Bristol's green spaces scheme comes up £20m short
BRISTOL City Council has about £5 million of developers' funds to spend on improving green spaces – but that's still £20 million less than it needs.
The area green space plan proposes selling off up to 62 sites across the city as part of an £87 million plan to improve up to 200 others.
Councillors are due to debate a Conservative motion to scrap the plan at a full council meeting today.
As the controlling group, the Liberal Democrats have 38 councillors, Labour has 17, the Tories have 14 and the Greens have one.
If councillors vote along party lines, the Lib Dems will win and the green spaces plan will continue.
The alternative Labour motion is to allow residents to decide which sites should be sold off, with funding coming from developer contributions.
So-called section 106 money is cash raised for community use whenever a developer submits a major planning application.
Using the Freedom of Information Act, the Evening Post has obtained a list of all the section 106 money the council has to spend on the 14 areas in the city where parks could be improved. This has been specifically set aside for recreation, the environment or parks improvements.
The amounts, as of July 31, range from about £63,000 in Bishopston and Redland to £804,000 in Easton, Ashley and Lawrence Hill.
Campaigners have argued that this kind of money is enough to fund some of the improvements that have been put forward, but it is nowhere near as much as the council says it needs for the complete green spaces plan.
The £87 million figure breaks down as £15 million from developers, £21 million from grant funding, £10 million from the council parks budget and £41 million from land sales.
But there's also a £35 million "life cycle" fund that will be used to maintain the parks, which includes a further £10million of developer money and £22 million from land sales.
The figures are based on 2006 estimates, so it is likely the total will actually be higher when the final plan is agreed.
The council may hope to raise the missing section 106 money from future contributions, but it saw a £1 million drop in revenue caused by the fall in the number of planning applications in the past year and some developers are actively seeking to reduce the section 106 contributions to make schemes more financially viable.
The council says the 20-year plan is aimed at addressing decades of poor investment in Bristol's parks.
Council spokeswoman Helen Hewitt said: "The aim of the parks and green space strategy has always been to achieve a 'good' standard of provision across the city.
"The strategy also set out that, should this level of income not be realised, then the situation would be reviewed.
"Once a decision has been made on potential land disposals, the council will be better placed to determine the potential costs of the 20-year strategy.
"We will be prioritising ideas for improving open spaces so the most important can be realised first."
If the scheme is not scrapped today, a list of all the sites that could be sold off is due to be released next month.
Follow the debate and vote live here.
7 Comments
by ParkBoy, Cabot
Tuesday, November 16 2010, 1:35PM
“70% of sales will be re-invested.
Now if we have already £5,000,000 that has been gained over the last couple of years; need another £20,000,000 to support a 20 year strategy. Sums seem to add up to me - and more. This is not a news story.”
by Hip O'Crite, Bristol
Tuesday, November 16 2010, 11:51AM
“Sorry, Could someone remind me What small percentage of money raised from land sales is actually intended to be spent inproving our parks?”
by The Hedgehog, Horfield
Tuesday, November 16 2010, 11:49AM
“Now here's a radical suggestion; why doesn't the Council cut its coat to fit its cloth?
If there's only £5 million (ONLY £5M?) to spend, why not cut down the scale of "improvements" to fit that budget?
Why not allow local residents to volunteer to help maintain these sites, rather than insist that the job is done by paid Council employees and contractors?
Selling off part of the green space to pay for maintenance of the rest can only have one result in the long term - no money and no green space...”
by David, Living in the real world
Tuesday, November 16 2010, 11:29AM
“Sally, while I respect your opinion, I think you may have been misinformed. GBBN intend to spend £70m to improve bus times by up to 10 minutes NOT 10 minutes total journey time. It¿s a lot of money in these economic times for very little return whilst inconveniencing locals by the removal of left and right turns off Fishponds Road and parking problems.
The community doesn¿t want the bus corridor and shops will close during the construction period because of lack of customer parking.
Why don¿t you visit the other bus corridors that the council has already forced on the residents of Bristol and see what a mess they¿ve made.
I¿m already in the 21st century, Sally. Come with me into the real world.”
by Sally, Bristol
Tuesday, November 16 2010, 10:41AM
“The bus lane for Fishponds is ideal. This will not break the communty, it will improve the community. I would much rather be in the centre of Bristol in ten minutes opposed to the current pain of 40 minutes. The reverse effect will also be greater, more people will visit areas such as Fishponds. Come in to the 21st Century David..”
by David, Life in the Bus Lane
Tuesday, November 16 2010, 10:05AM
“I have yet to meet anyone who is keen to dispose of anything but the most minor green space, apart from the Lib Dem Executive of the Council. Perhaps it is just a coincidence that none of the contentious pieces of public land are in their own wards!
If you are against the disposal of land in your area, find out how your local councilors voted today, and remember this when deciding who to vote for next May.
Whilst you¿re at it, find out if they supported the ongoing farce which is the destruction of local communities like Fishponds for the sake of a bus corridor. These corridors will not improve bus travel but will severely effect the lives of those in local communities.
Is Bristol a democracy or a dictatorship?”
by Charles, Bristol
Tuesday, November 16 2010, 9:50AM
“We have had Labour running Bristol nearly all of my life and as a result our parks are in a complete mess. Victorian railings that were removed to make ammunition during the war were never replaced, their H&S policy is a farce and so we have lost all of our boats in parks with lakes. Children's play areas haven't been updated for sometimes 30 years or more. They sat back and watched home owners and tenants expand their gardens in to the parks or make their own entrances. They sold off large areas of land to developers and made very little income for the city as a result. There has been at least 30 years of cuts and neglect and so like their recent run in controlling Britain which has left the country in a complete mess, Labour also done a very poor job in running most of Bristol.”