Bristol parks facing £1.5m cuts could 'cease to exist'

Bristol Parks Forum members said parks played a critical role in the city's health and wellbeing

A city's parks could face a "spiral of decline" from proposed council budget cuts, campaigners have warned.

Bristol Parks Forum (BPF), which works to protect green spaces for residents, said the planned £1.5 million cuts to spending could mean beauty spots in the city "cease to exist".

The measures are part of Bristol City Council's plan to bridge a £31 million shortfall for 2023/24.

BPF said the parks service has "already been cut to the bone".

In a briefing note on their website, BPF said the cost of maintaining the open spaces was between £6 and £7 million a year, so a saving of £1.5 million would mean a 20 to 25 per cent cutback.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), the cuts are so severe that they actually total more than the current amount of money the council provides - about £1.3 million in the current financial year - meaning parks would become a "net contributor" to City Hall's coffers and be expected to make money that would help prop up other services.

BPF said there was likely to be a reduction in parks service staff, which will mean "less grass cutting, less bin-emptying, less repairs" which would make "make them less welcoming".

"There is a risk that this will lead to a spiral of decline with reduced visitor numbers and increasing anti-social behaviour," they said.

Forum members said parks played a critical role in the city's health and wellbeing and urged the Labour cabinet to scrap the idea.

At a council budget scrutiny committee meeting last month, Labour deputy mayor Craig Cheney said parks made about £12 million income a year, so the saving was about one-eighth of this.

Cabinet member for public health and communities Ellie King said the details had not been fully worked out but that the savings could involve a whole range of ideas, such as more food growing, community farms, re-wilding areas and communities taking on more responsibility where desired.

"Public access is really important and it isn't about locking people out or having a knee-jerk reaction to these savings and seeing it as us no longer looking after these spaces, but that needs to be modelled and consulted on," she added.

Ms King said the use of parks had increased as a result of lockdown but this was adding pressure on the service to maintain the spaces.

A consultation on the proposed cuts closes on 22 December.