Disappointment over city's park ranger cuts

The council is reducing the services provided by park rangers to help meet its budget shortfall.

Park users in Birmingham have expressed disappointment after it emerged the city's park ranger service faces cuts.

The city council declared itself effectively bankrupt in September by issuing a section 114 notice, before signing off on £300m in cuts and a 21% rise in council tax over two years.

Team4Nature, which aims to build "pride of place" so communities thrive, said there were "simply no words to describe the feeling of sadness and disappointment".

The council stated the service needed to be more targeted, with activities focused on the most deprived wards in the city.

Chris Blythe, chair of the Birmingham Open Spaces Forum, said park rangers had previously "provided advice, given logistical support and run sessions" for community and friends groups.

He added that the changes could potentially have an effect on such groups and urged the council to keep them in the loop.

"As the open spaces forum, we have a really good relationship with the city council and we would want that to continue," he said.

Friends of Kings Heath stated that they were "very sad indeed".

'Increase delivery'

The council acknowledged it was having to make savings across many areas and added that the park ranger service was "no exception".

A spokesperson said that as part of a review, vacant posts had been removed, the out-of-hours patrol service cut, and ranger hubs reduced.

While support community groups would have to be reduced, it would still "deliver and increase delivery of community activities".

That was with the aim of increasing participation, volunteering and "appreciation of our green spaces" across 46 nominated park sites in the most deprived areas of the city, the spokesperson added.

The council and central government have each blamed the other for the plight in which the authority finds itself.

Commissioners have been brought in to oversee how the authority is run as it reduces its budget to meet the overspend.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.