped up in our homes due for a long time due to Covid-19 and so we appreciate more than ever the value of local green spaces where we can take a walk.

In a city open, green, semi-natural, green spaces are vital to the quality of our lives, offering relief from the confinement or from the persistent congestion, noise and air pollution.

They are a way of connecting with and appreciating the natural world, vital to our wellbeing and to encouraging respect for nature. We sorely need this respect in order to build the green attitudes and actions needed to fight the climate emergency declared by Bristol’s councillors and mayor in November 2018, followed by the declaration of an ecological emergency in February 2020.

Emergencies are situations posing immediate threats to us, requiring urgent intervention to stop things getting worse. This means ending the activities damaging our climate and ecology and replacing them with those that regenerate, conserve and sustain life.

Goram Homes has announced plans to build around 50 homes on a 1.2-hectare area of Knowle West Health Park, reducing the amount of green space in the area. Photo: Charlie Watts

Sad and disappointing then, that despite these declarations, Bristol City Council and its mayor want to build over many city green spaces, including up to 600 houses on the Western Slopes off Hartcliffe Way in South Bristol.

A petition opposing the proposal and all building on green spaces in the city gained a thousand signatures in less than a week, such is the strength of feeling. Taking actions that are consistent with declaring climate and ecological emergencies needs to be a big issue in the forthcoming local and mayoral elections.

Our current mayor says he wants to tackle climate change but at the same time he has supported the expansion of Bristol Airport and delayed action to implement a clean air zone on four occasions. Where we build, how much we build, what and how we build are crucial.

Flooding is happening increasingly often due to climate change. Green spaces provide storm water drainage and thus flood protection, as the land soaks up, temporarily stores and then gradually releasees rain. They take carbon from the air and reduce energy demand through shading and cutting wind speeds and thus help to fight climate change. Losing green space is as bad as adding carbon to the air.

Our city is noisy and its air is heavily polluted. Green spaces reduce noise and air pollution. They moderate city temperatures, shading and humidifying the air and offsetting the urban heat island effect. Heatwaves are a danger to health and are happening more and more frequently, so we need out green spaces more than ever.

Bristol has some of the most green spaces in the UK. Glenn Vowles says they must be protected. Photo: Martin Booth

The UK is one of the most wildlife depleted countries in the world. Green spaces provide wildlife habitats and food supplies, boosting biodiversity. No wonder that species from bees to bats to hedgehogs are under threat if we build over the spaces that sustain them.

Even the most neglected green spaces, previously called poor quality, low productivity, marginal or “surplus” by the Bristol Green Spaces Strategy will absorb, store and gradually release rain, absorb carbon and other pollutants, grow wildflowers, provide a perch and food for birds, and provide people with opportunities for exercise and interest and a feeling of space.

City green spaces should be rewilded instead of built over, to further enhance their climate and ecological value. They are already semi-natural, giving us a head start.

People benefit from the aforementioned flood protection, climate moderation, pollution reduction and wildlife provision. The human health and wellbeing benefits of open, green spaces are huge. Leisure, tourism, recreational, entertainment, sporting uses are self-evident. Green spaces also help attract and keep businesses and help them to attract and retain the staff they need.

Glenn Vowles is an environmental ethics and politics blogger at Sustainable Cities, Sustainable World, an environmental management and science tutor at the Open University and three times parliamentary candidate in Bristol.

Main photo of Netham Park: Ellie Pipe

Read more: Knowle West residents fight plans for 50 homes on health park